Despite the widespread use and success of reverse auctions, Ellen Terchila, a consultant in the Spend Management Services group at Ariba, says many procurement pros still struggle with when to use them, when not to use them, and what categories to target. So, I asked Ellen to recap the key take-aways from a session she [...]

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Another topic has gotten a great deal of feedback in the Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Group on LinkedIn. A member asked:
“Is post tender negotiation acceptable? To what extent? Please share from your experiences what are the advantages and the risks of conducting a negotiation after a sealed-bid tender.”
Touchy subject to say the least, so the [...]

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Over at Spend Matters, Jason Busch takes on the latest announcement from Cypress Semiconductor Corporation that it will no longer participate in online negotiations or reverse auctions. (Original hat tip on this news goes to David Rae at Procurement Leaders.)
While every company is entitled to elect which business opportunities to target, what alarmed me was Cypress’ misconception (or is [...]

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Should the government bailout the financial institutions or should they let them fail? While this issue is debated, those with a strong strategic sourcing background may see a significant opportunity.
While there is risk with the Government taking over these assets, this risk is minimized if they are purchased at the current true market [...]

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