Working Capital Management
Thoughts on Supply Chain Impacts (After Listening to Trump’s State of the Union)
I listened to all one and a half hours of Trump’s State of the Union address last night, and while it was certainly very positive in terms of the economy, it also left me with some unanswered questions about the […]
Managerial Practice Will Need to Catch up with the Emergence of Real-time Supply Chains
In my new book “The Living Supply Chain” co-written with Tom Linton, we reflect on the new capabilities required to be able to work with the evolving imperative of real-time data. Two key concepts reflect the core elements of real-time […]
Assessing the True Return of Procurement Transformation on Total Shareholder Return: A Tough Proposition
In my earlier book with Gerard Chick on “The Procurement Value Proposition“, we advance the notion that buildoing a business case for investing in people, process, and technology improvement in procurement is key. Many procurement assessments developed by consultants seek […]
Who Owns Contract Management of Major Projects: Procurement or the Business?
Proponents of integrated supply management propose that successful Contract Management (both pre and post award) requires a collaboration between the business functions (Engineering, Operations, Maintenance) that have the need (demand, specifications & service levels) that require contracting with third party […]
Van Horne Institute Considers Alaska Transport Route, and Weighs Trump's Plans for Keystone XL
On election night last week, I was stationed in Calgary Alberta, watching the results unfold in Mountain Time, and wondering what was going on in the country I’ve adopted as home. You see, I’m a native Calgarian, and was visiting […]
What are Block Chains? – Jason Busch on the Future of Money, Trust and Transparency
Jason Busch provided a great view on Block Chains, and their impact on the future of funds in the supply chain, at the Global Procurement Tech Summit in Baltimore. Jason started out by discussing the fact that a company ledger […]
Black Friday isn't What it Used to Be…E-Commerce has Changed the Landscape
As retailers prepare for “Black Friday”, what used to be the “biggest shopping day of the year” (the day after Thanksgiving), expectations are actually rather low. A reporter on CNN noted that it was a “non-event”, and that even “Cyber […]
Procurement as a Non-Profit Center for Supply Chain Risk Consolidation
I spent some time this week with a group of procurement executives from Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions, a company that conducts all of the procurement and supply chain activity for YUM! brands (including Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, as well […]
Minority Supplier Payment Term Challenges at Diversity Alliance 4 Science: In the Shark Tank!
I participated in the Diversity Alliance 4 Science event last week held in Newark, NJ. For those of you who don’t know, this is a fantastic event held by most of the major life sciences companies, to encourage networking and […]
Omni-Channel Supply Chains Are Changing Everything You Ever Learned in School…
A senior executive from a large global manufacturer came to speak in my MBA class this week, and discussed the major shifts in global business that was occurring due to the emergence of omni-channel capabilities in the supply chain. His […]