Procurement at a Crossroads: Career-Impacting Insights into a Rapidly Changing Industry - Hardcover

Barner, Kelly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1604271175 ISBN 13: 9781604271171

Verlag: J Ross Publishing, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Foreword by David Clevenger, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Organizational Development at Corporate United, and six-time honoree of the Inc. 5000.The procurement profession is at a major crossroads. Practitioners are responding to pressure from executive leadership to become more strategic, in some cases eliminating tactical work through outsourcing or automation. At the same time, performance metrics emphasize the need to continue negotiating savings and managing supplier performance. Procurement at a Crossroads: Career-Impacting Insights into a Rapidly Changing Industry aids practitioners in developing a vision for their medium- and long-term career goals, and shows them how to balance the need to become more strategic while out-performing tactical expectations.

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As the Editor and lead writer for the PI Social Media Network's Procurement Insights Blog, Jon Hansen has written close to 2,500 articles and papers, as well as five books on subjects as diverse as supply chain practice, public sector policy, emerging business trends, and social media. Besides being a sought-after speaker internationally, Jon is also the host of the highly acclaimed PI Window on The World Show on Blog Talk Radio, which recently aired its 900th episode. In August 2013, out of a group of 15,000, Blog Talk Radio named Jon Hansen as one of their top 300 hosts.Kelly Barner is the Editor of Buyers Meeting Point, an online resource for procurement and purchasing professionals, and has over a decade of experience working in procurement and supply chain as a practitioner, consultant, and writer.Ms. Barner is a regular guest contributor to a number of industry blogs and publications. Since 2011 she has delivered a weekly procurement podcast that covers the coming week's events and a guest sound bite with editorial commentary. Ms. Barner has an MBA from Babson College, an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College, and a BA in English and History from Clark University. In 2014, she co-authored the book, Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals: Research, Process, and Resources.

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Procurement at a Crossroads

Career-Impacting Insights into a Rapidly Changing Industry

By Jon Hansen, Kelly Barner

J. Ross Publishing, Inc.

Copyright © 2016 Jon Hansen and Kelly Barner
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60427-117-1

Contents

Dedication, 
Foreword, 
About the Authors, 
Introduction, 
WAV™ Information, 
Chapter 1: Who Is Procurement?, 
Chapter 2: Has Procurement (Finally) Come of Age?, 
Chapter 3: Is Procurement Strategic?, 
Chapter 4: Is There Truth Behind the Numbers?, 
Chapter 5: Are Win-Win Collaborations Really Possible?, 
Chapter 6: Do We Really Need Another Chapter about Finance?, 
Chapter 7: Can Procurement Technology Benefit from the Uber Effect?, 
Chapter 8: Are the Differences Between the Public and Private Sectors Real or, 
Chapter 9: The Media and Procurement: Are We Really Covered?, 
Chapter 10: Where Does Procurement Go from Here?, 
Epilogue: What If We Are Wrong about the Future of Procurement?, 
Appendices Interview Transcripts, 
Appendix A: Interview with Thomas Derry, CEO of the Institute for Supply Management, 
Appendix B: Interview with Kate Vitasek, Author, Educator, and Architect of the Vested Business Model, and Phil Coughlin, President of Global Geographies and Operations for Expeditors International, 
Appendix C: Interview with Rob Handfield, Author, Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain at North Carolina State University, Executive Director Supply Chain Resource Cooperative, 

CHAPTER 1

Who Is Procurement?

"Some executives used to think of procurement as the place you send staff away in order to never see them again." Leading Procurement Strategy, Carlos Mena, Remko van Hoek, Martin Christopher

In 1913, Elwood "E.B." Hendricks was a representative for the Thomas Publishing Company in New York City. He was a salesperson, busy providing reference materials to purchasing agents at many of the largest companies of the day. The Thomas Register of American Manufacturers was the supplier network or business network of its time, and it allowed purchasing agents to locate products across the United States. Although information on suppliers and their capabilities had been consolidated, most purchasing agents were still focused on their own local community and were skeptical of the need to network in an extended fashion — even with other agents.

In a time long before e-commerce and before use of the telephone was commonplace, business was conducted in person and in writing. As he made his rounds of sales calls, Hendricks recognized how professionally isolated purchasing agents were, even in densely populated New York City. Known by his contemporaries as an idea man, he "saw a need for a professional organization that would bring them [purchasing agents] together to network as well as provide educational opportunities to improve their performance." The organization he envisioned, which would become the New York Chapter of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) was formally launched in January of 1914. It still exists today, and although it conducts business in a different way and with a vastly different membership profile, it has achieved the national status intended by Hendricks.

Despite the fact that ISM is well-known in the field of procurement, few practitioners know that we owe our oldest professional institution to the vision of a salesperson. This piece of our collective history is indicative of the stereotypical procurement personality and the challenges that it creates for us today. In a field stereotyped as being risk averse, full of professionals who feel most comfortable following or enforcing preapproved guidelines, opportunities to blaze new trails or foresee strategic changes may pass us by.

As was the case in the early 20th century, procurement today is in need of vision and direction. The characteristics of the average practitioner are changing in terms of demographics, qualifications, background, and aspirations. At the same time, companies are looking to accomplish more than managing economies of scale and standardizing specifications to reduce costs. Just over a century after Hendricks helped found ISM-New York, the procurement profession is primed to seize an opportunity for better corporate positioning and unlimited potential. Whether or not the changing profile of modern procurement practitioners and the expanding expectations of the enterprise will come into alignment, and where our next visionaries will come from, remains to be seen.

PATHS INTO, THROUGH, AND OUT OF PROCUREMENT

Now that we have established a historical basis for the collective procurement persona, we must ask:

• What does the history of the profession and its evolution to this point mean to today's purchasing professionals on a practical level?

• Or, to put it another way, just as Hendricks' vision resulted in the establishment of a professional community: what will be the next big shift, when will it happen, who will serve as the visionaries, and what impact will it have on us?

The answers to those questions will, for each individual, have a lot to do with how they found their way into the procurement profession in the first place.

To gain this important perspective, each practitioner must first identify into which one of the following three career categories he or she falls — traditional purchaser (or buyer), Generation Next procurement professional, or second career procurement professional. If, over a period of time, we were to ask a variety of procurement audiences all the same question — How many of you chose purchasing as a career? — the audience response would vary greatly.

It used to be that if one or two hands were raised, it was considered a big number. In the past, it seemed that the majority of traditional purchasing people fell into the job. Back then it was considered a job rather than a profession, and it was more likely to be determined by circumstance than by choice. Starting a career in purchasing was reminiscent of the classic childhood scenario where the captain of the team had to pick the guy with thick eyeglasses and two left feet because he had no other choice. Accepting a career in purchasing was similar to the captain's choice in that no one else seemed to want the job, so you took it and its two left feet rather than forfeit the game.

Equally important is the sentiment captured by the quote that opens this chapter. Sometimes having a career in purchasing had more to do with a manager or executive not wanting to see you any more than it did any choice you might make for yourself. The authors of Leading Procurement Strategy made this statement before going on to discuss the increasing breadth and depth of required procurement capabilities. Not only do our organizations want us to be more strategic with regard to the responsibilities we have had in the past, but also to expand our influence and relevance into areas such as corporate social responsibility, risk management, and supply base innovation.

Whether traditional buyers ended up in purchasing because it was the path of least resistance or because they were banished there from some other function, it did not bode well for their success. It also does little to suggest that the role will survive beyond them. By allowing purchasing teams to be staffed with people who had so little inner direction (or so much ability to offend),...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: J Ross Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1604271175
• ISBN 13: 9781604271171
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 328
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar