Christian Schuh

Michael F. Strohmer

Stephen Easton

Armin Scharlach

Peter Scharbert

In the novel The CPO: Transforming Procurement in the Real World, we meet Thomas Sutter, a German-American living in Dusseldorf and working as a procurement manager for a major global automobile manufacturer, Autowerke. On a chance encounter while flying to Chicago, he meets the CEO of Heartland, a major food company in the U.S. Sutter impresses the CEO with his knowledge and, after a whirlwind courtship, he joins Heartland as its new Chief Procurement Officer, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Hired to transform procurement at Heartland, Sutter has an enormous challenge: to bring its procurement practices into the 21st century and save the company $5 billion. Despite the knowledge and experience he gained at Autowerke, Sutter fights over the next 18 months to find his place at Heartland, institute world-class procurement models and methods, win over the procurement teams and senior executives, and meet his goal. At first, his reputation--and his marriage--suffer, along with the company's overall sales and revenue. Can he pull a rabbit out of the hat? The CPO: Transforming Procurement depicts the real-life challenges of transforming procurement, while demonstrating the benefits of innovative procurement and leadership methods. Written by global thought leaders in A.T. Kearney's procurement and supply management practice--consultants who have helped numerous companies chop billions of dollars in costs out of their procurement budgets--The CPO will prove invaluable for those in purchasing and procurement. It will also present essential information to those in the C suite looking for ways to boost profits and productivity. The CPO: Portrays best-in-class, real-life, actionable methods to turn procurement into a function that can save billions and improve the bottom line. Provides a fun way to learn essential lessons in procurement and change management. Shows how rejecting victimhood in all its aspects leads to personal and business success. Presents lessons in novel format--like The Goal, Who Moved My Cheese, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and others--to engage you and show techniques in action.

Transforming Procurement in the Real World

The CPO

Robert Kromoser

Martin Eisenhut

Elouise Epstein

Erik R. Peterson

Enrico Rizzon

Disruptive Procurement is a radical new approach to creating value and innovation by challenging the status quo in the entire product and service line. It requires going far beyond conventional desktop procurement to understand the value the company brings to its customers as well as the value that suppliers bring to the company. By combining knowledge of these two dimensions, companies become far more flexible and they move closer to disrupting the environment in ways that create value. To move toward Disruptive Procurement, companies need a holistic view and a complete new set of capabilities for staff in marketing, sales, R&D, manufacturing, innovation, and, of course, procurement. This will only happen if procurement is fully backed by the Chief Executive Officer and companies embrace digital tools that will help make procurement slimmer and smarter.

Winning in a Digital World

Disruptive Procurement

Joseph L. Raudabaugh

Alenka Triplat

The approach used on a given spend item should largely depend on the balance between supply power and demand power. That is the logic behind the bestselling Purchasing Chessboard®, used by hundreds of corporations worldwide to reduce costs and increase value with suppliers. The 64 squares in the Purchasing Chessboard provide a rich reservoir of methods that can be applied either individually or combined. And because many of these methods are not customarily used by procurement, the Purchasing Chessboard is also the perfect tool for helping buyers to think and act outside the box and find new solutions. A well-proven concept that works across all industries and all categories in any given situation, it is little wonder that business leaders and procurement professionals alike are excited by, and enjoy strategizing around, the Purchasing Chessboard. This second edition of The Purchasing Chessboard addresses the new realities of a highly volatile economic environment and describes the many—sometimes surprising—ways in which the Purchasing Chessboard is being used in today's business world. Yet despite all of the great achievements of procurement executives and their teams, they do not always receive the recognition they deserve. In response, the authors have developed and outlined within the book an unequivocal approach to measure procurement’s impact on a company’s performance—Return on Supply Management Assets (ROSMA®).

64 Methods to Reduce Costs and Increase Value with Suppliers

The Purchasing Chessboard

Michael F. Strohmer

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