6 October 2010

Ideas abound about the benefits of centralised procurement. So why do so many corporates struggle to achieve these benefits in the tough environment that has prevailed since 2008? Christian Bell of POINT SA, exhibiting at SmartProcurement World 2010, says that centralising a print procurement function is a good plan, not a day dream, in this

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Is global warming good for the travel business?

Verifying suppliers’ capabilities: Managing expenditure and service delivery within local government

Leave a Comment / Public Sector Procurement, Spend Analysis / Editor

With all the economic pressures facing South Africa, local municipalities are becoming increasingly focused on managing procurement expenditure. This focus has resulted in some interesting findings within procurement departments. The assumption that a supplier that quotes for a product or service is competent to supply is not always accurate, Dawn Smith, a Senior Procurement Specialist

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Strategic Sourcing: Stretching a limited financial kitty – Part 3

Leave a Comment / Procurement Strategy, Sourcing Strategy / Editor

Dr. Douglas Boateng, SmartProcurement Editorial Board member and President of the Institute of Operations Management Africa discusses the needed shift in thinking, and subsequent adjustment in hierarchical structure, needed for Supply Chain Management, Procurement and Strategic Sourcing to receive due organisation-wide recognition. In part one of this series, the concept of strategic sourcing and how

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Turning the cost of an employee into an asset to the organisation

Leave a Comment / Procurement Strategy, Professional Development, Talent Watch / Editor

Procurement leadership can enhance employees’ performance, who can then add value by improving supply chain performance in their organisations, leading to an improved bottom-line and sustainable profitability, Ronald Mlalazi (MCIPS), Edcation Manager at Commerce Edge Academy, tells SmartProcurement. In his 9th article for SmartProcurement’s World-Class Procurement Practice series, Mlalazi discusses how the potential for an

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September PMI: Falls back below 50

Electric vehicle could spell the end of large portions of the auto supply chain

Leave a Comment / Commentary, News / Editor

Aside from the ‘obviously disrupted’, namely the oil industry, when you analyse the effect that electric vehicles (EVs) will have on the extended automotive supply chain, it is probably in the interest of 50% of these suppliers that electric cars do not become widely adopted, writes Bernie van Niekerk, Publishing Editor of SmartProcurement and CEO

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Tips for winning tenders – upcoming conference

Leave a Comment / Smart Sourcing, Tender Management / Editor

If you feel despair and experience a sinking feeling of impending gloom when opening your eagerly awaited RFPs on due date, spare a thought for the bid panel putting together the tender responses for you. It is Friday afternoon at 4.30 pm and the bid closes at 10am on Monday. The bid panel is committed

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Estimated $415-billion overspend for 2010

Leave a Comment / News, Spend Analysis / Editor

Manufacturers, distributors and retailers will waste some $415 billion (R2 905-billion) this year overspending on transportation, technology & telecommunications and energy, US expenditure management consultancy NPI revealed in September. NPI’s research found that poor visibility in benchmarks for pricing, terms and cost-to-serve will contribute to overspending in 2010. The research is based on trends in

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A difficult time for the construction industry – Enter Procurement

Print procurement – Centralising a decentralised function