April 17, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

In the uncertainty of the current economic environment, many traditional business practices and approaches are open to scrutiny and examination. Purchasing may take a closer look at supplier relationships with an eye towards reducing costs, maximizing efficiency and in some instances, merely sustaining the status quo.

There are many ways to evaluate supplier performance and contribution in an objective manner. At the same time, there are always subjective factors that come into play when considering the value of suppliers. When purchasers assess supplier value all of these factors influence supplier strategy decisions.

Nobody discounts the importance of steady, stable and reliable supplier relationships. However when there is a sharp focus on reducing the supplier base or increasing leverage with suppliers, what happens to the small, local but loyal supplier that ...Read More

March 5, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Now that the Super Bowl is a distant enough memory to forget or a vibrant enough one to remember (depending on who you were rooting for), I couldn’t help but think of the money that companies spent on television advertising. Counting pre-game, halftime, game and post-game there were more than 90 commercials. The cost for a 30-second spot ranged from $2.7 to $3 million. In my mind, there was little room for error if the ad generated only multiple viewings on MySpace or made it any one of the numerous Worst Of lists.

Interestingly enough in the Internet age even negative attention is good attention. Go Daddy’s previous spots were considered risqué or controversial. This year they stayed in the same vein with an ad featuring race car driver Danica Patrick. Whether or not you like the company or the ad itself, their website reported an incredible 2 millio...Read More

January 22, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (3)

I was just reading some observations by Charles Dominick of Next Level Purchasing with respect to changes in the world of purchasing over the past ten years. The format is like a David Letterman “Top 10” list and it is an easy, yet thoughtful read.

The entry that caught my eye was, “Purchasing Grabbed More Spend”.  Dominick references areas of spend such as fleet management, benefits and travel, that historically were “once sourced by other departments." How true, and perhaps it may still be true with some of these areas of spending in some companies. As with legal services, many companies believe that the procurement of human resources benefits and training programs are the domain of human resources professionals.

Yet if purc...Read More

January 2, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

As 2007 closes and the holiday shopping frenzy winds down, my wish for 2008 is that common sense and good customer service will prevail, for a lack of both of these was evident in my holiday observations and through experiences related by others.

A friend once told me that the most disturbing part of an economic downturn was the disappearance of customer service, or in his words, “the expulsion of the words customer and service from the dictionary.” Recently, he purchased a new refrigerator and upon delivery, asked if the door handle could be reversed. Both deliverymen looked at him as if he had made an outlandish request. One answered that it wasn’t part of his job and the other said that he had no idea how to do it, suggesting that a call to the com...Read More

December 18, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (6)

Add high legal fees to death and taxes as inevitability in our life/work journey. It seems like the annual letter is the same, only the year changes; “Effective January 1st, our new hourly rate will be (fill in the blank). This increase is necessitated by rising operations and administrative costs. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to serving all of your future legal services needs.”

The next thing you know your outside counsel is billing you $450 per hour. What recourse do you have? Ordinarily, I might say your options are limited, but then I saw what Wal-Mart decided to do about it.

According to a blog post on The Wall Street Journal , Wal-Mart noticed that the salaries for associates in their outside le...Read More