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Supplier & Contract Management

Want Responsible and Resilient Supply Chains? Wise Negotiation is the Key

Let’s be blunt. Negotiating with large enterprises is not the same as negotiating with small businesses. More specifically, we cannot apply the same risk management standards to a small company that we can to a larger one. It’s a pickle, because we want small businesses to be a part of our supply…
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5 Best Practices in Supply Chain Resilience

A chain held together by rope, indicating supply chain resilience.

The world is a riskier place. Before COVID hit, companies expected to see disruptions to their supply chains lasting one to two months every three-and-a-half to four years, interspersed with several shorter-lived hiccoughs. This grim outlook reflects two realities. One, the climate is warming and serving up more frequent, more…
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The Spend Profile: It’s Time You Got to Know Your Own Company

No, procurement officers, it’s not your imagination. People are staring. All eyes are on you. Hellish 2020 may be over, but now it’s February 2021 and companies are desperately trying to identify areas of cost-saving opportunity while shoring up a teetering supply chain. It’s time to step into the breach.

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The Fragility of Our Supply Chains Has Been Exposed. Now What?

For Barrett’s 12 Sales Trends Report last year, my article – We change, or we burn – argued that the Bronze Age collapse was a warning we should heed. Due to the complex logistical nature of the procurement process behind the production of bronze, the world of the Bronze Age…
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How agile is your supply chain?

Three people staring at a ticking clock, wondering if they have an agile supply chain

Now is the time to ensure you can respond quickly to changes in your supply chain. ‘Let’s face it – it can’t get any worse.’ This came from a man on ABC News, talking about the impact of COVID-19. It’s an optimistic statement at best, but more likely famous last…
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7 Keys to a Successful Reverse Auction

Reverse auctions

Reverse Auctions are a great way to generate significant cost savings. According to CNBC, companies are typically saving 10 to 20% by using reverse auctions, but I’ve also seen others quote savings over 30%. However, it’s got to be done right. So, how do you run a successful reverse auction?…
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It’s Time to Think About the Total Cost of Ownership

United symbols of business and environment, achieved though total cost of ownership

‘High quality, affordable products, and services that don’t harm the environment, delivered on demand!’ Sound familiar? That’s the mantra of the modern customer. No longer is it acceptable to sacrifice quality for a cheaper price tag. Nor is it acceptable to cut corners at the expense of the environment and…
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Make or Buy: It’s Time for a Rethink

What is the point of sales departments? To create markets and stoke demand. Sales departments have been a standard part of industry for so long that we sometimes fail to remember that, for much of human history, sales activity was business to consumer. Business to business sales wasn’t a concept…
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Procurement Challenges Facing CPOs

A chain with a weak link, and text asking how resilient is your supply chain

Travel to Australia is down by 60% due to COVID-19. It’s just one of the many blows to the economy caused by the pandemic. This unprecedented drop in GDP is leading to a potentially seismic shift in how procurement is viewed and how it can make organisations across Australia more…
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Supply Chain Risk Management: How to Spot Potential Failures

A woman wearing a mask, a Hong Kong protester and a kangaroo trying to escape bush fires all lead to supply chain risk

We live in turbulent times. In the first seven months of 2020, we’ve had bush fires, mass unrest leading to protests in Hong Kong and the US, rising tensions with China that have seen government manufacturing incentives move elsewhere, and, most disruptive, the COVID-19 pandemic. And there’s still five months…
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