Category: Procurement

Benchmark report: A snapshot of cross-industry trends in purchasing

With this issue Knowledge@ W. P. Carey inaugurates a series of stories about the benchmark reports issued by CAPS Research, a research center co-sponsored by the W. P. Carey School of Business and the Institute of Supply Management. The first, its cross-industry report, reveals trends that have been developing over time. "The reports offer companies the opportunity to take a snapshot of where they are relative to their peers," says Steven Wade, director of benchmarking programs.

Focus on global sourcing: Strategies for success

Across virtually all industries and geographic regions, manufacturers share one common goal: to increase profitability by decreasing costs. A growing number of manufacturers, both in the United States and around the world, have embraced global sourcing as a fast-track method for achieving that goal. However, when it comes to the effectiveness of most companies’ global sourcing initiatives, there is plenty of room for improvement, finds a new study from Professor Robert Monczka of CAPS Research, a nonprofit supply chain research organization jointly sponsored by the Institute for Supply Management and the W. P. Carey School of Business.

Supply base complexity: Finding the right balance

Finding the optimal number of suppliers to form your supply base is not easy — nor is it the only factor buying companies must juggle in order to manage their suppliers effectively. New research from Thomas Choi, professor of supply chain management at the W. P. Carey School of Business, shows that companies need to go beyond just looking at how many suppliers they have in their supply base. They need to consider the three dimensions of supplier complexity, then calculate the impact of each on a variety of supply chain factors.

Take note: Laptop supply chain is not what you’d expect

U.S. sales of notebook PCs outpaced desktop computers for the first time in 2005, garnering 53.3 percent of the total PC retail market, according to research firm Current Analysis. Behind the notebook industry’s success lies a flexible, time-sensitive supply chain that straddles the globe in the design, manufacturing, configuring, and delivery of merchandise to customers. Top-selling brands such as Dell, HP, Apple, and Compaq are all based in the United States, but the computers themselves (like most consumer electronics these days) are manufactured half a world away in China. What’s interesting about the notebook supply chain is the fact that many of the players for these high-tech products rely not on technology at all, but rather on personal relationships, to get the job done.

Gold producer faces unique challenges in controlling its supply chain

At first glance, it would appear that supply-chain troubles would be a stranger to the gold mining industry. But heading the world’s largest producer of gold presents different kinds of challenges and opportunities, according to Wayne Murdy, CEO of Newmont Mining Corp. "We have the luxury of producing a product that sells itself. We have virtually no advertising budget. We have virtually no sales organization," Murdy told an assembled group of supply-chain executives at the W. P. Carey School of Business. "There are virtually no receivables, because of the fact that when we deliver the gold, the money is wire-transferred instantly." And yet, Newmont has accumulated some of its reserves through mergers and acquisitions, which eventually saddled the company with inefficient and redundant supply chain bureaucracies. Murdy shared with the audience how Newmont managed to tackle these issues while fostering initiative and teamwork among its managers and vendors.

‘The Wal-Mart effect’ probes the good, the bad and the ugly

Go to Google and key in "Wal-Mart." You’ll get some 121 million hits — mostly a roiling, passionate stew of haters and defenders of the retail giant with the smiley-face mascot and the motto "Always Low Prices. Always." What you won’t find, is indifference. That’s because Wal-Mart affects all of us in deeply important ways. Charles Fishman’s new book, "The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World’s Most Powerful Company Really Works — and How It’s Transforming the Economy," details how the retail behemoth influences not only its suppliers, but also our shopping patterns, our ideas about quality and consumption, and the character of communities.