Hopefully you were able to attend the December Strategic Sourcing & Procurement LinkedIn group member call with Kate Vitasek last month. We had a lively discussion centered around the paper she co-wrote - “Unpacking Oliver - 10 Lessons to Improve Collaborative Outsourcing “ (download here). Nobel Laureate Dr Oliver Williamson’s work dug into the incentives [...]

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Kate Vitasek, who literally wrote the book on Vested Outsourcing and spoke on that topic on a Strategic Sourcing & Procurement LinkedIn Group member call earlier this year, has volunteered to lead our Nov/Dec Group member call to discuss…
“Unpacking Oliver - 10 Lessons to Improve Collaborative Outsourcing “
The paper (which you’ll want to download here [...]

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When I asked the Strategic Sourcing & Procurement LinkedIn group members to suggest topics for upcoming calls, there were a lot of requests pertaining to indirect spend. So, this Friday, the group’s July member conference call will be an open discussion on indirect categories (marketing and consulting will definitely be covered - if you have [...]

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The ISM NMI (Non-Manufacturing Index) came in at 53.8, which is down from 55.4 in May. The Business Activity Index was 58.1, down from 61.1 in May, and New Orders was 54.4, down from 57.1 in May. The employment index came in at 49.7, slightly below the growth threshold of 50. Here are some bullet points about [...]

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Long-time readers may remember a year ago when we interviewed Chris Stockwell, VP of Procurement at Heinz, on their efforts to really go after the company’s indirect spend and bring it under management. No doubt a major opportunity for Heinz and one which required careful planning and execution.
So, it was great to speak with Mauricio [...]

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