Automotive purchasers unaware of supplier risks

Car part purchasers not ready for future

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Latest Procurement News

Balancing quick wins today with sustainability in the future

BrainNet Founds Center For Future Studies

Roundtable Risk Management
April 2009

German Firms Seen Missing out on Significant Opportunities in Green Procurement

A Place in the Sun

BrainNet and SMI merge to form a global consulting leader

This morning BrainNet Manaagement Consultants GmbH and Supply Management Group SMG AG announced their plans to merge, focusing their business in BrainNet Supply Management Group AG, located in St. Gallen , Switzerland .

BrainNet and SMI merge to form a global consulting leader

U.S. Seen Emerging as Low-cost Country

Weak dollar is opportunity for European businesses, BrainNet believes; lower labor costs, good infrastructure can tip scale in favor of U.S. market

Is Eastern Europe the new China?

Author: Mark Whitehead

Countries in the former Soviet block are fast gaining ground as sourcing destinations for procurement professionals in Western Europe, according to many commentators.

Once upon a time not so long ago, China was flavour of the month as a fantastic source of cheap goods and services. India, in particular, was the place to go for low-cost IT and other services. China - and India - were seen as the best bets for bargain basement sourcing.

Buyers not ready for increased demands, says survey

Author: Paul Snell

Procurement functions are not sufficiently integrated with other departments to cope with the demands expected of them in the next five years, according to research.

Procurement ill-equiped for CEO needs

Author: Nick Martindale

Procurement departments may be unable to meet the growing demands of CEOs over the next five years because they are not positioned adequately within their organisations.

A survey of 70 CEOs in German companies by supply chain consultancy BrainNet suggested procurement departments would be expected to safeguard innovation, improve the organisation's risk profile and value chains and boost product design, as well as cutting costs.

Looking for the engineer in the professional buyer

Author: Carsten Gillies

Purchasing in the automotive industry is increasingly showing strategic tendencies. This is the only way to approach today's and tomorrow's challenges such as networking with own developers or conducting global procurement of materials.

Route to Market

Author: Mark Whitehead

Marketing services is one of the big challenges for procurement leaders. ELP brought senior rocurement leaders from global companies based in Europe together to exchange ideas on the issues.
Marketing services is becoming something of a hot topic for procurement. At the latest ELP roundtable,
senior procurement managers involved in this complex area put forward their views.

Beschaffung Aktuell,

Issue 09/07

“Ecological Standards are a K.O. Criterion”

Author: Daniel Zabota, Interviewpartner: Sven Marlinghaus

The best doesn't mean the cheapest, it means the cleanest. Ecological criteria are becoming influential in supplier management. Having a ‘green conscience’ can have a huge effect on a company’s value and the margins, says Sven T. Marlinghaus in an interview with Daniel Zabota.

A Risky Business

Author: Mark Whitehead

A concept well known to people in the insurance industry and dating way back to the start of commercial shipping started when merchants clubbed together to protect themselves against disaster on the high seas.
Years later, and the management of risk is still very much a crucial part of modern business and, say the authors of a new study into the subject, is becoming an increasingly important area for procurement
professionals to master.

Dr Lars Immerthal, head of the risk management practice at German-based procurement consultancy BrainNet, and Sven Marlinghaus, a partner at the fi rm, say that risk is closely linked to opportunity.
They are “two sides of the same coin”. In the introduction to the report, Risk Management Reloaded
– A Procurement Perspective, conducted in association with the European Leaders Network, the authors argue that the extent to which an organisation successfully manages risk will prove to be one an important indicator of its performance.

European Leaders in Procurement,

07/07/20

www.europeanleaders.net

Best Cost Country Sourcing: The next phase to capture savings

Author: Alexander Voigt, BrainNet

Companies that are facing the challenge of globalization are nowadays seeing unexpected changes in the market. All of a sudden there are not only so-called ‘industry countries' moving volumes but emerging countries as well. Actually, there is a certain shift from Asia to Eastern Europe as production may move nearer to the consumer who is still located for the most part in Europe and the US. Even Africa comes into play as certain countries in Africa are being used as a so called ‘Low Cost Country' for Asia, in particular China. The investment of China in Africa is increasing day by day and politicians are worried about the market coverage that China is getting in strategic regions.

Best practices in risk management

Author: Paul Teague, purchasing magazine

It's the domino theory: Supply risks can topple not only product-delivery schedules but also revenue, market position, brand image and stock value. Here's how some leading companies keep the dominoes from falling. Mining giant CVRD Inco buys tons of slag cement every year. The company's suppliers get the ground, granulated blast-furnace material from the steel industry, and CVRD Inco uses it as backfill for supporting mineshafts.

Upper Management discovers procurement

Author: Sabine Höfler, SAP

It's easier to cut 1 million Euros in procurement costs than it is to fire 15 employees or increase sales. With this provocative statement, a current study by the consulting firm BrainNet underscores the growing significance of procurement. But the survey, which was conducted at the request of SAP, also indicates that despite its potential, procurement is much more than a means of reducing costs. It plays an important role in the long-term success of a company.

Beschaffung Aktuell,

Issue 05/07

CPO Study from BrainNet and SAP
Time for Strategic Issues

Author: Daniel Zabota, Beschaffung Aktuell
E-Procurement and catalogue management are small fry compared to the enormous strategic issues facing CPOs in the future.

Successful Teams focus on innovation over cost

Author: Mark Whitehead, ELP, London

Procurement Leaders should be responsible for "a great deal more than just cost-cutting", according to a new study. Instead, it says creating spending transparency and enganging with the business a the real basis for value creation and innovation. "Beyond the Hype - What's ReallyIimportant in Procurement" carried out by consultants BrainNet for business software specialists SAP calls into question the emphasis on cost-cutting still prevalent in many corporations. It is not possible...

Best Cost Country Sourcing
„Total Cost Optimal“Region

Authors: Alexander Voigt, Markus Römer, BrainNet, Bonn

Global Sourcing has earned its place as one of the superstars
amongst management concepts. Only those who spread their procurement
sources all over the globe can maintain a competitive edge
world-wide, or so goes the theory. Industries in high wage Western
European countries are thought to need efficient Global Sourcing
just to survive. In reality, the question should be: what criteria is
this optimal distribution based upon and how can an optimal sourcing
model be created? The answer lies in a paradigm shift: the
transfer from Global Sourcing to Best Cost Country Sourcing...