Walgreens recently announced their strategy for increasing revenues and cutting costs. And how do they plan to do it? Their “Rewiring for Growth” initiative will target strategic sourcing of indirect spend and plans to reduce corporate overhead in order to save $1 billion annually by 2011.
As we discussed last week and in a recent white [...]

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It’s impossible to avoid the headlines - nearly every industry from automotive to consumer goods is facing an increasingly difficult economic environment that shows no signs of improving anytime soon. Widespread commodity price increases, the credit crisis, and the global economic slowdown have combined to put a squeeze on both the top and bottom [...]

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In times of uncertainty and rapid change, whether in sales, operations or spend management, fortune favors those who are positioned to confidently take decisive action and efficiently execute decisions.
For Spend Management organizations, spend data is the currency that allows us decide with confidence and move quickly to implement changes to our supply base. Time [...]

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My own travels last week offer validation from the trenches that Amex’s predictions for travel curbs will come to fruition. Travel restrictions were a hot topic at the Sourcing Interests Group (SIG) Conference last week. No less than five procurement execs said their companies had implement restrictions for all but sales related travel. (Only two [...]

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Purchasing.com reported this week that American Express expects businesses to cut travel & entertainment (T&E) expenses in an attempt to contain costs in 2009. With the current state of affairs in the economy, it’s no shock to see companies looking for ways to cut back. And with significant spending on the T&E category, it’s certainly [...]

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