This week is busy, but it is really only a warm up for next week, which contains a practical webinar grudge match on Thursday. This week's topics and speakers are varied, and I've picked what I think are the best three below. Click on the title of each event below to view the full description in our events calendar and connect to the registration pages.
6/17, 10am EDT
As the weather warms up, this seems like perfect timing to grab a cold Heineken – not a beer in this case – but a webinar on CSR. This Dutch-based company has no doubt come a long way in many areas since they were founded in 1864, not the least of which is supplier management. In this webinar we will hear how they focused on compliance for the sake of responsible sourcing. Rather than acting as an enforcer, they partnered with their suppliers to measure, monitor, and improve performance. As we know from last month’s Proxima Group findings that consumers hold companies responsible for scandals involving their suppliers, the investment they clearly had to make was worthwhile.
6/17, 2pm EDT
This webinar reflects the changing nature of procurement in two main ideas: collaboration and influence. We all know that, when appropriate, we are supposed to be fostering productive relationships with our suppliers. But the end game on that for procurement is less clear, as it is unlikely to contribute directly to our primary performance metric of savings. Where it may give us a boost, however, is in the building and wielding of influence. The important thing to remember about influence is that it often exists apart from a specific role or job title. There are many people without C-level titles that have considerable influence, and many with those titles that have none at all. If procurement leaders are to position themselves for maximum success moving forward, we need to learn to pursue the influence wherever it lies, even if that means forgoing the title.
Declaration of the New Purchasing: A Buying Manifesto (Spend Matters, Vroozi)
6/18, 11am EDT
In another way of looking at the changing landscape of procurement, Spend Matters and Vroozi have teamed up to put together a buying manifesto. While you can already download the paper (click on the name of this event to get the link in the full event description) this is an opportunity to hear them discuss it live, and more importantly, ask questions about it. Given the fact that you can preview the manifesto, there are no excuses for attending this event without some questions ready to go!