“You will see that in every hierarchy the cream rises until it sours.” Laurence J Peter A previous article of mine, Procurement in the Roaring ‘20s, drew some interesting comments. Several focused on executive incompetence, with one commenter citing the Peter Principle as an explanation. So, what is the Peter…
Indirect spend shares the fate of many a New Year’s Resolution. We make promises to tackle it head on and then abandon it at the first sign of difficulty. It’s tempting to put it in the too hard basket, but ignoring it could very well be doing you terminal damage….
“May you live in interesting times”. A blessing or a curse? Perhaps that’s something to be determined in hindsight but, right now, it’s looking like 2020 will be an interesting year. At least. It has certainly started on fire, with significant parts of Australia in flames. At multiple fire fronts,…
Right now, there are five slaves working for you around the world. That’s according to some estimates. Some have the number higher. It’s sobering reading, and a dampening note to begin the new year with. Before you click away, however, this article isn’t just doom and gloom. I want to…
Embracing Change in a New World Not much happens in this world without the process of procurement having an impact. It’s the omnipresent reality of a global economy driven by desire and consumption, and can be a powerful weapon for beneficial change, or untold misery. We touched on this in…
Proverbs and Anecdotes When I was asked to contribute to the Barrett 2020 Sales Trends Report, the invitation posed a question: “With everything we need for positive change and progress available to us now, why wait for a crisis to secure our future?” Immediately, all the proverbs warning against change…
There’s a joke among engineers that new grads lament not taking more maths subjects during their degree but, as they progress, rue not improving their communication skills. Procurement professionals don’t have the luxury of hindsight. From day one, our ‘soft skills’ make or break us. According to the Ikaros community,…
Not all superheroes wear capes. Some compose excel spreadsheets and identify process bottlenecks! An exaggeration, no doubt, but the truth is that those overseeing supply chains can and do have a massive impact on countless lives. Too often, we boil down the massively complex world of procurement to dollars and…
Did you hear about the Japanese Minister of Cyber Security who doesn’t know how to use a computer or anything about Cyber Security? That’s a massive skill gap, despite the assertion by Yoshitaka Sakurada that he has skilled bureaucrats backing him up. The Minister suggests that his biggest job is…
NSYNC, The Simpsons, chokers. Some things just seemed cool in the nineties. Now… not so much. And in terms of business management, we’ll add the ERP to that list. Sure, the organisation you run or work for may have purchased an Electronic Resource Planning platform more recently – even this…
Comprara Pty Ltd
Comprara acknowledges the traditional Aboriginal owners of country, recognises their continuing connection to land, water and community and pays respect to Elders past, present and future.
