Sourcing & Procurement

In order for Jet’s e-commerce business model to work, the company has to sell twenty billion dollars’ worth of items annually, a high threshold for a startup in a crowded field dominated by a single big corporation.

Industrial buying dynamics study, evolution of the distributor value proposition, highlights the growth of direct-from-manufacturer purchasing, B2B e-commerce, and a Millennial workforce.

Inspired by the bitcoin blockchain, Thingchain, and smart contract platforms, we examine how these technologies might change one particular supply chain: the food chain.

For the most part, building off several years of vendor consolidation, 2014 represented a favorable environment for supply chain technologies, said Chad Eschinger, research vice president at Gartner.

The vast majority of high-tech manufacturers would be thrilled to have a single item with even half the back-order demand as the Apple Watch every couple of years, let alone more frequently.

The study details the strategies of procurement role models, those procurement organizations with the most positive impact on revenue growth and profit improvement.

The journey to value: Transforming procurement to drive the enterprise agenda.

In this paper, we explore the concept of the sourcing hub as a value-enabling mechanism in the upstream raw material supply chain by exploring when (i.e. under what market and economic conditions) a firms's active management of relationships with direct suppliers and raw material suppliers can result in a more eefficient supply chain.

Outsourcing, defined by Rob Handfield of N.C. State University as “the strategic use of outside resources to perform activities traditionally handled by internal staff and resources,” calls to the minds of many CEOs a loss of control, transparency, and security that inspires skepticism about the value of outsourcing.

Leaders use procurement to catalyze lasting, superior business performance through excellence in managing categories, suppliers, and teams.

A.T. Kearney's 2014 AEP Study finds that the best procurement organizations are at the top of their game. Meanwhile, the rest of the pack is treading water and wondering what's next for procurement.

Retail Revolution Drives the Need for Retail Optimized Order Management - Game-Changing Programs with the Right Foundation in Place.

How a methodical approach to performance improvement is transforming a global procurement organization

With companies increasingly looking to avoid such controversy by improving ethical practices along their supply chains, we wanted to know which link in the chain consumers claim to care about most.

Despite the higher costs of having more ethical supply chains, some believe that it ultimately pays off for companies, as such efforts can improve reputation among consumers and produce greater loyalty from employees.

In this brief we’ll examine the challenges that today’s organizations face when managing their global supply chains and look at the role that purchase order management plays in the smooth-running of such systems.

With supply chain scandals on the front pages more than ever, is it time for organisations to take a closer look at how they function and cut out the bad links before it’s too late?

Understand your suppliers' cost structures, negotiate prices effectively and strategically time purchases with commodity price forecasts, supplier cost models and buying recommendations.

Most people don’t give a second thought to the soccer ball’s journey to the pitch - it’s safe to say though, that just as much careful supply chain planning and hard work goes into making the ball as training the players.

According to a recent survey of 120 B2B eCommerce professionals, 80% of respondents either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that their customers’ expectations followed B2C shopper practices.