Supplier Relationship Management
Building a More Immune Supply Chain: Focusing on the Basics
What should organizations do when confronted by a global disruption like the pandemic? This question was faced by many companies and private sector organizations who were faced with a sudden need for PPE and other supplies, and discovered that all […]
Catastrophic Impacts of COVID19 in Bangladesh Apparel Supply Chain
An article written by my former PhD student, Rejaul Hasan, and I just came out this week in Contracting Excellence, the journal published by IACCM, which documents the catastrophe that is unfolding in Bangladesh, one of the world’s major exporters […]
Proactive supplier communication is critical in this pandemic
As the coronavirus epidemic shuts down the global economy, supply chain executives should be taking steps now to ensure that their supply base remains intact in the face of massive disruption. This was certainly the case in the 2008 Great […]
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. Mr. Blevins studied industrial engineering at North Carolina State, and […]
State of Flux: An Update on the Current State of Supplier Relationship Management
I had the opportunity to speak at the annual SRM Summit coordinated by State of Flux, led by their leader Alan Day. Alan spoke on insights from their annual SRM “book”, which included survey results on the current state of […]
First NCSU Procurement Leadership Program a Great Success!
We held our first ever Procurement Leadership workshop this week, hosting a group of executives from Altria, American Red Cross, Cheniere Energy, Smith & Nephew, RSCS (YUM! Brands) and the US Air Force. The mix of executives from both the […]
Closing the Gap Between Buyers and Sellers: “Everything is Changed, Nothing is Different”
We hosted an extremely successful set of speakers at our SCRC meeting this past week. One of my core beliefs, that I’ve espoused over the 30 years that I’ve been working in this field, is that working together for mutually […]
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 clue as to what this is about, consider the typical […]
NC State SCRC analytics contribute to KRMA, one of the top ESG funds in the market
More sustainability-minded investors are becoming conscious of what is known as ESG funds. Investments predicated upon Environmental, Social and Governance best practices evolved from what was once known as socially responsible investments. In its day, SRI was essentially a subtractive […]
The Risks and Benefits of Socializing with Suppliers
I had a chance to meet with a group of supply chain executives at the University of Calgary this week, which included a discussion by Ken Rawson. Ken has over 30 years of experience working in supply management, first with […]