Developing Sourcing Capabilities

Companies are becoming more and more aware of the competitive advantage that can be realised through effective sourcing. The trend towards more outsourcing and effective supply chain management shows the importance of advanced purchasing management. This book, by leading experts in the field, covers a wide range of purchasing topics by focusing on the change processes involved in creating competitive advantage. The authors involved in the project are well known researchers and writers The book will have a unique focus on change processes

This is the complete executive's guide to driving sustainable competitive advantage and mitigating risk in today's complex supply networks. Two of the field's leading consultants show senior managers how to apply advanced strategic sourcing to significantly improve your supply chain's efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. Drawing on their cutting-edge research, Yusen Xia and Walter L. Wallace help you go beyond mere cost-cutting and contract management to redesign and orchestrate your entire multi-tier supply chain. Wallace and Xia present powerful case studies and lessons from UPS, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Shaw Industries, and other pioneers. You'll learn how to: Bring together the multiple business disciplines whose work impacts sourcing and procurement Use strategic sourcing techniques to create a more sustainable supply chain Integrate the use of emission permits into your strategic sourcing programs Manage procurement when the cost of raw materials fluctuates widely Effectively utilize financial hedging in strategic sourcing Deepen your understanding of contemporary buyer-supplier relationships Implement strategic lead-time management Increase visibility as a way to become more demand-driven Take advantage of recent advances in e-sourcing and e-procurement More effectively manage risk and uncertainty in your supply network Make better outsourcing/insourcing decisions in global supply chains If you're a senior manager who wants to transform sourcing and procurement into a key competitive differentiator, this book will help you deliver the goods.

Federal laws, regulations, and executive orders have imposed requirements for federal agencies to move toward the sustainable acquisition of goods and services, including the incorporation of sustainable purchasing into federal agency decision making. Since the federal government is such a significant player in the market, its move to incorporate sustainable procurement practices could have a profound impact on the types of products being developed for the market as a whole. The General Services Administration (GSA) has played a key role in furthering sustainable procurement practices throughout the federal government. GSA is responsible for formulating and maintaining government-wide policies covering a variety of administrative actions, including those related to procurement and management. GSA has several ongoing activities related to sustainable procurement to assess the feasibility of working with the federal supplier community - vendors and contractors that serve federal agencies to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the supply chain while encouraging sustainable operations among suppliers. GSA has also been actively developing programs to assist federal agencies in making sustainable procurement decisions. As federal agencies cannot directly fund the development of sustainable procurement tools, they are particularly interested in understanding how to foster innovation and provide incentives for collaboration between developers and users of tools for sustainable purchasing throughout the supply chain. The training of procurement professionals is also a priority for these agencies. To assist efforts to build sustainability considerations into the procurement process, the National Research Council appointed a committee to organize a two-day workshop that explored ways to better incorporate sustainability considerations into procurement tools and capabilities across the public and private sectors. The workshop was designed to help participants assess the current landscape of green purchasing tools, identify emerging needs for enhanced or new tools and opportunities to develop them, identify potential barriers to progress, and explore potential solutions. The workshop provided an opportunity for participants to discuss challenges related to sustainable purchasing and to developing new procurement tools. Sustainability Considerations for Procurement Tools and Capabilities reviews the presenters' recommendations and tools currently used in sustainable procurement, such as databases for ecolabels and standards, codes, or regulations and other nontechnological tools such as policies, frameworks, rating systems, and product indexes.

This informative, comprehensive, yet practical guide provides readers with a complete tool-kit of how to approach global sourcing successfully. Based on real world experiences on implementing and sustaining global sourcing the book provides readers with key guidance on: Foundations of Strategic Sourcing Management, risk, governance and legal considerations Organizational change, innovation and relationship management Transition planning and the end-game Successful principles for new business development from a service provider perspective Future trends, summary and lessons learned Ultimately this guide will take readers from ‘principles’ to ‘how to’s’ including: How to develop, implement, manage and govern an effective global sourcing strategy and plan How to put in place policies and processes that can be monitored to provide a balanced approach to sourcing How to build a strategic top-down framework coupled with an operational roadmap How to incorporate bottom-up implementation principles and practices that work How to ensure a coordinated, cost-effective and value-delivery plan and operating environment for strategic and tactical sourcing. In addition, it addresses the following areas in a comprehensive, yet easy to use and practical manner: Integrates strategic and operational concepts and practices Covers both clients and providers Supports the practice of global sourcing by leveraging and integrating professional rigor for best practices Provides practical knowledge, techniques, checklists and methodologies that can be used in any environment globally Includes many examples of current and emerging best practices Is broad and comprehensive, yet drills down to specific ‘how to’ details in all chapters Provides a global view of sourcing It comes highly recommended.

In today's knowledge-driven world, innovation and innovation systems have become key policy issues. However, the extent of knowledge that is available on these concepts in less developed countries is still relatively low. Much of what we know about innovation theory and systems has come from the developed countries and reflects their world view. This apparent knowledge deficit has major implications for less developed countries. Innovation Systems and Capabilities in Developing Regions adds to the growing body of knowledge on developing countries. The theoretical and empirical case studies presented here advance the notion that, while developing countries may not engage in frontier research, a critical knowledge base upon which these countries compete for global markets is emerging. There is evidence that state and non-state actors are increasingly emphasising policies that sit within the framework of national innovation systems. This book illuminates this shift in policy competence at national levels. The contributions in this volume highlight the need for thorough understanding of the role of diffusion-based innovation linked to technology transfer and acquisition. They also provide empirical evidence on the drivers, dynamics and impact of such innovation in developing economies and the constraints that apply. Contributors also document the application of the innovation system approach in developing countries as well as the build-up and diffusion of technological capabilities within innovation systems. Academics, higher level students, policy makers and practitioners involved with innovation and the economics of technical change, particularly in developing countries, will find this a valuable book.

Purchased goods and services are an increasingly large proportion of public and private enterprise budgets. Historically, purchased goods and services have accounted for less than a third of an enterprise's budget, but today many enterprises spend more than two-thirds of their budgets on purchased goods and services. Similarly, the Air Force and the Department of Defense (DoD) spend nearly half their budgets for purchased goods and services and an additional sixth on weapon procurement (with only a third going to military and civilian personnel costs). (See pp. 1-6.) Because of the growing importance of purchasing, many enterprises have sought to develop supply strategies for their purchased goods and services. This monograph is intended as a resource for procurement personnel developing supply strategies for the Air Force or DoD. It does not analyze current military procurement practices but rather synthesizes academic, business, and professional literature on developing and applying supply strategies. Its core is a synthesis of nearly a dozen different processes found in the literature.

Supply Market Intelligence: A Managerial Handbook for Building Sourcing Strategies charts the course to success for executives who are seeking to lead their organizations to supply-chain maturity. This volume is intended for supply-chain executives who struggle with the challenges of an uncertain supply market environment and whose supply chain function is constantly buffeted by unexpected changes in customer requirements and commodity prices. The author offers a more effective path, describing an integrated approach to supply chain management based upon solid market intelligence. This path is derived from the authors' multiple engagements with organizations such as Suncor Energy, Bank of America, Shell Oil, Honda of America, General Motors, Boston Scientific, Visteon, Federal Express, Sonoco, Duke Energy, Caterpillar, John Deere, GlaxoSmithKline, and many others. He emphasizes that the elements of a successful plan do not arise from a simple vision, instead they require much hard work and a focused approach backed by solid leadership. This book begins by defining supply market intelligence and discussing opportunities, the establishment of a project team, and conducting an internal business intelligence assessment. The book then examines the development of business and market intelligence, supplier evaluations, and sourcing strategies. It also explores how to execute a sourcing strategy, manage a strategic supplier relationship, and redesign an organization for effective supply-chain intelligence and strategic sourcing. This volume offers a benchmarking maturity model tool that covers all facets of end-to-end supply-chain management.

The base for this book is 40 years of research on business relationships between companies evidencing the interactive features of the contemporary business world that have important consequences for management, policy and research.