A Walk in the Clouds
As I write this, I wish I was in the clouds, literally. But I am not, still grounded in Italy by the volcanic ash clouds of Eyjafjallajökull (what a nice…
Spend Analysis, Italian Style
We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming…. Two of my favorite things: (1) waking up in Italy and (2) talking about spend analysis. Despite my 90-year old Nonna’s…
Harvesting Supplier Innovation (Part 3)
Today we conclude a series of articles (found here, here, and here) on Supplier Innovation. At the core, competitive advantage is built upon a foundation of enterprise partnerships with customers…
Harvesting Supplier Innovation (Part 2)
Earlier this week, I discussed the opportunity to promote innovation by working with smaller suppliers and presented a successful case study of Kellogg’s development of supplier innovation program. Today, I…
Harvesting Supplier Innovation (Part 1)
On Monday, I made the case that “targeted bets on some smaller suppliers can help enterprises find that next big (or key incremental) innovation.” Today we’ll look at how procurement…
A Cinderella Story
Everyone loves an underdog. Tonight at 9:21 pm ET at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis, Butler University tips off against Duke University in the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship…
Opening Day – Welcome to CPO Rising!
Welcome to CPO Rising, the first independent site that seeks to chronicle the continuing rise of Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) and other supply management leaders within the enterprise business ranks.…
ePayables: The Digital Difference Webinar
A deficient accounts payable function creates problems for procurement and the CPO. AP departments that lack technology, centralization of oversight, and visibility negatively impact procurement processes and performance. A discussion…
“We have no specific procurement goals.”
The title of this article was the response I received to the question “How does your CFO measure your performance?” that I posed to the director of procurement for a…
The “CPO Bump”
While the cost of some marketing programs can be excessive, effective campaigns can pay huge dividends for many years. One of the most challenging aspects in all of marketing is…