Advanced Purchasing Dynamics recently surveyed purchasing leaders concerning the challenges they would be facing in 2024. A top concern of the purchasing leaders is that their companies are expecting them to deliver an unachievable amount of savings in 2024. While savings are always a purchasing priority, in the past few years, Covid shortages coupled with…
Introduction: Having strong negotiation skills within a purchasing group yields a multitude of benefits. Firstly, it empowers the team to secure more favorable deals, resulting in cost savings and increased profitability for the organization. Secondly, effective negotiation builds stronger relationships with suppliers, fostering collaboration and trust that can lead to long-term partnerships and reliability. Additionally,…
Negotiation is an essential skill in business and life. It’s about finding common ground, reaching agreements, and building strong relationships. Last week we had a webinar where I interviewed Mike Wynn, APD’s lead for Sourcing Optimization, about the application of behavioral science to commercial negotiations. Prior to joining APD, Mike trained sales professionals on the…
Negotiating is an important skill for everyone in business, but it’s an essential skill for buyers, purchasing managers, and business leaders. Skills such as preparing for a negotiation, active listening, and applying the right negotiation tactics for the situation are fundamental to basic success. Skills that give negotiators an advantage are more advanced – the…
Cutting edge purchasing organizations are embracing a digital transformation to leverage technology for smarter decision-making and improved results. This transformation, known as Purchasing 4.0, empowers purchasing organizations to optimize costs, connect with optimal suppliers, and ensure optimal quality levels. In this article, we will explore the key factors that will help you succeed in the…
I have been around cost estimates and should-be costs since 1984 when I joined Ford Motor Company with my newly minted MBA and partial head of hair (yes, it is all gone now). While should-be costing provided real insights into costs and pricing, I always found it to have some drawbacks: Many suppliers find the…
For the past three years, buyers have been inundated with negotiating and settling supplier requests for price increases. The combined breadth (cost areas impacted) and percentage increases are higher than I can remember in my almost 40 years in purchasing. You must go back to the 1970’s to see inflationary pressures that buyers have been…
Tariffs, covid, shortages, war, and inflation. We have experienced over 5 years of chaos that have had purchasing professionals restructuring their supply chains. However, due to the unprecedented issues requiring immediate firefighting, sometimes shortcuts are taken and the restructuring results are not favorable. What mistakes are being made, and what are the lessons learned? We…
Cost negotiation becomes a very hot topic when commodity prices fluctuate greatly. In the last few years sales organizations led the negotiation charge as they sought price increases to offset steep increases in raw materials, labor, and indirect costs. Now, buyers are starting to initiate the negotiations as some commodity prices have fallen off their…
Go Bionic – is the recommendation made to CEO’s the Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) recently published book makes in its recently published book Profit from the Source1. BCG lays out some ideas for creating a bionic purchasing department combining technology/data and skilled and knowledgeable personal just as man and machine came together in The Six…