September 13, 2011
What’s really cool is that software leviathans are awakening to the promise of these treasures and developing increasingly powerful IT solutions that leverage the Internet to multiply the savings potential and add speed. And the reason extremely few companies are doing well? Poor executive leadership. from the book Straight to the Bottom Line: An Executive’s […]
September 12, 2011
In addition to this week’s series on bridging the disconnect between finance and purchasing – which started today with the post Don’t sweat the small stuff? Why industry experts point to Indirect Material Spend as an important reservoir of untapped savings!, I also have a second series running over on the Coupa Cabana Blog regarding the […]
September 12, 2011
With regard to costs, the conventional wisdom is that procurement should focus principally on the “big ticket” areas of spend, such as raw materials and energy. And, you certainly should devote attention to raw materials and energy – not just to reduce costs, but also to reduce volatility through better risk management. But, if you […]
September 9, 2011
It is a funny thing that as a writer when you put the virtual pen to paper you never really know what will or will not strike a note with your readers. All you can truly hope is that your passion for the subject matter coupled with sound research practices will prove worthy of consideration […]
September 8, 2011
Government contracting must be conducted in a manner that will: stand the test of public scrutiny and reflect fairness in the spending of public funds; respect operational requirements; support long-term industrial and regional development and other appropriate national objectives, including aboriginal economic development; and comply with the government’s obligations under the trade agreements. from the […]
September 8, 2011
The drop in real estate values and its impact on property taxes is easy to envision. But that’s just part of the problem. Deeper seated is linkage between housing construction, and the many ways that home sales and building activity affect state and local government revenues. from the November 2010 Governing magazine article “The Housing […]
September 5, 2011
The United States Postal Service is a federal agency, like the other 125 agencies that make up the federal government; so by definition it operates at a deficit. It is partially funded by proceeds from the sale of mail delivery and associated services but it is also funded in the millions through the OMB for […]
September 5, 2011
Just a quick not to my readers . . . For those who may have missed one of the posts in last week’s 3-Part Procurement Contests Review series, I have created a dedicated page that will provide you with easy access to each post as well as provide you with a venue through which you […]
September 1, 2011
NOTE: The following is an article that was originally published on August 7th, 2008 under the heading Finding the hidden Intellectual Property (IP) value in procurement contracts. While it focused on the unique services of the Future Path organization, its resonance relative to the emergence of procurement contests – especially within the public sector, is […]
Bridging the disconnect between finance and purchasing (Part 3): EPS and the Swinging Pendulum of Responsibility
September 14, 2011
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Now comes the fun part. The changes which are possible – based on what I’ve described so far, are identified in blue in the next figure. Revenues are shown to increase 3%, purchased goods and services costs (as a % of revenues) are reduced from 60% to 55%, and SG&A expenses as a % of […]