Nearly half the retail and manufacturing companies surveyed in a recent Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium study now have a supply chain leader at or above the executive vice president level, reflecting a positive trend in supply chain leadership over the past five years.
Specifically, here’s a breakdown of the survey results by industry:
The study also found that: (more…)
Those of us who work in the field know it to be true. But, now there’s new survey data that offers confirmation: These days, supply chain function is widely recognized as an integral part of successful business strategy.
The survey, conducted by the Cranfield School of Management and Solving Efeso, included more than 180 senior global supply chain professionals, and it provides insights about the strategic development and implementation process in some of the world’s leading organizations.
The findings show that about two-thirds of those polled have senior supply chain representation in the boardroom, and that supply chain management is now increasingly integrated into companies’ overall business strategies. In fact, survey participants identified alignment with corporate strategy and customer service as the leading functional drivers of supply chain strategy; the most important supply chain performance drivers were found to be cost focus, customer lead-time and customer quality. (more…)
Ninety-four multinational companies recently participated in A.T. Kearney’s global survey of indirect procurement, and the results suggest that unfortunately, many firms remain resistant to updating analytics techniques.
Specifically, the data showed that even though indirect procurement categories like IT, marketing and advertising, facilities management, MRO, Logistics and professional services, have become increasingly important to Chief Procurement Officers and their organizations, most companies are adopting new practices at a much slower rate than analysts expected.
For example, A.T. Kearney found that: (more…)
Good news: Financial professionals are becoming more aware of procurement’s impact on both profitability and risk, according to the annual The Cost of Control report, released last week by Basware.
The Cost of Control 2010 is the second annual global study of its kind by Basware, and it offers some fascinating insights into the opinions and priorities of 550 finance executives around the world.
For example, I was especially intrigued by how the CFOs’ views of procurement has changed over the past year. Among those polled, nearly half (48 percent) now said that procurement has a positive effect on profitability –and that’s a considerable increase from the 29 percent who thought so back in 2009. I was also pleased to see that finance is becoming more aware of procurement’s impact on risk. This year, 39 percent of respondents cite procurement as a financial risk exposure –up from 28 percent last year.
The report says these findings indicate that lessons have been learned in the last 12 months, probably as finance departments were rocked by unprecedented turbulence within supply chains. I agree, and I think we are going to see the trend towards enhanced CFO-CPO collaboration continue as companies begin to realize that in today’s volatile, ultra-competitive economy, success depends on a coordinated and collaborative response between finance and procurement.
Here are a few other key findings from the study: (more…)
Now that all eyes are on the procurement department to drive operational performance and cost reductions, strategic sourcing has become more important than ever before, according to new research by the Aberdeen Group.
The new report, Strategic Sourcing: The 2010 Guide to Driving Savings and Procurement Performance, gauged the sourcing programs, processes, and performance of over 400 enterprises and found that Best-in-Class enterprises are: (more…)
