The Rest
15 Jan His master’s voice – he wasn’t just listening, he was smelling
Karl Meinke, professor at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm once said - "Computers allow us to shrink the world. Before we know it, we'll all be living in matchboxes". I paraphrase slightly. He won't remember that he said it. It was it circa 1975 when he was 13. I remember it was very funny at the time but remarkably, there's a ring of reality in what he said.
The world we occupy today is unthinkably different to the world that existed then and while we don't live in matchboxes in a literal sense, who would have thought that the shops we used to frequent would have shrunk to the size of a letter box?
09 Jan Working capital management – 10 steps forward, 11 steps back
Happy New Year and welcome to Q1. Time to undo all the good work you did last quarter - and a little bit more. Let's hope the shareholders aren't paying attention.12 Dec Suppliers gain from pension pain – an alternative approach to supply chain finance?
This week we're delighted to welcome John Mardle as a guest writer. John delivers CashPerform’s working capital optimisation programme and brings a new perspective to the supply chain finance discussion. The level of trade finance required today globally outstrips what can be achieved even by syndications that pull together all the banks. The pool is just not big enough in terms of the figures needed to support global trade. Could pension funds plug the gap?03 Oct West Coast Main Line fiasco highlights strength of the procurement process
A high profile public procurement exercises in the UK has become a very public embarrassment for the British government as the award of the franchise for one of the country’s busiest rail lines has been withdrawn following complaints from one of the unsuccessful bidders. This is going to lead to calls for public procurement processes to be examined and it will do nothing for the reputation of procurement professionals in the public sector who regularly come under fire from a press who will seek to conclude that the public procurement process needs to be overhauled. But that’s exactly the wrong conclusion to draw. Indeed, I think that the whole debacle shows the strength of the procurement process – not its weakness.10 Jul Supply chain finance – a strategy for procurement – a new white paper from Purchasing Insight and Taulia
Most procurement people would describe their role in terms of getting the best prices, managing supplier risk ensuring certainty of supply. But it’s more than this. If you can get the best price but the logistics costs are extortionate then it’s not the best cost...