WORKER WELFARE IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN – CREATING A LASTING IMPACT
Procurement With Purpose
June 06, 2022
How can businesses most effectively respect and promote the rights and welfare of workers employed in the supply chain? That is a big and challenging question for procurement with purpose.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
Yunus Social Business - Davos discussion and a taster for a new report
Procurement With Purpose
May 27, 2022
Unfortunately, my invite to this week’s World Economic Forum from Obama, Bill, and my other billionaire / political leader friends did not materialise. But I did get invited to tune in virtually to a panel discussion held at Davos with Yunus Social Business (YSB), titled “The Opportunity of Social Procurement”, and held in partnership with software leaders SAP.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, CSR
AMAZON DEFORESTATION CONTINUES AT A RECORD PACE
Procurement With Purpose
May 09, 2022
“Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon surged to record levels for the month of April, nearly doubling the area of forest removed in that month last year – the previous April record – preliminary government data has shown, alarming environmental campaigners. In the first 29 days of April, deforestation in the region totalled 1,012.5 square km (390 square miles), according to data from national space research agency Inpe …”
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Healthtech, CSR
WESTMINSTER HEALTH FORUM - "THE BIGGEST NHS TRANSFORMATION EVER"
Procurement With Purpose
April 26, 2022
Last week I tuned in to the online Westminster Health Forum policy conference – “The way forward for net-zero health services”. The chairs were members of Parliament Philip Dunne and Nadia Whittome, and the agenda covered a wide range of topics, including sustainability and net zero issues connected with property, public health, facilities management, supply chain and medical equipment and processes.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Healthtech, Supply Chain
BUSINESS PURPOSE MEANS MORE THAN STATEMENTS ON WEBSITES
Procurement With Purpose
March 21, 2022
Last week, P&O Ferries dismissed 800 of their UK staff who worked on their ships between the UK, Ireland and the European continent. Staff were in some cases forcibly remove from the boats with security personal employed to “facilitate” that process. In place of the 800, P&O has hired “agency staff” who will work under less favourable terms and conditions. £2.60 an hour is being quoted as the new wage rate. Many will come from eastern Europe or south-east Asia and will work for well below UK minimum wage.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
THREE PWP EVENTS COMING UP - TWO NEXT WEEK
Procurement With Purpose
March 15, 2022
Three events to tell you about.
Next Monday, March 21st (the spring equinox, no less) has been designated “World Sustainable Procurement Day” by the team at the Sustainable Procurement Pledge initiative. There is an impressive-looking range of virtual events throughout the day, with quite a range of Procurement with Purpose topics, from Scope 3 emissions to social value and diversity in the supply chain. Some are sector or industry specific – such as “Chemical Supply Chains for a Better World” and some are topic related such as the fascinating-sounding “How students and young professionals transform corporate supply chains for the better”. You can register for sessions here – all free of charge as far as I can see.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
Vizibl: Securing a sustainable future for your organisation
Sustainability Magazine
March 06, 2022
Mark Perera, CEO, Vizibl discusses how organisations can secure a sustainable future for their operations, looking at both supplier and customer emissions
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Leadership
SUPPORTING SOCIAL ENTERPRISES - A WORTHWHILE ELEMENT OF ANY "PURPOSE" PROGRAMME
Procurement With Purpose
February 21, 2022
I’ve seen several UK public sector tenders this year and the inclusion of social value factors in the evaluation process is really becoming established. That “social value” terminology is very broad in this context, incorporating potentially the full range of what we classify as environmental, social and economic issues in our Procurement with Purpose book.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
SOCIAL BUSINESS - NOTES FROM SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT PLEDGE WEBINAR
Procurement With Purpose
January 29, 2022
The Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP) was created by Thomas Udesen (CPO at Bayer) and Bertrand Conquéret (CPO at Henkel) in 2019. It is a relatively informal network of procurement professionals who sign up to the “Pledge” – whilst it doesn’t require too much effort to join, it does at least show that you have some interest in the topic and there are now some 6000 members. With a new website too, SPP is now “an international bottom-up and non-profit organization for procurement professionals, academics and practitioners, driving awareness and knowledge on responsible sourcing practices and empowering people in procurement”.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
UNILEVER IN THE PRESS, SHAREHOLDER VALUE IN FOCUS
Procurement With Purpose
January 17, 2022
There are good reasons why “Unilever” appears in the index for our Procurement with Purpose book more than any other commercial business. The firm has become a leader in the field of sustainable and purposeful business over the last 12 years, since Paul Polman as the then new CEO made bold commitments in a number of key environmental areas.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
DON'T LET PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE CREATE BARRIERS FOR SUPPLIER
Procurement With Purpose
December 23, 2021
In my last article, I commented on the risk that firms may decide to leave public stock markets and seek investment from private equity and similar if large investors such as fud and pension managers stop investing based on somewhat questionable “ESG” requirements. Defence firms or even those supporting governments in areas such as immigration or justice management might find themselves shunned.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, CSR
SOCIAL PROCUREMENT – READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Procurement With Purpose
December 05, 2021
The Social Procurement Manual has been developed to support and drive the use in the supply chain of organisations that have a social purpose of some sort. It is well-researched, written and presented, and will be useful to many. The authors describe the cause in this way:
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, CSR
PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE - PUBLICATION DAY!
Procurement With Purpose
November 29, 2021
Today is the official publication day of our book, Procurement with Purpose – How organisations can change the way they spend money NOW to protect the planet and its people”.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, CSR
DON'T FORGET ABOUT GOVERNANCE - INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LOSEBY
Procurement With Purpose
November 25, 2021
David Loseby has been around the procurement world at senior levels for quite some time, and has also become an industry thought leader with strong academic credentials. He has acted as an editor for industry journals, and his doctorate which focused on behavioural science in a business context developed into a book, Soft Skills for Hard Business, published in 2018.
See publication
Tags: Procurement
COP26 FINISHES - OR SHOULD WE SAY "PHASES DOWN"?
Procurement With Purpose
November 16, 2021
Thousands of exhausted policymakers, lobbyists, scientists and journalists, as well as Glasgow’s bar staff, taxi drivers and sex workers, all greeted the end of Cop26 with some relief, I suspect.
See publication
Tags: Procurement, Climate Change
BIODIVERSITY AND NATURE - CEOS CALL ON GOVERNMENTS TO ACT NOW
Procurement With Purpose
October 12, 2021
We are getting close now to COP26, the global climate summit being held in Glasgow next month. But another important event in terms of biodiversity, nature and the future of our environment kicks off this week. The opening phase of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Cop15 meeting will be held in Kunming, in China, with most delegates attending virtually.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement, Climate Change
ENERGY CRISIS HIGHLIGHTS NET ZERO CHALLENGES
Procurement With Purpose
October 08, 2021
The full-on climate change deniers seem to have gone a bit quiet these days, as record temperatures, wildfires, floods and droughts sweep the planet. Similarly, there aren’t too many people around who think it’s a clever idea to continually increasing the amount of plastic we throw away into the oceans and landfill. However, there are major differences when it comes to the pace of change, a tension that is being heightened at this moment by the crisis in the energy markets of many countries.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Climate Change, Renewable Energy
GREEN PACKAGING - HOTEL CHOCOLAT HIGHLIGHTS THE CHALLENGES
Procurement With Purpose
September 26, 2021
Life used to be simple. I was Head of Packaging Buying at Mars Confectionery back in the late 1980s and whilst I did have issues with continuity of supply, finding the best material for a combination of quality, price and customer attractiveness, I didn’t ever worry about the sustainability – or otherwise – of my packaging.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement, Climate Change
BEING ETHICAL IS TOUGH
Procurement With Purpose
August 30, 2021
The ethical issues we all face sometimes seem impossibly complex. As we get more into the purposeful business agenda, with procurement at the forefront of many of the key decisions, matters get more and more difficult. In summary, being ethical - for individuals, corporations, governments and even chaitieis - is tough.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, CSR
SPEND MATTERS LOOKS AT ESG - TIMELINE AND TECH ANALYSIS
Procurement With Purpose
August 16, 2021
My old colleagues at Spend Matters have come up with a very good idea – a timeline for “Procurement /Supply Chain ESG Regulations Through The Years”.
It lays out some of the major milestones that focus on ESG (environmental, social, governance) in terms of government regulations, major reports and actions in those areas. It starts with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), put in place in 1977 in the US “to prohibit bribery payments to foreign officials that could influence obtaining or retaining businesses”.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
ATTRACTING THE BEST INTO THE PROFESSION THROUGH PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE
Procurement With Purpose
August 06, 2021
How do we attract the brightest and the best into procurement and supply chain roles?
In these days where the “war for talent” is a real issue, that is a big question for any leading procurement function or leader. It is also relevant for CIPS and other professional bodies, and was the agenda item for a virtual meeting of CIPS Fellows the other day. Discussion included how to be successful at careers fairs, how to inform teachers and parents about procurement as well as getting to young people themselves, and the best way to communicate just how interesting these professions and jobs within them can be.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
G20 FAILS TO AGREE CLIMATE CHANGE PACKAGE - RISK OF EXTREME WEATHER CONTINUES TO RISE
Procurement With Purpose
July 27, 2021
Reminders of what climate change means to the earth have been coming thick and fast in recent weeks, particularly in terms of our weather. The people of Northern Ireland – usually one of the wettest parts of the United Kingdom – saw its temperature record beaten three in a week, with 31.4°C on July 22nd.
See publication
Tags: Procurement, Climate Change
CONSULTING FIRM PROXIMA MOVES INTO THE SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT SPACE
Procurement With Purpose
July 19, 2021
It feels like procurement consulting firm Proxima has been around forever, but actually it is “only” some 25 years or so. The firm morphed from an initial cost reduction focus to an outsourced service model, but in more recent years, the business has become one of the leading international consulting firms working across the procurement space.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
PROCUREMENT AND DIVERSITY - GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
Procurement With Purpose
July 11, 2021
Whilst issues around climate change and carbon tend to dominate the “sustainable procurement” agenda, we have always positioned “procurement with purpose” in the broadest possible way to incorporate issues around social and economic wider value as well as the critical environmental areas.
See publication
Tags: Procurement, Climate Change, Diversity and Inclusion
CAN THE UK HIT ITS EMISSIONS TARGETS?
Procurement With Purpose
June 29, 2021
The UK government has committed to reducing emissions in the country by two thirds by 2030. But is there any chance of that target being hit?
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Climate Change
BUYING SOCIAL - A VALUABLE AND INSIGHTFUL NEW GUIDE FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION (COPY)
Procurement With Purpose
June 03, 2021
In many countries, public sector buyers are now looking to achieve more than just a “good product at a fair price”. Driven by central government as well as local politicians, the aim is to use public procurement to drive wider “social value”. That definition can cover issues from global concerns such as emissions or modern slavery, to much more local challenges - supporting employment in a town or city, or encouraging minority-owned businesses to bid for work in their locality.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
May 26, 2021 AN INSPIRING SPORTING SUSTAINABILITY STORY
Procurement With Purpose
May 26, 2021
Here are two good pub quiz sports questions.
· Which professional football team is the most environmentally conscious in the UK (and quite possibly the world)?
· And which team in the four English top divisions represents the smallest settlement (town, city or similar)?
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, SportsTech
THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS FOR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
Procurement With Purpose
May 17, 2021
Virtually all the senior procurement leaders we have interviewed for articles here have stressed the importance of working successfully with key stakeholders to develop successful procurement with purpose (PwP) programmes.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
LOANHOOD – CAN FASHION AND SUSTAINABILITY BE COMPATIBLE?
Procurement With Purpose
May 06, 2021
“How did you first get interested in business purpose and sustainability?” That is a question we’ve asked everyone interviewed for this website. Jade McSorley gave perhaps the most unusual answer.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
NINIAN WILSON – STANDING TALL WITH VODAFONE’S THREE PILLARS (PART 1)
Procurement With Purpose
April 21, 2021
Ninian Wilson is a well-known leader in the procurement world, a regular in the CIPS “Procurement Power List” and held senior roles from an early age at British Gas, Cable & Wireless, and the Royal Mail. He joined Vodafone back in 2009 and is now the Group Procurement Director and is also the CEO of the firm’s procurement company, so “I’m in the fortunate position that everyone in supply chain management in Vodafone reports into us in Luxembourg”.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Diversity and Inclusion
BEWARE THE GREENWASH! MARK CARNEY UNDER FIRE FOR EMISSIONS CLAIM
Procurement With Purpose
April 15, 2021
Greenwash (v)- “the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company's products, process or practices are more environmentally sound than they really are. To make people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is”. (Investopedia)
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Renewable Energy
April 6, 2021 WORKING WITH CHINA - PURPOSEFUL BUSINESS ISN'T ALWAYS EASY
Procurement With Purpose
April 06, 2021
This “purposeful business” thing isn’t as easy as it looks, as many large businesses are finding. The latest challenge comes as China is increasingly the subject of international criticism for its alleged treatment of the Muslim Uighur population in the “autonomous” north-western region of Xinjiang.
See publication
Tags: Procurement
TESCO, HSBC AND DANONE IN THE PURPOSEFUL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
Procurement With Purpose
March 25, 2021
One of the core beliefs of this website and our “procurement with purpose” initiative generally is that business can and should be a force for positive change in terms of wider environmental, social and economic issues. That’s where we differ from themore extreme campaigners in areas such as climate change or evenmodern slavery.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Climate Change
ARE THE UNITED NATIONS SDGS ACTUALLY APPROPRIATE?
Procurement With Purpose
March 19, 2021
The United Nations has considered issues such as the environment as part of its brief for fifty years or so, going back to the 1972 UN Conference on Human Environment (the Stockholm Conference), which was called to tackle the pollution caused by global industrialisation during the 1960s and 70s. In more recent years, as the world tries to address these tough issues, the organisation has increased its efforts in terms of greater scope and more activity.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
RUNNING TOWARDS NET ZERO WITH MARK SMITH OF BP
Procurement With Purpose
March 03, 2021
Deciding the right things to do from a sustainability or procurement with purpose viewpoint isn’t necessarily a hard task in itself. However, in the world of energy companies – particularly oil and gas – it is somewhat harder to excel when you’re dealing with exploration, extraction, processing and distribution.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Renewable Energy
THE POWER OF PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE
Procurement With Purpose
February 23, 2021
It is possible and desirable for organisations to act within their own four walls in the spirit of sustainable and purposeful business. If they use natural resources, they can do so in a sustainable fashion. They should treat staff properly, and ensure that modern slavery, discrimination or human rights abuses are not taking place internally. They can look to recruit from disadvantaged or minority groups.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
THE ECONOMICS OF BIODIVERSITY – CAN WE PUT A VALUE ON AN ELEPHANT?
Procurement With Purpose
February 15, 2021
Earlier this month, the Dasgupta Review was published. “The Economics of Biodiversity” is an independent review representing “a landmark contribution to our understanding of the relationship between nature and our economy”, according to Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Diversity and Inclusion
Top Five 2021 Key Procurement and Supply Chain Trends
LinkedIn
January 25, 2021
For many, the reality of our climate emergency was brought into sharp focus in 2020, as a result of, and even prior to, the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the worldwide financial sector understands that the investment risk of global warming is real and even before the pandemic, they had started to adjust their behaviour accordingly. This means that Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) frameworks have gone beyond a simple tick-box exercise.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, COVID19
POSITIVE IMPACT COMMERCE – AIMING TO SET STANDARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
Procurement With Purpose
January 20, 2021
Let’s face it, there weren’t many positive aspects to 2020. But I did get the chance to meet and interview some really interesting, passionate, and smart people who care about various elements of the Procurement with Purpose agenda. Unfortunately, since February that has been online rather than over a beer or coffee, but you can’t have everything.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, CSR
SOCIAL VALUE AND PUBLIC PROCUREMENT - WARNING NOTES PART 2
Procurement With Purpose
January 12, 2021
We talked in part 1 about the risk that selecting suppliers based to a large extent on their “social value” offer might lead to less-then-competent firms winning public sector work. That is true even without considering the spectre of fraud and corruption, which is my second area of concern.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, CSR
Supplier Diversity Will Be A Primary Goal for CPOs in 2021
LinkedIn
January 09, 2021
This year, COVID-19 has disrupted businesses and global economies in extraordinary ways, unmasking a lack of resilience in our global supply chains. In fact, supply chains are being severely tested as they respond to the disruption of the pandemic, which has shone a light on under-investment in supply chain tools, technology, processes and people.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, COVID19
Why Procurement with Purpose is Set to be the ‘New Normal’
LinkedIn
December 28, 2020
The shock of COVID-19 has been felt all around the world, and it is having a disruptive impact on global supply chains. To this point, consulting and advisory firm Deloitte has questioned whether COVID-19 will become a “black swan” event that forces companies, and industries, to rethink and transform their supply chain model.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, COVID19
OLIVER HURREY – DRIVING COLLABORATION IN SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT
Procurement With Purpose
December 09, 2020
For many of us, awareness of environmental and sustainability issues in a business context has come relatively recently. But for Oliver Hurrey, it has been at the centre of pretty much his entire 20-year working life.
He got into the field first of all by organising events for the sustainability industry, then worked for 2degrees in various roles for some 10 years. 2degrees helps businesses work together through digital platforms and events, all aimed at driving sustainable business. He worked with huge firms such as Asda, Unilever and GSK, helping them “communicate sustainability goals to their supply chains”, he says.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
A VEGAN FEAST ANYONE? GAUTHIER POINTS THE WAY
Procurement With Purpose
December 01, 2020
Some positives have emerged from the Covid pandemic. Whole new markets have been created from nothing, and organisations have shown commendable creativity and resilience in finding ways to survive and continue to trade. Those positive qualities will be needed for some time to come as we look to recover from the economic shocks we’ve seen in 2020, driven by lockdowns and restrictions on movement and activity.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Business Continuity
CONSERVATION AND TECHNOLOGY ALIGNED – AN INTERVIEW WITH ALISON SMITH
Procurement With Purpose
November 24, 2020
Alison Smith’s interest in and commitment to conservation issues was sparked by a lifetime of international travel (her parents served with the UK Air Force in various countries) and a love of ocean diving. Visiting wonderful locations such as the Galapagos and Madagascar made her realise how fragile elements of our natural world really are. “You see it with island ecologies – they are a barometer for our effect on nature. They are particularly vulnerable to the way in which humans can change the ecosystem, and they will be amongst the first hit by rising sea levels”.
See publication
Tags: AI, Emerging Technology, Sustainability, Supply Chain
ANIMAL WELFARE ISSUES - AND WHO KNEW ABOUT DENMARK'S FUR FARMS?
Procurement With Purpose
November 17, 2020
The Covid pandemic has taught us many things, but one of the most surprising emerged last week with the news that mink kept on farms in Denmark have developed a new and potentially very dangerous type of “mutant coronavirus”, which has spread to humans. (Perhaps the animals really are trying to wipe out humankind?) That has led to restrictions on people from that country travelling to the UK, and other precautions are being taken with similar outbreaks reported in the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, COVID19
UK WATER FIRMS CRITICISED FOR WORSENING PERFORMANCE – A WARNING TO “WILD SWIMMERS”!
Procurement With Purpose
November 11, 2020
One of my close friends, along with her family and others, regularly swims in the Thames – her partner is a serious triathlete and trains on the Henley to Maidenhead stretch. I’ve never been tempted to join them, being a poor swimmer and not fond of freezing water, but there are other dangers as well, as you might guess.
In October, the UK’s Environment Agency (EA) issued its annual assessment of the nine privatised water and sewerage companies, and its Chair, Emma Howard Boyd, said their performance continued to be unacceptable. Water companies in England were responsible for their worst levels of environmental pollution for five years in 2019, so matters appear to be getting worse rather than better.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
CIPS PANEL DEBATES PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE – COLLABORATION OR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE?
Procurement With Purpose
November 06, 2020
CIPS (the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply) held its annual conference last week – virtually, of course, and free for members. 4000 people registered and whilst not that many tuned in on the day, it does highlight a major positive of virtual rather than live events – the opportunity for more people to enjoy high quality content without paying a large fee!
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement
MARS SIMPLIFIES PALM OIL SUPPLY CHAIN - GOOD NEWS FOR THE ORANGUTANS?
Procurement With Purpose
October 20, 2020
Earlier this month, confectionery giant Mars announced that as part of its “Palm Positive Plan” it will reduce its number of palm oil suppliers, removing from the supply chain those that do not meet the required sustainability criteria. The firm is simplifying its supply chain, reducing the number of mills it uses from 1500 to fewer than 100 by 2021, and then aiming to halve that again in 2022.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement
AVOCADO FARMING AND HUMAN RIGHTS HIT THE HEADLINES
Procurement With Purpose
October 13, 2020
Personally, I really don’t like avocados and my wife is actually allergic to the strange green fruit. But they have become de rigeur for the Millennial generation, with crushed avocado on toast apparently the equivalent of my generation’s cheese and pickle sandwich.
But these days there appears to be a dark side to pretty much anything we buy, and an investigation by the Sunday Times takes us into avocado-related procurement with purpose territory.
Actually, this case is an example of my two personal interests overlapping in terms of procurement practice and behaviour. As well as the purpose and sustainable procurement agenda, I have been focusing on things that go wrong in the procurement world, with my book Bad Buying — How Organisations Waste Billions Through Failures, Frauds, and F*ck-ups published last week by Penguin Business. And this avocado case study shows how procurement with purpose issues can flip into “bad buying” in a very real sense.
See publication
Tags: Procurement
UK GOVERNMENT EMPHASISES SOCIAL VALUE IN PROCUREMENT
Procurement With Purpose
October 07, 2020
With many of the public sector procurement stories in the UK recently featuring apparently strange pandemic-related supplier selection decisions and allegations of nepotism, it is good to be able to report a positive story from Whitehall.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, COVID19
REGISTER NOW FOR VIZIBL COLLABORATE & OUR PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE ROUNDTABLE
Procurement whit Purpose
September 27, 2020
On Wednesday this week (September 30th, 2020), the two founders of the Procurement with Purpose website (and movement), Mark Perera and Peter Smith, are participating in a session on the topic during the Vizibl Collaborate 2020 virtual conference.
Vizibl is the software firm founded and run by Mark, previously one of the founders of Procurement Leaders, and the line-up for the event is very impressive, with big name speakers such as Marcel Vollmer (ex SAP CPO and now a partner at BCG), Clive Heal, Detlef Schultz from Vodafone and many others from academia, the consulting and solution provider worlds plus top procurement execs.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement
FRANK OMARE – DRIVING VALUE FROM SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT
Procurement with Purpose
September 22, 2020
Frank Omare wants to make it clear that unlike many people who just fell into the profession, “I found procurement. I saw it as an exciting and interesting place to be”. As a qualified chemical engineer, he worked in that discipline, then moved into manufacturing management roles in the food industry, before seeing that procurement and supply chain was where he wanted to focus his attention.
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement
HERVÉ LE FAOU OF HEINEKEN - A REAL SENSE OF PURPOSE
Procurement with Purpose
September 15, 2020
Moving from the vision back to current activities, Le Faou is one of the co-leads of Heineken’s sustainability programme. The firm has cut carbon emissions from its breweries almost in half since 2008 and has committed to using 70% renewable energy within ten years. “Regenerative agriculture” is another priority, which in areas such as barley cultivation looks to improve the soil, develop healthier water systems and increased biodiversity, as well as improving the lot of farmers. Heineken also is working to make logistics and cooling greener too, which matters as the firm has no less than 150,000 of its green fridges out in the marketplace!
See publication
Tags: Innovation, Sustainability
A VIRTUOUS REVOLUTION
Procurement with Purpose
September 11, 2020
Remember the days before Coronavirus when climate change was the great threat to humanity? With our eyes now firmly fixed on the unfolding impacts of the pandemic it is easy to overlook, but it hasn’t gone away, and urgent change is needed.
If COVID-19 has done any good, it is that a number of sacred cows have been killed regarding what is possible in how we live and work, such as the need for 9-5 office attendance, ad hoc convenience shopping and the need to use cars constantly - all debunked and the air cleaner for it. But these effects only go part way to achieving sustainability goals, even if we did retain those lockdown habits. Is there a better way?
See publication
Tags: Sustainability, COVID19
PAUL POLIZZOTTO – ENTREPRENEUR AND SOCIAL BENEFIT VISIONARY
Procurement with Purpose
June 20, 2020
Paul Polizzotto isn’t talking about the coronavirus, but about less specific yet very real threats. “People are getting angry, about climate change, about healthcare, inequality”, so time is short to address these challenges. “Rome is burning”, he claims.
See publication
Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain, Sustainability
NANDINI BASUTHAKUR - LEADING WITH PROCUREMENT LEADERS
Procurement with Purpose
June 17, 2020
Nandini Basuthakur is arguably the best-connected individual in the global procurement world. She has personally worked in many countries, and held some significant jobs, including her current role as Chief Executive Officer of Procurement Leaders (PL).
Nandini was finding the constraints of social distancing challenging when we spoke to her for this interview. “I’m a sociable person”, she said. At PL, the world’s largest procurement networking and intelligence platform, she is used to constant face to face contact with colleagues, as well as PL’s unrivalled network of global CPOs and their senior teams.
See publication
Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain, Sustainability
What is Innovation?
LinkedIn
October 01, 2019
I saw this quote from Bill Gates and it really resonated with me. It’s something that one of the best business minds in the world identified a long time ago, and yet we still struggle so much with understanding what innovation entails.
And this led me to think of why is it that when it comes to the word innovation, it conjures up a world of complication along with feelings of confusion and frustration. Do we over complicate things? Do we miss the fundamental aspects of what innovation should involve? Do we even know what we mean when we utilise the word innovation?
See publication
Tags: Innovation
Procurement Leaders
Procurement Leaders
April 25, 2019
Founding Editor of Procurement Leaders Magazine 2005-2008.
Procurement Leaders Quarterly (PLQ) and Monitor are publications designed to inspire, inform and educate procurement chiefs and their teams on the latest trends shaping the function.
See publication
Tags: Procurement
Why & How to Run Your 1st Supplier Day: Pearson's Story
linkedin
December 20, 2018
Ask any supplier what they want most and the majority will probably give you the same answer – namely, being involved earlier in the decision-making process and also, crucially, given a true understanding of what it is that a company is trying to achieve
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement
Where I see Procurement in 2025
LinkedIn
June 28, 2018
Organisations need two things to thrive. Growth and speed. Miss these and you will miss the boat. Today I want to look at how technological advances will enable procurement teams to automate and augment their current transactional workload and allow them to deliver measurable growth and speed.
See publication
Tags: Innovation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Where I see Procurement in 2025
linkedin
June 26, 2018
Organisations need two things to thrive. Growth and speed. Miss these and you will miss the boat. Today I want to look at how technological advances will enable procurement teams to automate and augment their current transactional workload and allow them to deliver measurable growth and speed.
See publication
Tags: Innovation, Supply Chain, Procurement
Calling Female Tech Founders! €50.000 Startup Prize at the Arch Summit
linkedin
March 08, 2018
Arch Summit’s Women in Technology competition aims to help profile the awesome female-led technology startups with leading corporate innovators & venture capitalist.
See publication
Tags: Innovation, Startups, Procurement
Six Supplier Collaboration Takeaways from Munich.
linkedin
May 19, 2017
I’ve been lucky enough to be the facilitator of Old St Lab’s whistle-stop world tour on supplier collaboration. So far we’ve held executive roundtable sessions in San Francisco (write-up here), London (write-up here) and we’ve just wrapped up another session in Munich.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement
Old St Labs partners with Vodafone to drive ambitious supplier collaboration & innovation agenda
linkedin
March 07, 2017
Hopefully, you’ve seen Old St Lab’s press release announcing our partnership with Vodafone, if you missed it, you can get it here.
See publication
Tags: Innovation, Supply Chain, Procurement
Formula 1 Reinvents Itself Every Year — It’s time for Procurement to Follow Suit
linkedin
June 15, 2016
Last week I attended the Docusign Momentum event in London and was blown away by a presentation former SAP CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe gave entitled “Re-invention from a Position of Strength — Leading through the 4th Industrial Revolution.
See publication
Tags: Procurement, Leadership
The Hard Things About Supplier Relationships
linkedin
April 04, 2016
One of the best books I’ve read in the last few years is The Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz the co-founder and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. In a departure from most management books I’ve come across, Horowitz steers clear of the ‘management made easy’ spiel and instead opts for a far more personal approach to the topic highlighting accounts of his personal challenges in the corporate arena.
See publication
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement
Memo to the CEO: Suppliers Are Key to Growth
Medium
March 13, 2015
You have no doubt heard the phrase that the customer is the key to a business’s success. Making sure the customer’s happy, providing ways for the customer to interact with sales and customer service staff and the continuance of supplying helpful services and useful products are all parts of this success. However, there’s one key factor that could cause a breakdown in a business’s success regardless of how it treats its customers and that is suppliers. Suppliers are key to growth.
See publication
Tags: Innovation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Engineering a Revolution at Work - Podcast
linkedin
January 16, 2015
Business innovators please take the time to listen to this podcast from Simon Sinofsky, on the evolution of work. Then reflect to tools & approach your team using day to day...... there might be an better way
See publication
Tags: Procurement
Favorite App of 2014 - Slack
linkedin
December 13, 2014
This selection was simple. Slack is simply awesome.
At Old St Labs we don't use email internally. We use Slack. We keep email for our lovely customers & future customers.
See publication
Tags: Procurement
My Favourite Quotes of 2014
linkedin
December 12, 2014
My Favourite Quotes of 2014
See publication
Tags: Procurement, Leadership
NINIAN WILSON – STANDING TALL WITH VODAFONE’S THREE PILLARS (PART 2)
PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE
Procurement Leaders
Illuminating The Future: Evolution of Supplier Relationships
Mark Perera - What's the case for Relationship Management?
PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE ROUNDTABLE
Sustainability through Supplier Collaboration: From green ideal to commercial imperative
Keynote speaker on the future of procurement
