Robert Rudzki | Procurement Insights

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The more things change, the more they stay the same . . . at least in the world of procurement by Jon Hansen

April 25, 2014

I doubt that when French novelist Alphonse Karr coined the phase the more things change, the more they stay the same, he was thinking about procurement. Based upon a March 27th, 2014 Harvard Business Review article by Proxima CEO Matthew Eatough, Karr would not be unique in this regard. In fact if you accept the […]

Bridging the disconnect between finance and purchasing (Part 5): Cost of Capital and the advent of an elusive tie-in to purchasing

September 20, 2011

In many instances, purchasing, perhaps more than any other business function, is wedded to routine. Ignoring or accepting countless economic and political disruptions to their supply of materials, companies continue to negotiate annually with their established networks of suppliers or sources. But many purchasing managers’ skills and outlooks were formed 20 years ago in an […]

Bridging the disconnect between finance and purchasing (Part 3): EPS and the Swinging Pendulum of Responsibility

September 14, 2011

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 […]

Bridging the disconnect between finance and purchasing (Part 2): Leveraging purchasing to improve ROIC

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 […]

Don’t sweat the small stuff? Why industry experts point to Indirect Material Spend as an important reservoir of untapped savings!

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 […]

2008 Post on Bridging the Communications Gap Between Finance and Purchasing is Now a Generational Reality

November 16, 2010

Note: The following post will be reprinted in the Corporate United Q4, 2010 “A Word From Our Partner” newsletter column When I first started investigating the obvious communication gap between the financing and purchasing departments within organizations in 2008, there were telltale indicators that such a breakdown existed. The most ominous was the fact that […]