Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Extreme commodity price volatility has become the norm. To cope, successful sourcing professionals must deeply understand the commodity markets. This means knowing the current and expected industry capacity for delivering that commodity, current and emerging sources of demand, and trading speculation trends.

Using Software as a Service to Reduce Expenses

February 24, 2009

Mickey North Rizza, research director, AMR Research

AMR Research expects shared services organizations and outsourcing delivery models to be a crucial vehicle for reducing sourcing and procurement overhead expenses. This will be enabled by a labor arbitrage, centralization of resources, tighter efficiencies in managed spend, improved process acumen and access to new technologies. These technologies, however, will see a shift from traditional license approaches to a more economical, integrated SaaS approach.

Protecting Your Supply Chain Against Financial Vulnerability

February 20, 2009

Beth Enslow, senior vice president, supply chain risk management, Marsh Inc.

The global credit crunch is jeopardizing the financial health of our supply chains. In 2009, companies should reassess suppliers' financial stability and implement processes to spot operational red flags that are early warning signals of financial stress.

Combining Finance, Supply Chain and Procurement During the Credit Crunch

February 20, 2009

Viktoriya Sadlovska, research analyst, Aberdeen Group

When the competition is no longer among individual companies but among entire supply chains, every area of end-to-end cost reduction needs to be explored. Financial supply chain optimization has helped leading companies make their whole supply chain more competitive with the introduction of more advanced supply chain finance practices and automated transaction processing. Finance, supply chain, and procurement groups need to collaboratively explore how to use supply chain finance to reduce supply chain costs.

How Much Control Does Pharma Have Over Its Changing Supply Chain?

February 19, 2009

Beth Enslow, senior vice president, supply chain risk management, Marsh Inc.

Because of margin and market growth pressures, life sciences supply chains are more dynamic than ever before. In 2009, best practice companies will continue to put in place data analysis processes and "human knowledge" collection procedures to spot red flags and safety risks in their end-to-end supply chains.

Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

The latest news, analysis, trends and solutions regarding sourcing, procurement and supplier relationship management (SRM) and their impact on supply chain management. New technologies in sourcing and procurement are transforming the way companies do business - and allowing them to stay ahead of the competition in their industries. As these solutions continue to evolve, businesses are discovering new ways to increase efficiency, cut costs and build more strategic partnerships. Learn how companies around the world are using sourcing, procurement and SRM solutions for supply chain optimization.