mThink

ASCET: You use the term “disruptive technologies” in your work. Can you define this term and talk about how the concept can be applied to supply chain? Clayton M. Christensen (CC): A disruption is an innovation that comes into a market that enables a whole new population of people who historically might not have had [...]

ASCET: What are the obstacles to achieving the level of visibility and integration in the supply chain that companies are working to achieve? Sonny Singh (SS): The three that are the most common are standards, technology and culture. Visibility brings a lot of benefits, but it requires standards. Rosetta Net, for example, works to promote [...]

Growth is clearly back on the executive agenda. Yet executives increasingly find that growing profitably is extremely challenging due to the complexity and volatility characteristic of today’s business environment. Further complicating matters is the fact that, after several years of intense focus on cost reduction, most companies’ supply chains are operationally efficient but are not [...]

In today’s globally competitive world, operating efficiency is the primary focus of the corporate cost-minimization/profit-maximization equation. Many manufactured goods are becoming commodities as new substitutes emerge. Further, increases in speed and reliability in transportation, domestically and especially globally, allow for freer geographic distribution of manufacturing and warehouse facilities. Since the Industrial Revolution, supply chain management [...]

Enable Margin Improvement Initiatives With E-Procurement “For a typical company, a 5 percent reduction in purchasing cost can increase the bottom line as much as a 30 percent increase in sales.” – BuyIT Best Practice Network, “Building the Business Case for e-Procurement/ROI” AcquireX is the leading provider of application services that allow organizations to easily [...]

Sourcing goods globally – developing strategies, capabilities and formal processes for acquiring materials from the most effective use of resources regardless of location – is not a new, or even revolutionary, practice. Many companies have been doing it for years. Recently, however, there have been large increases in: 1) the number of companies seeking to [...]

The Challenge Is Not One of Vision, But of Execution Executive leadership understands and awaits the substantial savings promised from internal change initiatives to control and manage indirect spend, but most continue to wait. Why? Although those primarily responsible – chief procurement officers – recognize the proverbial pearl in the oyster of procurement, they have [...]

Procurement technologies have progressed considerably. In fact, given advances in the scope and sophistication of corporate procurement teams, it would be difficult to find any company whose procurement operations could not derive new value from the use of modern purchasing or sourcing tools. However, if procurement technology has gained significant ground in the last few years, then what should companies expect in the next few? This paper looks at four of the most promising trends in procurement technology.

In the last century, vertical manufacturing strategies were still the rule for manufacturers of high-technology electronics. In 1990, the global market was worth nearly $100 billion, while less than 5 percent of all manufacturing was outsourced. A tremendous surge in manufacturing outsourcing began in the mid-1990s and continued into the 2000s. During this time, a [...]