60http://blog.sourcinginnovation.comSat, 18 May 2013 02:26:02 GMTSat, 18 May 2013 02:26:02 GMTen thedoctor@sourcinginnovation.comnohttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/17/need-a-truck-buytruckloadcom.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorBelieve it or not, counter to every nerve in your body, you should be buying a portion of your freight business on the spot market! Take a minute, get those gasps out, and SI will explain why. Simply put, for the vast majority of product-based companies, freight is the one category that is inefficient from a contract perspective. At first thought, this might not make sense as efficiencies and cost savings typically come from good planning, but this is precisely why you can often get significantly better rates spot-buying your freight than contracting ...Best PracticesDecision OptimizationLogisticshttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/17/need-a-truck-buytruckloadcom.aspx#Commentsd3158251-564b-4236-851c-f08bd9525536Fri, 17 May 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/16/dont-forget-the-post-mortem-in-your-strategic-category-management-of-services.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorA couple of weeks ago, after running our series on Strategic Category Management (Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV), we said Don't Forget Strategic Category Management in Your Services Categories. This was because a lot of organizations believe that strategic category management is only for direct categories or physical goods, when nothing could be further from the truth (especially when indirect spend can approach 50% in some organizations). In this post, we outlined the nine phases of strategic category management and how they relate to services categories. Although we did not ...Best PracticesProcurement Innovationhttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/16/dont-forget-the-post-mortem-in-your-strategic-category-management-of-services.aspx#Commentscbe6a172-bf19-4f38-8c21-55eaf3af3235Thu, 16 May 2013 09:59:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/15/scandinavian-and-the-netherlands-in-the-creative-top-ten-why.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorToday's guest post is from Gert van der Heijden, the Executive editor of Spendmatters.nl. I just read the doctor's post on Sourcing Innovation (which I translated and posted on SpendMatters.nl) which noted that Scandinavia and The Netherlands are leading the world in creativity. The post, which referenced The Global Creativity Index, ranked 82 nations on their alignment between Technology, Talent and Tolerance to determine that Sweden was first, Finland was third, Denmark was fourth, Norway was eighth, and The Netherlands were tenth. While I have to admit that (being a Dutch bloke), as ...Guest AuthorTalenthttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/15/scandinavian-and-the-netherlands-in-the-creative-top-ten-why.aspx#Comments42895ad7-c47b-4e9d-8200-bd0123e1758cWed, 15 May 2013 09:59:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/14/so-how-do-we-fix-the-problems-we-created-part-ii.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorAs per yesterday's post, we are the biggest supply chain risk. So, how do we become the biggest supply chain solution? By fixing the problems we created. Then the risks will be minimized, and so will the disruptions. Fortunately, the solutions are easy. Unfortunately, the decisions to implement them aren't always easy from a business, or should I say, capitalistic, point of view. In the short-term, they can be expensive even though, done right, they pay off considerably (and often in multiples) in the long-term. Today we will review ...Global TradeRisk Managementhttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/14/so-how-do-we-fix-the-problems-we-created-part-ii.aspx#Commentsbcf2827f-13d8-48b4-a429-5c3d63d5ad84Tue, 14 May 2013 09:57:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/13/so-how-do-we-fix-the-problems-we-created-part-i.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorAs per yesterday's post, we are the biggest supply chain risk. So, how do we become the biggest supply chain solution? By fixing the problems we created. Then the risks will be minimized, and so will the disruptions. Fortunately, the solutions are easy. Unfortunately, the decisions to implement them aren't always easy from a business, or should I say, capitalistic, point of view. In the short-term, they can be expensive even though, done right, they pay off considerably (and often in multiples) in the long-term. Climate Change We could ...Global TradeRisk Managementhttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/13/so-how-do-we-fix-the-problems-we-created-part-i.aspx#Comments287dea5f-54e0-4e68-ac96-5e5acadbbbf3Mon, 13 May 2013 09:56:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/12/uh-oh--youre-in-the-sop-rabbit-hole-.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorProcurement Leaders recently released their CPO Guide for 2013. One of the key findings, related to the economic environment, was that most CPOs seem over-optimistic about their organization's sales potential for 2013, but are less positive about the wider economy. To be blunt, if the economy is going to remain stagnant, then the majority of you are going to have stagnant sales. Mathematically speaking, the only way a majority of organizations could have an increase in sales in a stagnant economy is if one or more major market players in the majority of ...Market IntelligenceEconomicshttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/12/uh-oh--youre-in-the-sop-rabbit-hole-.aspx#Comments84c4bae2-32a2-4400-9dc0-069bc370e182Sun, 12 May 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/11/when-the-trials-and-tribulations-of-supply-management-get-you-down-.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorAlways remember ... ...Miscellaneoushumourhttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/11/when-the-trials-and-tribulations-of-supply-management-get-you-down-.aspx#Commentsca784d57-943a-46ff-9671-7b11dfe28ffcSat, 11 May 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/10/whats-the-biggest-supply-chain-risk.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorUs! The biggest supply chain risks are not bankruptcy and plant failure, they are not unusual and damaging weather patterns, and they are not natural disasters. As clearly pointed out in the Supply Chain Risk Leadership Council (SCRLC) in their 2013 Emerging Risks in the Supply Chain study, the biggest risk is us -- the human race -- as a collective whole. To see this, let's review the fourteen (14) risks that were identified and discussed. Climate Change A key contributor to climate ...Risk Managementrantshttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/10/whats-the-biggest-supply-chain-risk.aspx#Comments37242611-6d8a-42bd-8d0b-2ae0ba9a83b5Fri, 10 May 2013 09:55:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/09/we-have-supply-management-problems--where-will-we-find-solutions-.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorScandinavia. That's right, Scandinavia! Apparently. According to the Global Creativity Index, put out by the Martin Prosperity Institute* and published in 2011, Sweden takes first place, Finland takes third place, Denmark takes fourth place, Norway takes eighth place, and the Netherlands takes tenth. The U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore round out the top 10, creating North American and Australasian pockets of creativity, but most of it is centered in Scandinavia. (And that's likely why Spend Matters is expanding into The Netherlands. They're hoping to tap into ...Knowledge ManagementMarket IntelligenceSourcing Innovationhttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/09/we-have-supply-management-problems--where-will-we-find-solutions-.aspx#Comments274570fa-b39e-4ba8-acee-0fbf029181e2Thu, 09 May 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/08/dont-forget-strategic-category-management-in-your-services-categories.aspx?ref=rssthe doctorEven though there is no inventory, nothing physical to return, and very few recovery opportunities available, even if the supplier fails to perform, you still need to manage your services categories strategically. Why? As per the Hackett Group Spend/Savings Visibility Study (in 2010), 48% of indirect expenditures (composed of T&E, Marketing Spend, Logistics Spend, and Professional Services) are primarily services-related, and an additional 35% (composed of IT/Telecom) are largely-services related. Furthermore, when you consider that, in some organizations, indirect spend can approach 50% of spend, and that the organization is often left with ...Best PracticesSourcing Innovationhttp://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2013/05/08/dont-forget-strategic-category-management-in-your-services-categories.aspx#Commentscc940c3c-3676-43e2-9a60-a1dcc43a7061Wed, 08 May 2013 09:55:00 GMT