Customer Relationship Management

Nov 23, 2021

Maybe its time for consumers to consume less…Market Satiation as a new supply chain strategy

The current set of supply chain disruptions is being set off by a combination of COVID cases and energy disruptions in manufacturing hubs around the world, labor shortages, lack of…

Oct 28, 2022

What does”Supplier Relationship Management” really mean?

In a report I worked on in 2013, I conducted interviews conducted with 25 chief procurement officers (CPOs) on one of the most important drivers of value creation and resilience…

Dec 15, 2022

As Inventories and Capacity Expansion Grew Too Quickly in 2022, Customers are Forcing Suppliers to Bear the Brunt of Optimistic Forecasts

In today’s Wall Street Journal, I was interviewed regarding a case that was just filed against Amazon by a large robotics , claiming that the e-commerce giant backed away from…

Jan 24, 2020

Apple Procurement Leader Hails from NC State

Today’s WSJ front page shares the important role of one of Apple’s top senior executives who runs much of the procurement and supply chain activity for Apple – Tony Blevins. …

Mar 22, 2019

SCRC Meeting: Closing the Gap Between Marketing and Procurement

Our upcoming SCRC meeting on April 25 will explore a topic that has been top of mind for me and several other people for some time. To give you a…

Nov 6, 2017

Excess and Obsolete Inventory: You’re All Responsible for It!

The Supply Chain Resource Cooperative held its first ever “Executive Roundtable on Excess and Obsolete Inventory” on the NC State campus on October 25, 2017. The event was attended by 25…

Sep 15, 2017

Sales Can Use RACI Charts to Understand Procurement… and vice versa!

RACI Charts have been around for years, yet are often discounted. RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed – which refers to the relative governance structure that exists in…

May 5, 2017

Can Sales and Procurement Ever be BFF's?

The relationship between sales and procurement has always been a contentious one, and the idea of a friendship evolving between the two functions is laughable in the minds of many…

Apr 29, 2017

Hilarious Sourcing Videos

I had an opportunity to watch some hilarious sourcing videos recently that I discovered on a sourcing blog by Citro Strategy. The three scenarios depict the actions of “hardball negotiating” procurement…

Feb 23, 2017

How does procurement evaluate outsource providers?

In the RFQ process, procurement should ideally be transparent about answering this question. Too often, however, the sales team at suppliers providing the bid have to “guess” at what they…