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A Deep Dive into the Cost Drivers of a Direct Mail Program – Part 1

While some may believe that direct mail programs have gone out of style similar to print advertising, industry trends indicate quite the opposite. According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) S...

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3 Things that Keep Global Procurement Execs Up at Night

If there was any doubt that managing the supply chain is also an exercise in managing risk, just ask someone who works in procurement – particularly the world of direct procurement. These professional...

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Telecom Contracts: Know What You’re Paying For

 Over the past few years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been cracking down on unethical billing practices at major telecom carriers like Verizon and AT&T. This past October, Verizon ...

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Savings from Tesla’s Powerwall? I don’t think so…at least not in the US

The long term plan of Tesla CEO Elon Musk to establish a widespread energy solution might finally be coming to fruition. After the public adoption of his electric cars, the Tesla Model S and Roadster,...

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Death of a Software Salesman

Arthur Miller’s 1949 play ‘Death of a Salesman’ is often listed as one of America’s finest and most influential stage dramas of the twentieth century. It was a tale that conveyed the American Dream bu...

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3 Reasons Why You Should Consider Dual Sourcing Your Product Or Service

We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket.” Choosing to dual source a category means using two (or more) suppliers to provide identical copies of a product or service. Many c...

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Why it is Not Worth Preventing Every Disruption in Your Supply Chain

 Supply chains are similar to humans—imperfect. Their successes within business plans are a product of accurately forecasting how to survive crises and minimize damage in high-risk scenarios. Bal...

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Predictive Analytics in Procurement: The Logic Behind The Hype

 Wouldn’t it be nice to know the future for certain? There are few fail-proof ways to see shifts in the business landscape before they occur, but there are ways to ensure your goals stay on the c...

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Spend Under Management in Business Travel

“The whole is more than the sum of its parts.” – Aristotle We believe we have good data… but is it complete? I’ve had many conversations with Travel and Procurement managers about how much addressable...

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Four Keys to A Successful RFP That Too Many Firms Ignore

 It’s no secret that when a company is looking to solicit bids for a project, opening up a Request for Proposal (RFP) offers a simplified, standardized, and centralized means to compare diverse b...

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Gaining Procurement Esteem Through A “Softer” View

 I recently read an op-ed piece on the Sourcing Journal by Sigi Osagie that stood apart from other procurement perspectives I’ve come across recently. It observed that soft issues — issues based ...

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How to Achieve CAPEXcellence

 Along with corporate services, capital procurement is often the last part of the procurement organization to mature. It’s an opaque category that doesn’t immediately get attention for a number o...

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Industry Spotlight: Increasing Sustainability in Commercial Fishing

 Sustainability is a word you seem to hear everywhere today, as consumers become more conscious of the environment. As you would expect, sustainability plays a significant role in the food supply...

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Proving Procurement’s Strategic Value, Part 2

This is second in a two-part series. Part 1 can be found here. Purchasing leaders must not only be great at managing the complex functions of their department, but they must also become savvy communic...

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Proving Procurement’s Strategic Value, Part 1

This is the first in a two-part series. Part 2 will run on Thursday, September 11th. These days, with tightened budgets and enlarged job expectations, it’s important for CPOs, purchasing managers, and...

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On Procurement and Storytelling: Putting the Method into Practice

 Editor's note: on July 24th, I wrote a post 'On Storytelling and Procurement' in response to an executive leadership and communication post by Chip Scholz. Dr. Tom DePaoli, an author and managem...

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Revealing the Truth about Supplier Diversity Program Benefits

 Supplier diversity programs have been a hot topic for some time now. While the need for minority-owned and diverse supplier programs at most companies has only recently begun to take shape, the ...

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Developing & Maintaining Competitive Advantage Through Benchmarking

It is often challenging, sometimes nearly impossible, to gain access to real time market intelligence that can provide you with insight into your industry or supplier relationships. Without access to ...

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Flash Forward: A #FutureBuy Perspective from The Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal

Editor's Note: On May 1st, Buyers Meeting Point issued an Open Call for predictions about the future of procurement as part of the #FutreBuy project I am working on with Jon Hansen (Procurement Insigh...

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Internal Marketing and Supplier Relationship Management – A 1-2 Punch

This guest post is a team effort from Source One Management Services. If you would like to comment, you can do so by posting below, contacting them on Twitter @GetSavings, or contacting them directly ...

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