Corporate Procurement Management

I hope that you have enjoyed the article, "The 21st Century Procurement Department" and found that it helps you with your modern corporate procurement management challenges and changes.

When modernizations are made, changes to the name of a function are often contemplated. You may ask, "What is the most current name for corporate procurement?"

In a recent survey of procurement professionals, respondents were asked what name they preferred for the corporate procurement function.

Procurement, purchasing, and supply chain management each got about 25% of the votes. Supply management got about 10%. The remaining 15% was split among many other titles.

Trendier names got very few votes and may end up being here today, gone tomorrow.

So, don't get too creative when thinking about what to call your corporate procurement department. More importantly, you should spend your time working on the principles of making the department modern, whatever you choose to call it.

Respectfully,
Charles Dominick, C.P.M., SPSM
President
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
Give Your Purchasing Career A Boost By
Earning Your SPSM Certification Online At
http://www.NextLevelPurchasing.com

Affording Your Supply Chain Certification

Many people who were interested in earning their Senior Professional in Supply Management (SPSM) Certification have struggled with the costs involved in enrolling in the SPSM Certification Program.

So, a few months back, we created the Pay-As-You-Go Certification Plan. This allows you to pay for each class and each fee (exam and application) only when you are ready to take a class, take the exam, or submit your application.

Even though the costs end up being a little higher, people seem to like having the ability to only have to part with a maximum of $200 at a time. So if you want to begin working toward your supply chain certification but only want to pay in small increments, the Pay-As-You-Go Certification Plan may be for you.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions.

Respectfully,
Charles Dominick, C.P.M., SPSM
President
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
Give Your Purchasing Career A Boost By
Earning Your SPSM Certification Online At
http://www.NextLevelPurchasing.com

Contracts For Services

In my last post, I mentioned my sourcing advice being published in the July 2005 edition of Inside Supply Management magazine.

That issue also features a great article about contracting for services, written by Ernest Gabbard. Ernest has also contributed his contract law wisdom to the forthcoming August 23, 2005 edition of PurchTips, so get ready to check that out.

If you haven't signed up for a FREE subscription to PurchTips yet, sign up and see other purchasing articles here. The edition with Ernest is just one of many great upcoming articles you won't want to miss!

Of course, if you are looking for more comprehensive training on how to write a contract, feel free to check out the description of Next Level Purchasing's online class "Supply Management Contract Writing."

Respectfully,
Charles Dominick, C.P.M., SPSM
President
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
Give Your Purchasing Career A Boost By
Earning Your SPSM Certification Online At
http://www.NextLevelPurchasing.com

Inside Supply Management

If you subscribe to Inside Supply Management magazine, turn to page 37 of this month's issue (July 2005).

There, you'll find a quote from me answering the question "What's most critical when adapting to a new spend or commodity area?"

I reply with a 4-step process that I've successfully used. I won't duplicate the article here, but here is the outline of the process:

1. Analyze transaction data

2. Engage key stakeholders in the sourcing process (a strategic sourcing best practice)

3. Consider future demand forecasts

4. Benchmark externally

The article contains more "meat" on what each step involves.

I welcome you to post your comments on the article here. Just click the comments link below.

Respectfully,
Charles Dominick, C.P.M., SPSM
President
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.

Strategic Sourcing Intiative Buy-In

I hope that you have enjoyed the article "Strategic Sourcing & Stakeholder Resistance."

If you're not sure whether involving stakeholders in developing the answers to the 10 questions will work, let's think for a moment about psychology.

Think of a decision you made that was later criticized. How did you feel about that criticism? In most cases, people feel defensive when their decisions are criticized.

Even if they agree that the outcome did not turn out well, they are more likely to try to justify and defend their decisions than just say "You're right. I have no idea what I was thinking. I am just a bad decision maker."

This is human.

So, what does this have to do with stakeholder resistance to strategic sourcing initiatives?

Plenty.

Involving your stakeholders in answering those 10 questions will help them feel ownership of the outcome. Instead of the strategic sourcing process being just "your" initiative that you impose on them, they will feel as if it is "their" initiative. So, they will put more effort into making it work.

They don't want to fail. If "their" decisions are criticized, they will follow the typical human pattern and try to defend them.

The bottom line is that you will know that you've successfully integrated stakeholders into the process when they stop referring to things like "your supplier" or "your project" and start using ownership terms like "our supplier" and "our project."

What do you think?

Click the Comments link below and share your thoughts!

Respectfully,
Charles Dominick, C.P.M., SPSM
President
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.