Agency Theory
Overcome problems and conflicts that can stop your business developing productive and profitable relationships
Agile Supply
Not all firms can succeed with agile supply; but those that do are more responsive
Automated Buying
Get better control and visibility of your spend on suppliers
Backsourcing
Find out how bringing services back in-house can save money.
Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chain
Understand the dynamics in your supply chain to control costs
Business Ethics
Long term success depends on an ethical approach to doing business
Buyer-Seller Improvement Teams
Work more closely with your suppliers and customers to deliver better mutual benefits
Capacity Requirements Planning
Know what resources you need when and where - to ensure greater efficiency
Catalogue Management
Use catalogue management to cut costs and reduce staff time wasted
Category Management in Purchasing and Supply Management
Take a rigorous approach to getting the best value from your supplies spend
Centralised/Decentralised Procurement
Know how to get the best value from your procurement team and processes
Change Management
Change management can be hard; master the key success factors
Closed-Loop Supply Chain
There may be value in reusing the products your customers have finished with
Cloud Computing in Supply Chain
If your supply chain is important to your cost and customer services, cloud technologies can get better results
Co-sourcing
Savings of 30% could be on offer with the right co-sourcing decision
Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment
Reduce lead times by 18% by working collaboratively with your trading partners
Collaborative Relationships in Procurement
Know when to work in a collaborative, or adversarial, relationship with your suppliers
Commodity Strategies
Secure, and get the best price, for your key supplies
Competitive Intelligence
Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer? Keep one step ahead by knowing what your competitors are doing
Complex Procurement
More than just contracting, complex procurement may need specialists
Continuous Improvement
If you are not doing things better your competition will be. You can lose at least 20% sales if you do not keep offering more to your customers
Contract Management
In an ongoing relationship, the most of the value comes after the deal
Cooperation and Mutuality in Procurement and Supply Chain
Reduce your supply chain costs by working cooperatively with your suppliers
Corporate Social Responsibility
A very effective way to make your business stand out from competitors
Countertrade
Crisis Management
Before catastrophe strikes, know your Business Continuity Plan
Cross-Docking
Improve the efficiency of your logistics with cross docking
Cross-Functional Supply Management
Improve your responsiveness to customers by joining up your internal teams
Customer Centric International Shared Services
Maximise customer centricity - co-design services with key stakeholders to achieve excellence in service provision across international boundaries.
Database Systems and Management
Manage your databases to get deeper insights into your staff and customers.
Delivering Policy Through Procurement
You can use your purchasing budget to achieve bigger objectives than cost cutting
Demand Management
Understand, respond to and manage customer demand to grow sales and margin
Demand Management in Public Procurement
Demand management is driving new cost-reduction agendas - learn how to deliver real value.
Demand-Driven Supply Chain
Setting up a demand driven supply chain can result in 35% shorter cash-to-cash cycle times than typical companies
Due Diligence
Know what you are really buying or selling, and with who, with due diligence
e-Auctions
e-Auctions can deliver savings of 10%+, but are not without risk
e-Business
Your business could generate many mutliples more revenue by maximising your online capabalities
e-Commerce
It is essential that your online presence reflects your business well. Do it right
e-Procurement
Trading electronically with your suppliers can reduce process costs and improve spend control and visibility
e-Sourcing
e-sourcing can deliver major savings, but must be embedded into your overall strategy
Early Supplier Involvement
Working closely with suppliers when you are developing a new product can bring fresh innovations into the design and smoother roll out later
Economic Order Quantity
Order the right amount of goods and services to optimise costs and profits
Economic Production Quantity
Optimise your profitability by only stocking and making what you really need
Emergent Change
Planned or not, change will happen in, and outside your organisation - understand this to stay on track
Empowering Employees
Your staff will work harder and be more loyal if they feel trusted and able to make some of their own decisions
Enterprise Content Management
Investments in ECM can result in signficantly improved efficiency, better control, and lower costs - adding signficantly to the bottom line.
Enterprise Resource Planning
Save time and money using ERP - take the next step to better business performance.
Ethical Purchasing/Ethical Procurement
Ethical business can support the long term value of your brand
Exit Strategies
Before you get in to a contract, know how you will get out when the time comes
Financial Management in Procurement
Make sure your business has accurate financial management in the purchasing function an control costs
Forward Integration
As your business grows it could have a long term profit impact to acquire other functions/companies associated with delivering your products or services
Future Supply Chains
Being future proof is key to long term business success. Understand what your supply chain might look like and be prepared for the changes
Global Procurement
Some of your materials may come from abroad, if so it is important to understand how best to manage this process
Green Logistics
Lower your business costs whilst being environmentally friendly
Group Purchasing Organisations
It costs less to buy in bulk. Can your business make substantial cost savings and improve bottom line performance?
Horizontal vs. Vertical Integration
Understand where there might be opportunities for your business to collaborate - it could be in similar or different areas
Information Management
Be sure your business decisions are based on the right information
Innovation in Public Procurement
The Government is increasingly looking to include smaller firms in public sector contracts. Understand how this is happening so your business can benefit
Internal Strategic Integration
When all business functions are aligned to the overall strategy the collective results are likely to improve
Just-In-Time
How to manage stock and inventory levels at the absolute minimum to keep working capital free
Keiretsu
The original form of collaborating "companies". This approach can offer huge potential to smaller firms
Kraljic Matrix
One of the dominant strategic tools guiding purchasing activities in organisations
Labour and Human Rights in Purchasing & Supply Management
Lean Manufacturing / Production
Eliminating waste from your organisation can impact on your costs dramatically
Lean Supply Chain
Keep as much excess out of your supply chain as you can - your business will be more efficient and cost effective
Leasing vs. Purchasing Technology
Leasing gives you the latest technologies (before budgets allow), costs are predictable, and purchases can be offset against tax liabilities.
Lifecycle System Approach
Being able to manage your products and services over their lifecycle is key for your business success
Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Improve logistics – help your organisation better utilise production capacity.
Long Tail
Similar to Pareto's 80/20 - approximately 80% spend will be covered by 20% of the suppliers and conversely 20% of the spend will be comprised of a long tail of suppliers - 80%. Whether you are a buyer or supplier you need to know how to manage this
Loosely-Coupled vs. Tightly-Coupled Supply Chain
Collaborating in a supply chain can create a competitive advantage through sharing information, making joint decisions, and sharing benefits
Maintenance, Repair and Operating Supplies
Improve your position in terms of MRO procurement - reduce costs and increase efficiency.
Marketing Services Procurement
Using a specialist marketer could be a quick route to raising awareness of your business
Mass Customisation
Raise the bar for your customers by giving them unique product and service experiences.
Mass Production
Radically improve your efficiency and bring products to market even faster.
Material Requirements Planning
If your business is producing goods this is a must-know technique
Multi-Channel Distribution Systems
Start reaching multiple markets and customer segments to really drive growth and profitability
Multidivisional Organisational Structure
Negotiations in Procurement
Being a skilled negotiator can make and save you money
Optimised Production Technology
If you can minimise and production bottlenecks you will be able to maximise the profitability of your business
Outsourcing
Dramatically cut costs and increase efficiency and learn how to outsource effectively, safely and profitably.
Outsourcing in Procurement and Supply Chain
It is often better to let someone outside of your business manage something which is not your main strength so you can focus on growing your business
Paradigm and Paradigm Shifting
Positive Risk Management
Take a positive approach to risk management and learn how to realise unexpected benefits and opportunities for your business.
Procurement Transformation
Re-think the way your business buys - the cost savings could be significant
Public Goods
Work with government and build important, high-quality relationships.
Purchase to Pay Process
The quicker your purchasing function is, the more time there is available for looking at growth and profitability
Purchasing Cards
Purchasing cards can be useful to consider in order to reduce the amount of time spent on paperwork and allow more time to focus on growing your business
Purchasing Consortium/Consortia
Consider purchasing consortium – increase buying power and ability to achieve low prices.
Purchasing Strategies
Have a clear plan for what you need to buy to make sure costs stay low and profitability is maximised
Purchasing Structures/Models
Make sure the buying for your business works in the right way and keeps your costs down
Quality Management
Buy cheap, buy twice. Garbage in, garbage out. Make sure your business is a quality business
Relationship Models
Work with other businesses and people to maximise value in both your business and collaboratively
Resources and Competencies in Procurement
Make sure you have the right people with the right skills buying on behalf of your business. Getting this wrong can be costly
Reverse Supply Chain / Reverse Logistics
Your business can often re-use materials and processes produced in the supply chain. Doing this well can lead to large cost savings and increased profitability
Risk Management in Purchasing and Supply Management
Be fully aware of any risks in your supply chain at all times as it could affect your business's ability to sell your products or services
Shared Services
Cut costs and save time - learn how to be more efficient by sharing services
Shared Services Client-Advisor Relationships
To deliver greater value, focus on flexible partnership models responsive to changing business needs and more conducive to building trust.
Shared Services in Procurement and Supply Chain Management
As your business grows, sharing some of the different buying functions could bring substantial savings
Shared Services Innovation
Consider your innovation route map - recognise the value of applying innovative thinking to shared services implementation.
Single Sourcing vs. Sole Sourcing
Are you going to be able to choose a single supplier or are you forced to?
Sourcing
Companies that source materials and components well can make huge cost savings - Volkswagen increased operating profit by 50% by changing the way they did it
Sourcing and Procurement Industry Standards and Benchmarking
A key challenge of benchmarking is finding useful sources of comparison data – don’t feel constrained if competitor information is not available directly.
Sourcing and Shared Services Market Trends
Get ahead with the latest sourcing and shared services trends to outpace the competition and generate value for the bottom line.
Sourcing Governance Value
Communicate and cross-collaborate – create functional governance systems that are closely integrated to drive value.
Spend Analysis
Spending money is easy - know where your business expenses are and get the right price
Split Sourcing
Don't become dependent on just one supplier - source goods and services more strategically and drive down costs.
Standards and Policies in Procurement
Having clear policies for your business's purchasing will ensure anyone responsible for buying anything on behalf of the company does so properly and will save money in the long run
Strategic Alignment
Learn how to outperform the competition by matching your strategy and resources.
Strategic Business Units
If your business has different product or service lines you could make more money by treating them as separate business units which need their own strategic direction
Strategic Procurement
Make sure you are buying the things that fit with your strategy and not just buying as you need. This approach can save your business huge unnecessary costs
Succession Planning
Make sure you have the right talent ready to step up and lead your business when your best people leave.
Supplier Evaluation
Make sure you know how your suppliers are performing - it is critical to your business and will help show cost saving opportunities
Supplier Incentivisation
If your suppliers are aligned with your business's aims they are going to work as hard as you to deliver. Working together with them will bring business results
Supplier Performance Management
Are your suppliers helping or hindering your business? Making critical decisions can hinge on knowing which supplier to go to when you need something urgently
Supplier Relationship Management
Having good relationships with your suppliers is key - it can get you that contract that needs a quick turnaround if your suppliers like working with you
Supplier Segmentation
If you group your suppliers properly you will understand where the majority of your costs are going. Then you can work on reducing them and increase profit margin immediately.
Supplier Selection
Choosing the right supplier could be the difference between success and failure of your business as outside purchases are typically 40%-60% of the final cost. Firms like MacLaren look for their suppliers to contribute up to 80% of the end value
Supply Base Management
How many suppliers does your business have? Could you strike better deals by having less? Understand this technique and you could be making cost savings immediately
Supply Chain Complexity
Reducing complexity will often unleash high performance. If your supply chain is becoming a barrier to performance, understand what you need to do to make it simpler to manage
Supply Chain Finance
Unlock the power of your invoices and release cash to help you grow
Supply Chain Integration
Speaking to all of your suppliers regularly may open up collaboration opportunities which can save you money and maybe even open up new money making ventures
Supply Chain Management
It is business critical to manage your supply chain well. Cutting costs raises profit immediately
Supply Chain Operations Reference Model
How does your business measure up against some of the larger firms out there in terms of managing suppliers?
Supply Chain Performance Measures
Improve supply chain performance – chose the right indicators and make sure it is properly measured.
Supply Chain Risk Management
Is you business reliant on 1 or 2 suppliers? Do you have a back up plan in case any of them don't deliver their end of the bargain?
Supply Chain Security Management
DO you know all of your suppliers, and how secure are your processes? This is your business's money being spent after all
Supply Chain Visibility
Don't just think you know where money is being spent, KNOW you know
Sustainable Procurement
As your business grows, understand how to make your buying practices sustainable
Sustainable Supply Chain
Tactical vs. Strategic Purchasing
Do you have a clear plan for what your business is buying and why? If you do this right you could save 20% or more on spend
Theory of Constraints
Uncover the weakest links in your production processes - make more profit by being more efficient
Third-Party Marketplaces
There might be a cheaper way to find your components or mass-sell your products via market places. Understand how they work
Time to Market
If you are too slow to market you could lose 33% profitability. Understand the steps involved and get it right to maximise profit
Total Quality Management
Deliver the best quality you can and your business can succeed
Traditional / Open Loop / Forward Supply Chain
Have a solid understanding of the steps involved in the supply chain and work out which is best for your business
Triple Bottom Line
As your business grows, understand the measures that large organisations are judged on
Understanding Supply Markets and Competition
Understanding where price changes to your raw materials might come from will help you to stay ahead of the competition
Value Chain Management
Being able to manage the value chain well will help deliver bottom line performance
Value-Added Network
You could save valuable time and money by using a VAN for much of your supplier related documentation
Vendor / Supplier Rating
Even with relatively few suppliers it is important to know how they rank so you can look at getting discounts for the ones you use the most
Vendor Managed Inventory
A possible way to free up your time from stock management to be able to focus on growing your business
Virtual Integration
Use technology to bind together a dispersed network of suppliers- facilitate significant growth in information exchange.
Warehouse Management Systems
Getting the right system for your business could save substantial costs and improve your bottom line.
Warehousing and Inventory Management
Make sure you are carrying only the right amount of stock and free up working capital.