Top Stories Archives - Smart Procurement

Inefficient procurement cost Africa $31.5-billion – KPMG survey

Leave a Comment / Commentary, Legal / Contract, Procurement Strategy, Public Sector Procurement, Risk Management, Supply Chain Management SCM, Top Stories / Editor

Ineffective procurement, expressed as value leakage, is estimated to have cost the African continent $31.5-billion, revealed KPMG in a recent report. Sub-Saharan Africa contributed $24.9-billion to that amount. While the report noted that the role of procurement in organisations was becoming increasingly strategic, 73% of C-level executives polled during KPMG’s Power of Procurement 2.0 […]

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Reducing supply chain costs through the circular economy

Leave a Comment / Global Sourcing, Procurement Strategy, Sourcing Strategy, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Management SCM, Sustainable Procurement, Top Stories / Editor

Today, the linear ‘take, make, dispose’ economy that relies heavily on cheap resources for growth, is under threat from increasing commodity prices and growing consumer demand. The ‘circular economy’ offers a viable alternative, with cost savings estimated at over $1-trillion per annum by 2025. The supply chain has a key role to play in

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The Kraljic Model can identify expenditure fit for P-cards

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

Ad hoc expenditure is a big headache for any organisation and procurement division: these low-value, high-volume purchases can erode budgets if processed through traditional P2P. While the solution is to introduce a purchasing card (P-card) programme, how does one determine which expenditure to put on a P-card? A simple and effective way of segmenting

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BEE prepared and it will benefit all

Leave a Comment / BEE, Commentary, Enterprise Development, Preferential Procurement, Supply Chain Management SCM, Top Stories / Editor

It is not about the numbers. For many South African companies, Broad-Based Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) up until now may have been about tallying numbers on a scorecard to achieve compliance. However this will no longer be enough, and amendments to the B-BBEE measurement codes published on 11 October 2013 by the Department of Trade

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Declining SMME index indicates narrowing entrepreneurial supply base

Leave a Comment / Change, Commentary, Enterprise Development, Low Cost Sourcing, Service Outsourcing, Top Stories / Editor

The Absa SMME index declined during Q1 2014, with a total quarterly decrease of 2.2% and a yearly decrease of 3.8%. The index declined to a two-year low in Q4 2013 (from 95.6 to 93.4). Although South Africa has not yet entered a recession, the overall index clearly reflects slower growth over the last

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People fail, not suppliers…

Leave a Comment / Enterprise Development, Professional Development, Risk Management, Supplier Partnerships, Supply Chain Management SCM, Top Stories / Editor

Being an entrepreneurial supplier is exhilarating, but at times challenging. In fact, supply relationship managers involved in enterprise development may have sleepless nights wondering if their small or self-employed suppliers may be considering throwing in the towel because their businesses are not working. Don Pitsoe, Business Mentor at The Hope Factory offers 10 words

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Procurement SA + Ed incubators = entrepreneurs accessing industry

Leave a Comment / Commentary, Enterprise Development, Supplier Partnerships, Top Stories / Editor

Outside of their own organisations’ enterprise development initiatives, procurement departments across SA can offer numerous avenues for incubated entrepreneurs to access the country’s industry through agreements with various incubators. An incubation model cannot stop once an entrepreneur’s skills gaps have been ‘treated’ – the model must give entrepreneurs a means of accessing industry at

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Latest Research: Where does SA procurement face it biggest challenges?

Leave a Comment / BEE, Commentary, Compliance / Legal, Preferential Procurement, Procurement Strategy, Supply Chain Management SCM, Top Stories / Editor

BEE procurement, specifically implementing the New Codes, is considered the biggest challenge that South African procurement professionals currently face, said 481 respondents to a SmartProcurement survey. The concern around The Codes is unsurprising, considering many organisations believe they stand to lose a BEE level or two. Concerns around the BEE Codes will be extensively

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Creating a culture of spend optimisation

Leave a Comment / Change, Procurement Strategy, Spend Analysis, Technology, Top Stories / Editor

Spend management evolved from a technology perspective when it was realised that organisation-level purchasing required a separate and unique set of tools that could set it apart for improving efficiency and gaining deeper insight into spend. While spend management has expanded into other areas of the supply chain, it is still focused on controlling

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Managing supply risk – asking suppliers to share your supply risk

Leave a Comment / Contract Management, Risk Management, Supplier Management, Supply Chain Management SCM, Top Stories / Editor

Every business faces risks – the probability of events occurring – that can or will present challenges to their operations. Risk management is the practice of using processes, methods and tools to identify the level of probability, and then manage the ensuing risks. In practice, this means identifying in advance what can go wrong

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