Browsing All Posts filed under »Commentary«

So this is why women earn less money than men

July 27, 2017

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When I last wrote about the pay gap in the procurement world between the sexes, studies such as the one from Argentus in 2015 showed that except for women at the executive level,  men consistently earned more. While there was some generalized speculation as to why the gaps existed at various levels, there was no […]

Is Military Procurement Really Broken?

July 26, 2017

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July has been an “active” month it seems regarding the calling out of military procurement in Canada. With tantalizing headlines such as Botched procurement delays inflatable boats for military and After years of missteps, Canadian military officials hope procurement now on track, it is likely that most people have already concluded that our taxpayer dollars are being […]

If procurement had a theme song what would it be?

July 21, 2017

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It’s summer, it’s hot and vacation time – although with four young kids your real vacation doesn’t start until the beginning of the school year. In other words having a little summertime fun isn’t a bad thing. So here is the Friday question for the day; If procurement had a theme song, what would it […]

Who Is Bob Solomon @bsolomon10?

July 20, 2017

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I inadvertently stumbled upon a blog post in my email by Bob Solomon titled The Forrester Wave™: eProcurement, Q2 2017. Usually, when I receive a Magic Quadrant or Forrester Wave notification I dismiss it as most of my readers consider such things to be either industry propaganda or as one so eloquently put it; “a paid infomercial.” Although […]

What was Seth Godin Thinking? Why FTD is the Walmart of the flower industry

July 17, 2017

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Over the years I have written many articles on Walmart, starting with the July 9th, 2007 post; Public Sector Procurement and the Walmart Effect which was updated in March 2013. Suffice to say, Walmart, and more specifically the Walmart model for supply chain has become the poster child for partner abuse. Because of the negative impact of the […]

What If?

July 13, 2017

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Inspired by The Economist’s annual “What If” essays, I thought that it might be fun to apply the same question to our procurement world. For example, “What If” Rob Bernshteyn had been CEO of Perfect Commerce instead of Coupa? “What If” IBM never purchased Emptoris? Here’s one, “What If” Andrew Bartolini had continued to be […]

Will The U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program work in Canada?

July 11, 2017

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“Many Canadian startups say it’s harder to sell to Ottawa than to foreign customers . . . Current procurement approaches are geared toward big, established firms and [are] cumbersome and complicated for smaller firms to navigate.” – December 27th, 2016 Globe And Mail article It is said that recognizing a problem is half the battle. While I agree […]

Friday Musings: Why Reese’s would approve of PROACTIS’ Acquisition of Perfect Commerce

July 7, 2017

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  By now you have already heard the news that UK-based PROACTIS is acquiring US-based Perfect Commerce. Besides providing further evidence that we are at the very beginning of a looming M&A upswing, it is also a sign that these companies have come to the realization that rather than attempting to penetrate new global markets […]

Do Service Providers Choose The Right​ Clients?

June 27, 2017

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First, there was the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now there is Santa Clara County. Both have achieved amazing things in their respective procurement practices. So much so that I have often referred to them as beacons of excellence in the realms of public sector procurement. As I watched the following video which was just released on […]

Charles Dominick’s NLPA Now Part Of Certitrek????

June 8, 2017

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In this hyper-connected world of ours, it is hard for anyone to sneeze without everyone saying God bless you. Here I am sitting at my desk when I received the following message via Skype at 10:23 PM. “Hey, Jon – sorry for the late message. Did you know that the Next Level Purchasing Association was […]