Procurement for Projects? …or Business as Usual?

In a recent exchange on Twitter, I was asked if I had any writing on procurement in the context of projects, as there is very little coverage about this topic for Project Managers.

Is procurement for projects different from other procurement?

There are opposing arguments, on the one hand that procurement for projects is very different from other procurement, on the other hand, that the ideal approaches to procurement are very similar whether for projects or not, and that the approaches become different only as one makes compromises. Such compromises would arise as a consequence of differences in objectives for projects and ‘business as usual’ (BAU), and from constraints in the capability of the procurement resource. Compromises may also be forced by late involvement of appropriate procurement expertise. Continue reading

How to Determine Purchasing Organisation: Purchasing Activity Analysis

Judging by the limited references in the literature on purchasing practice and purchasing organisation, it would seem that purchasing activity analysis is a much underrated tool.

Why is activity analysis an important tool in determining purchasing organisation and establishing good practice? Continue reading

The Role of Procurement: Cost Saving or Adding Value?

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Where does cost saving sit in your Procurement’s scheme of things?

In a recent series of articles I have been examining the reasons why procurement cost-saving initiatives frequently fail to meet expectations, particularly in term of delivering measurable improvements in business profitability. There is undoubtedly a bigger question: where does cost saving sit in Procurement’s scheme of things? Continue reading

How to Determine Procurement Organisation – Part 3: The 5 Dimensions in Detail

This is the third in a series of articles which examine the internal and external factors which, when taken into consideration, will indicate the preferred model for procurement within a business. Continue reading

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Centralised Procurement: 18 Reasons why procurement cost-saving initiatives fail to deliver to the bottom line

This article is an update to an earlier article – the fifth in a series on how to avoid the pitfalls of centralised procurement.

In the first article I commented on the reasons why, when many large organisations embark on centralised procurement initiatives with the promise of substantial savings, direct increases in profitability fail to materialize within the business units. A discussion to capture the views of other procurement professionals has been running at Procurement Professionals Group on LinkedIn.

This week I re-analyze the comments – 311 at time of writing this article – from 118 contributors, excluding myself. Continue reading

How to Determine Procurement Organisation – Part 2: 5 Dimensions to be Considered

This is the second in a series of articles which examine the internal and external factors which, when taken into consideration, will indicate the preferred model for procurement within a business. Continue reading