SIG University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate Daniel Cogginsshares how his organiztion has adapted their sourcing strategies to best suit the current challenges the pandemic has created for the sourcing world.
Daniel Coggins, Strategic Sourcing team, American Tire Distributors
SIG University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate William DeMarzo shares his perspective on the old sourcing cliché “don’t leave money on the table."
In our SIG University CSP course, we learned the benefits of “leaving money on the table” as this negotiation style builds trust, transparency, and a collaborative relationship with suppliers. Yet, the concept of leaving money on the table seems to be taboo in today’s business environment. Nine of the top ten hits from a Google search of the phrase are articles about why it’s a bad idea, a sign of weakness, or otherwise poor choice to do so. Perhaps this is more a sign of a zero-sum society than a negotiating strategy, but that’s a topic for another essay.
Let’s be clear that there are many business transactions where it is appropriate to pay the lowest price for a product or service. For example, products that have defined specifications, from a #2 pencil to a powerful server, or a service that has a measurable deliverable, should be sourced at the lowest price in the market. But when is leaving money on the table a good strategy?
William J. DeMarzo, Sr. Director, The Bank of New York Mellon
In Part 1 of this series on procurement’s key performance indicators (KPIs), we discussed how legacy KPIs need to be augmented to help procurement expand its value proposition. In this second installment of the series, we’ll focus on how to build a balanced “360-degree” procurement scorecard and highlight some truly KEY performance indicators that help foster the right behaviors and alignment across the source-to-pay (S2P) process and the broader value chain.
Everyone knows the old adage, “What you measure is what you get.” Known as the “Hawthorne Effect,” it has been shown that performance will improve when those performing the process know they’re getting measured on it. So, designing stakeholder-specific KPIs is critical to ensuring business alignment. The “SMART” (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely) metrics model is an excellent framework to apply here. Still, the first step is ensuring a 360-degree measurement system that aligns procurement with:
Pierre Mitchell, Spend Matters’ Chief Research Officer
 (1).png "When Leaving Money on the Table is the Best Strategy")
Sourcing In the Midst of a Pandemic
SIG University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate Daniel Coggins shares how his organiztion has adapted their sourcing strategies to best suit the current challenges the pandemic has created for the sourcing world.