Supply Excellence

Apple buys chip maker: Is Acquisition the new Risk Management?

April 28th, 2010 · 2 Comments · sourcing, supplier management, supply management, supply market dynamics, supply risk

Yesterday, Apple confirmed that they purchased Intrinsity, a small company in Austin, TX known for their very fast performing mobile device chips. The NYTimes reports that the move helps Apple’s products, such as the iPad, hold a ~50% edge over competitors in terms of processing speed since the Intrinsity designed chip runs at about 1,000 [...]

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Can the Commerce Cloud help the economy when the next crisis hits?

April 21st, 2010 · 2 Comments · LCCS and trade, On Demand/SaaS, supply management, supply risk

We have all read about how the volcano has disrupted millions of peoples lives. It has stymied logistics systems worldwide. The economic impact to companies globally have been devastating. Especially to industries already hit hard by the economic downturn. What can we do going forward?
We need better contingency planning, that is pretty evident based on [...]

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Survey Results: Spend Management Priorities in a Tough Economy

June 30th, 2009 · 3 Comments · best practices, sourcing, spend analysis, supply risk

We recently conducted our annual Spend Management Priorities and Challenges survey, where over 225 companies weighed in on their approaches to maximize savings and profits and mitigate risk in today’s struggling economy. The objective is to understand what companies are doing today to maximize savings and impact profits NOW and also what separates the [...]

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New iPod Shuffle: Supplier Innovation & HUGE Margins

April 16th, 2009 · 2 Comments · best practices, sourcing, supplier management, supply management, supply market dynamics

I recently wrote about Tata Motors collaborating with their suppliers to foster innovation and costs savings while creating their $2,500 Nano. Reactions to this model on the blog and in various LinkedIn Groups ranged from wonder and jealousy to disbelief that it would work in the US, where some readers accused processes and paradigms [...]

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Closing the Contract Automation Loop With Electronic Signatures

January 26th, 2009 · 2 Comments · contract management, supplier management

Interest in enterprise contract management automation continues to grow and for good reason. Improved compliance of procurement contracts drives additional savings hitting the bottom line while faster, more efficient sales contract negotiation results in increased revenues and lower costs. In a recent report, independent analyst Forrester opined that contract lifecycle management (CLM) could [...]

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