6 November 2013

Adversarial supply chains have no place in the future

Leave a Comment / Sourcing Strategy, Supplier Management, Supplier Partnerships, Supply Chain Management SCM / Editor

Historically, relationships between supply chain partners have ranged from distant to adversarial, with organisations focused primarily on pushing costs up- or downstream, at the expense of their relationships. However, increasingly supply chain collaboration is ‘no longer seen as losing control, but gaining intelligence, capabilities and resources’.¹ Defined by Monczka, Trent and Handfield as, “the […]

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The ‘Millennials’ workforce will change the supply chain (Part 1)

Leave a Comment / Change, e-Procurement, Information technology, Sourcing Strategy, Technology, Tools / Editor

While on a search around the web, Richard Downs, Director, Solutions Marketing – EMEA, Ariba, an SAP Company, came across a statistic which made him ponder how traditional business challenges will change in the future: 75% of the workforce in 2025 will be ‘Millennials’. In part one of two, Downs wonders how traditional procurement

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Current procurement methods do not support mini budget’s austere measures

Leave a Comment / Commentary, e-Procurement, Procurement Strategy, Smart Sourcing, Technology, Tools, Travel / Editor

Many of the key items subject to austere measures under Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s mini budget fall under the Travel and Expense (T&E) portfolio. While these cost-cutting measures are a step in the right direction to curb excessive spending, Tracey Shaw, of travel technology company TraveluXion, wonders how they will be implemented in practice

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Increased employer numbers boosts SA SME activity to 4yr high

Leave a Comment / Enterprise Development / Editor

The Absa small and medium enterprises (SME) index rose to its highest level in four years in Q2 2013, with employer numbers increasing 6% year-on-year, or 1.5% over the quarter. The index rose to 96.1 points during the quarter, up 7.3% from its low-point in April 2010, but still lagging the high of 101.4

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Failing to compare prices and services guarantees squandered expenditure

Leave a Comment / Benchmarking, Procurement Strategy, Risk Management, Spend Analysis, Tools / Editor

By not benchmarking the prices and services you receive from suppliers and the way you use those goods and services removes valuable insight into what other organisations are achieving in the market and increases unknown risks, says Alan Low of Purchasing Index (PI), in this month’s SmartProcurement. “Benchmarking is the process of identifying and

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P-cards can ‘doctor’ your headache payment areas

Leave a Comment / MRO, Procurement Cards, Spend Analysis, Technology, Tools / Editor

After implementing a P-card programme to replace petty cash, and if the programme is working well, clients often ask: “where do we go from here?” Anita Carolus, Nedbank Corporate Card National Sales Manager, suggests that clients investigate all their payment processes and expand their P-card programmes into their ‘headache’ processes or problem areas. This

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Increasing need for big business to consult to entrepreneurs

Leave a Comment / Enterprise Development, Supplier Partnerships / Editor

With economic growth remaining a priority for South Africa, corporate involvement in enterprise development (ED) is proving a critical means of scaling-up SMEs and setting them on a path towards becoming potential private equity candidates, says Shawn Theunissen, head of CSR at Growthpoint Properties and Property Point (Growthpoint Properties’ enterprise development programme), in this

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When profits are the reward, not the target…

Leave a Comment / Enterprise Development / Editor

Raymond Ackerman is an open book when it comes to the driving motivation behind building a multi-billion Rand company: seeing profits as the reward, not the aim. The philosophy held by the Pick n Pay (PnP) founder, exceptional businessman, role model, billionaire, ambassador, and visionary is desperately needed in today’s economy, says entrepreneur virtual incubator

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Beyond labour unrest at BMW: Using technology to increase SCM competitiveness

Leave a Comment / Commentary, Procurement Strategy, Supply Chain Management SCM, Technology, Tools / Editor

Many South African businesses believe that the availability of cheap labour is the most important factor when it comes to being competitive globally, which may partly explain why the business community reacted with such alarm to the news that BMW cancelled it plans to expand production owing to labour unrest. “Whilst labour is a

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Successful procurement professionals’ 9 traits

Leave a Comment / Commentary, Procurement Strategy, Professional Development, Supply Chain Management SCM, Tools / Editor

Working extremely hard; being curious and eager to learn; and living in the present are just some of the traits of a successful procurement professional. That’s according to Tom Lovell, group managing director at recruitment website Reed, who was speaking at the CIPS Annual Conference in London during October. He said successful people were:

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