Spend analysis was the topic du juor at the Ariba Spend Management Day in Atlanta earlier this month. Faced with a sagging economy and highly volatile supply markets, presenters at the event pointed to improved visibility into spending as key to a number of strategies — from queuing up new sourcing opportunities to enforcing contract [...]

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In speaking regularly with companies interested in improving their spend and supplier visibility, it is not surprising that there has been a marked up tick recently, given the ever-deteriorating economy, in the interest in supplier credit rating information. While credit ratings are useful providing meaningful directional information about which suppliers may be susceptible to [...]

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My post earlier this week questioning why more businesses are not capitalizing on today’s highly favorable sourcing markets generated some interesting comments. One supply chain exec suggests that many companies are like “deer in the headlights,” literally frozen by fear. He suggests getting unstuck will require spend management professionals to engage in more tactical strikes [...]

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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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