“The Grocery Code of Conduct is a significant step toward improving the resiliency and efficiency of the grocery supply chain. The primary objective is not to directly rebalance market power, regulate fair dealing, or set the level of retail fees, but rather to improve supply chain relationships through principles of predictability, transparency and fair dealing.” – DH Canada (January 17, 2023)

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote an article regarding the largest Canadian grocer – Loblaws, and their headline-grabbing stare-down price dispute with the global brand Frito-Lay. Here is the link to that post titled The Inflated Supply Chain: How To Navigate The Complexity Of Doing Business During A Period Of Rising Inflation.

The primary focus of the piece was – as the article’s title suggests, understanding the impact of inflation on supply chains. However, beyond the big picture story in which inflation takes center stage, there is an underlying theme. The theme I refer to is how buyer-supplier relationships affect inflation and other supply chain disruptions.

The buyer-supplier relationship's impact on inflation, not the other way around, is not a typo. As the age-old saying goes, it is not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters.

High-Level Overview

For the sake of expedience, the following high-level bullet points should provide a solid understanding of the Loblaws and Frito-Lay situation at the time and the government’s intervention to resolve the dispute. This overview will help you better understand why the government is introducing the grocery conduct code.

“The path to gender equality does not involve stickers pointing out that a product has been made by a female entrepreneur. Women are not a charity group. If we want to help women in business, let’s close the pay gap and remove the glass ceiling – and then let products designed by women rise or fall on their own merits, by the realities of business.” – Diana Sz

The above quote is an excerpt from an article I read regarding Walmart’s “commitment to source $20 billion of goods by 2016 from women-owned businesses in the U.S.”

The program or initiative, launched with much fanfare in 2011, achieved the $20 billion objective within the expected five-year period. One would think that this would be a cause for celebrating the progressive practices on the part of corporate procurement departments.

Facilitated by the inclusion of product labels informing the consumer that a woman owns the company behind the product they are buying, Pamela Prince-Eason was a champion of the Walmart initiative. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council CEO, Prince-Eason, believed that the “new labeling will give people a reason to feel good about the company they’re buying from.”

In short, it was a noble plan to achieve meaningful results for everyone to feel good. I know you are waiting for the other shoe to drop in the form of a but – and there is a but,

The Bigger Picture

Don’t get me wrong when I say things like a drop in the bucket regarding the achievement of the $20 billion goal. Such a lofty amount isn’t exactly pocket change.

In this fourth and final installment in this Keynote Series, we talk about the "judicious deployment" of emerging technology without losing sight of the human side of digital transformation.

To achieve this "balance," Mattress Firm's VP of Indirect Procurement, Quave Burton, discusses the importance of motivation through employee recognition while challenging her team to "stretch themselves" to learn new and better ways to achieve strategic objectives.

Ground Zero

For Quave, the journey of transforming procurement at Mattress Firm started at ground zero.

When I say ground zero, there wasn't a procurement department when she started working with the company. As she explains it, she was immediately on a transformation journey, starting with getting the right people to do the right things.

Fortunately, and with the full support of senior leadership, the organization was ready and willing to make changes.

At this point, I think it is essential to stop and stress the benefits of having to build the foundation for procurement transformation, starting with people before introducing technology. As anyone who has been in our industry for some time will tell you, in the past traditional ERP-based procurement initiatives have generally failed to achieve the expected results. Many studies estimate that the failure rate is between 50% and 75% - some even put that number higher.

The three main reasons for this less than stellar performance are poor User Experience, data inaccuracy, and analytics.

Despite introducing more advanced and intuitive "by-the-drink" technology solutions, CPO's dissatisfaction with digital initiatives remains high.

There are no shortages of headlines such as the one above linking supply chain disruption to inflation. While I don't want to oversimplify the current situation, when supply can't meet demand for various reasons, inflation is the end result. External forces such as the above reference to the war in Ukraine and the now seemingly endless COVID-19 pandemic are the most notable contributing factors. And let’s not forget the Suez Canal blockage and its extended impact around the globe.

Undoubtedly, the “interconnectedness of global supply chains” means that these events have far-reaching implications impacting “labor, energy and transport costs.” As a result, the consumer price index (CPI) - which has been somewhat stable for the past few decades, has seen a significant rise in prices.

How significant?

In December 2021, reports indicate that the CPI was “5.4% higher than a year previously in December 2020.” In other words, even though supply chain disruption and its link to inflation are not new, the breadth of its impact globally has created a sense of urgency like never before – at least not in the 21^st century. Nor are there any signs of relief on the near horizon, as a recent New York Times article proclaims that we are not likely to see the return to a “normal supply chain” in 2022 (or anytime soon.)

Along with senior buy-side executives, joining SIG’s Stephani McGarry on the call was the Everest Group. In what I can only refer to as a “captivating session,” the discussion focused on what we as an industry have and will continue to face during these inflationary times.   

In this second article from the 2022 SIG Procurement Technology Summit Keynote Series, we will tap into the expertise of an esteemed panel of industry leaders who will share their experiences with mobilizing their respective organizations' ESG initiatives to achieve progressive outcomes. Make particular note of the words progressive outcomes because implementing and maintaining an ESG strategy is not a destination but an ongoing journey that requires commitment and the agility to respond to ever-changing marketplace realities.

Rather than just a generalized or conceptual discussion on ESG, these individuals delivered personal and detailed accounts regarding the successful transformation of their supply chains to align with social imperatives and financial objectives. In other words, during the discussion, they effectively "blazed" a trail of understanding that can serve as a helpful roadmap for the successful implementation of your organization's ESG strategy.

No Longer An Option

In the recent Oliver Wyman article, Powering Your Sustainability Strategy Through Procurement, it is clear that the proactive implementation of a successful ESG strategy is not an option for organizations – not that it ever was.

The authors specifically talk about how "For many years, calls have been getting louder for business leaders to pay more attention to their organization's environmental, societal, and governance (ESG) strategy."

Fueled by "intensifying pressure" from all directions, including customers, employees, investors, and governments, good intentions must now materialize into tangible outcomes sooner rather than later.