I know we’re a little early for 2009 prediction posts, which usually come sometime between Thanksgiving gluttony and sloppy Auld Lang Syn sing-alongs. But I wanted to get these off my chest for a couple of reasons. First, the steel markets are extremely volatile, so it pays for buyers to stay out in front of [...]

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You’ve got to give Charles Dominick credit for the most interesting way to gather the success stories of some of procurement’s best and brightest. The Purch-lympics had his blog’s readers competitors submit essays on purchasing and supply management subjects then work their way through competitive rounds of heats and semi-finals where other readers chose their [...]

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Recent news that electronics manufacturing giant Flextronics selected an On Demand solution for its 200,000 users, caught the attention of the technology industry. And not just the two ERP giants that lost the deal to a budding On Demand upstart. CIOs took notice too. And for them, the message was clear: On Demand or Software [...]

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If your organization has an International Purchasing Office (IPO), you likely jumped through quite a few hoops to get the doors open. Management buy-in, staffing, budget realities, goals, regulations and logistics are just a few of the challenges involved. So, a hearty pat on the back is in order…but don’t get too comfortable because you’re [...]

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Although I linked to the new Category Chatter podcasts last week, I really wanted to dive into the Tata Motors story (mp3) with Ravi Kumaraswami and Jason Busch a bit further. The process by which Tata shifted from a commercial vehicle manufacturer that was hemorrhaging money to a low price consumer car-maker that showcases how [...]

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