Supply Excellence — Category Chatter: Collaboration, Tata Motors, Pharma & Indirect

Category Chatter: Collaboration, Tata Motors, Pharma & Indirect

August 22nd, 2008 · by Justin Fogarty · 1 Comment · LCCS and trade, Services Procurement, best practices, oil/energy, sourcing, supply management, supply risk

SpendMatters blogger and all around industry guru Jason Busch is back with another round of Category Chatter podcasts. In case you’re not familiar with the series, the podcasts feature Jason interviewing various Ariba Category Managers on hot topics of the day. If the area of spend they’re covering is of interest to you, Jason’s probing questions make each episode 20 minutes of time well spent.

On tap this time around, we have…

Surviving the Perfect Storm: Collaboration in the Automotive Industry - It’s hard to imagine an industry where the buyers and suppliers rely on each other more for their very survival. Whether you think that dynamic is healthy or incestuous, the lessons Shelly Gottschalk highlights on how these former adversaries are reacting to changing market dynamics and rising commodity prices by working together could be applied in other industries as well.
Behind the Scenes: The Tata Motors Story - In an age when faded blue jeans cost over $200, Tata has built a $2,500 car. They are a strategic sourcing, engineering and spend management success story, but they didn’t get there overnight. Ravi Kumaraswami describes their journey from declaring the biggest fiscal year loss in the history of India’s private sector in 2001 to a world renowned spend management innovator 7 years later.
Playing it Safe while Sourcing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) - Amid pressure on their topline revenues, pharma companies are seeking savings by sourcing from low-cost countries. However, as the contaminated heparin episode earlier this year showed, there are huge safety, brand and financial risks to sourcing APIs from abroad. Healthcare Sector expert Chris Merchant explains the growing pains and the “trust, but verify” approach smart companies are now taking with their LCCS suppliers.
Top Challenges within Indirect Spend - As savings opportunities on direct spend erode under raw material cost pressures, more companies are looking to indirect spend for spend management initiatives. But as with any new opportunity, there are risks. Justin Falgione and Jason discuss some of the potential pitfalls sourcing professionals should be aware of before they dive into indirect spend.

A quick technical note - clicking on the links will play the mp3 directly on your computer. But if you’d like to download the file, right click and “Save Link As…” and select mp3.

Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its contributors, Justin can be reached at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.

Email Forward & Bookmarks