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The Case for Change: Procurement Annual Report 2023

In last years’ Procurement Annual Survey we discussed the unprecedented procurement and supply chain challenges facing organisations and provided a series of recommendations on how to reimagine and to reinvent procurement for the future. Whilst supply chain resilience issues caused by the pandemic linger, other challenges have emerged with recent political and macroeconomic events significantly impacting energy and input...

The Impact of Direct and Indirect Spend in Hospitality and Leisure

The Hospitality & Leisure (“H&L”) industry faces an uncertain year ahead. The New Year brings with it a double-edged sword: a global recessionary environment where high-interest and inflation rates threaten consumer spending & H&L revenues, coupled with energy uncertainties that continue to hike the direct and indirect costs of service delivery (hotel shower gels to raw food and utility...

Consumer Products: The End-to-End Supply Chain

In our ever-chaotic world, supply chains are under increasing pressure from a relentless number of factors. Brexit rolled into Covid-19 which rolled into the Ukraine War, each with its own unique challenges that have a direct and indirect impact on supply chains. For consumer products, the most obvious visual of these pressures is the empty shelves in our stores.

The Three Key Pillars of Building Sustainable End-to-End Retail Supply Chains

Oil and gas prices remain at elevated levels due to the Ukraine war. The governor of the BoE says rising global food prices are a “major worry“ with price inflation of 6.7% last month. The CEO of 2 Sisters, the chicken manufacturer said that the cost of chickens could rise by up to 15% this year as a result of the war in...

The Historic Acquisition of Credit Suisse and Using Procurement in Acquisitions of Distressed Assets

Over the last few weeks, we have seen a number of major acquisitions. None larger than the historic ‘shotgun-acquisition’ of Credit Suisse. UBS will pay 3 billion Swiss francs (£2.644 billion) for 167-year-old Credit Suisse Group AG and assume up to $5.4 billion in losses. The acquisition makes UBS a significantly more powerful on the global stage, with a pro-forma c.$5 trillion...

Procurement’s Perfect Storm: Silicon Valley Bank

This last decade has been a playground for the global technology ecosystem to flourish and enable positive disruption across every industry. The backbone and a key enabler of this has been Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), with whom many of the world’s largest VC investors bank with.

4 Reasons Why Sustainability Is Key to Commercial Success

In the wake of Shell and BP announcing record-breaking profits for 2022 driven by the increase in wholesale gas prices following the war in Ukraine, their sustainability targets have been placed firmly in the back seat. BP announced that its profits had doubled to $28b whilst also revising its commitment to cut oil and gas production by 40% by...

Dynamic Purchasing Systems – How On Earth Do You Set One Up, And What Are The Planned Changes Under The Procurement Bill?

Last week, I covered what a DPS is (Dynamic Purchasing System, and not Damage per Second for the gamers amongst you!), and the benefits to both you and providers. If you missed out on this, please visit here to catch up before reading this article

Dynamic Purchasing Systems – What Are They and What Are The Benefits?

Many within Procurement have heard of Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS), as well as rumours of the good, the bad and the ugly. Whilst there is no disputing there are Regulations to govern the how and what, they don’t detail the why.

Is Loyalty Dead?

When I worked in Retail Buying between 2001 and 2013, we worked hard to secure, and harder to keep customers.

A COP-Out or Common Sense? The Wait for a COP-Led Global Carbon Market Continues

COP (Conference of the Parties) global climate summits have been running for nearly three decades. The most recent of which, number 27, concluded on Sunday 20th November after 13 days of talks held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The planned agenda was rigorous and ambitious, but the reality was less productive, and the finalisation of some crucial topics was kicked like the...

The Role of Procurement in Making Direct-to-Customer Successful

Direct to consumer (DTC) or Digital sales channel is the biggest growth area currently across consumer goods. Initially championed by consumer electronic companies like Dell and Apple selling directly to consumers to better manage their supply chain or provide a better brand experience, it gained popularity in household consumer products with companies like Dollar Shave Club and its subsequent...

5 Ways to Make Your Supply Chain More Sustainable

In today’s world, it’s crucial for businesses to be socially responsible and accountable. Customers are becoming increasingly conscious about how companies operate, which has led to many businesses focusing on being sustainable. This has implications for supply chain management as supply chains, normally, make up most of a organisations emissions, and supply chains that are more sustainable tend to...

How Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Can Strengthen Your Supply Chain Resilience

After the recent events of the past two years, Supply Chain resilience has now become the focus of companies and markets around the world. But what does it mean to have a resilient Supply Chain in today’s world? And how can the completion of Mergers / Acquisitions strengthen that resilience.

How Can Food Manufacturers Work Towards Net Zero? The Challenge of Tackling Scope 3 Emissions

The end-to-end value chain in the food industry, from farm to fork, accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. With consumers rapidly becoming expectant of food brands, supermarkets and high-street restaurant operators to commit to net zero, how can food manufacturers take responsibility and make a meaningful difference to the average 92% of emissions that fall within Scope...

Creating Supply Chain Resilience

No one would dispute that the COVID-19 pandemic created significant disruption to global supply chains. Nothing like this had happened in decades, and many operators relied on strategies that only partly addressed their challenges. Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has caused the greatest humanitarian crisis in Europe since the Second World War. Already, thousands of lives...