Back to the Future

The results from our Procurement and Sales Survey are in. And here’s the good news. Opportunity abounds — for implementing even the most basic techniques of strategic procurement.

But now for the bad news. While companies continue to pay lip service to “strategic sourcing,” the reality is that today most sourcing remains anything but strategic. Indeed, the situation today is virtually the same as it was decades ago. Price continues to trump total cost. Activity still masquerades for productivity. And supplier relationships are a coincidence of time and place rather than the outcome of planned collaboration.

Most tellingly of all: Only 7 percent of the sales respondents and 9 percent of procurement respondents consider themselves to have world-class processes or a strategic role in their company. Read more about the state of our chosen profession — and how sales views procurement — in this white paper prepared by Greybeard Advisors LLC, with survey support provided by Supply & Demand Chain Executive, Sales & Marketing Management and the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Sales and Procurement Councils.

Procurement and Sales Survey White Paper: http://www.greybeardadvisors.com/index.php/download_file/-/view/60/

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