The Tough Guy that Obama Should Be

Over the past few months I have been fairly critical of the path President Obama has taken in dealing with some of our most pressing problems - the oil spill, the financial crisis and overall government accountability to name a few. As a Democrat I was excited to see a person who appeared to have some interest in helping normal people and making the government work come into office. Obama seemed very capable and showed a coolness even in times of crisis that appeared reassuring. Unfortunately...

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Problems in the Supply Chain, Apple & LG - Follow Up

As a quick follow up to my article a couple of weeks ago, it appears that Apple's supply chain is also starting to hit some stumbling blocks in manufacturing. Coincidentally, the stumbling block is almost identical to the one that we mentioned HTC was having, the primary supplier is not able to produce enough displays. In Apple's case, LG apparently is not able to meet the demand for the iPad and will not be able to completely hit targets until Q2 of 2011. Although Apple supposedly has other...

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Anti-Bullying Crusade

I came upon this article on philly.com about a young student in a Philadelphia Catholic school who has experienced a lot of bullying in her short school career. She decided that she wanted to make a change and began by addressing the issue to President Obama. Quite bold for an 11 year old girl if I do say so. As touching as that is, the President actually wrote back and commented on the issue. Now I don’t believe that the President will be coming to Philadelphia to scold these students...

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Greenwashing with Ethanol

Nothing beats your local corn-on-the-cob as we continue through the summer grilling season (heat wave or no heat wave!). I’ve heard corn is good for you being that it’s a vegetable but also that it has no nutritional value and the human body cannot digest it like other vegetables. Just as with corn-on-the-cob’s healthy vs. unhealthy views; ethanol is under the microscope for being a fit fuel replacement or not. Ethanol is a form of alcohol distilled from the sugars found in a wide variety of...

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Problems in the Supply Chain - HTC, APPLE, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint

With the release of the 4th generation iPhone dominating the news, the smart phone industry has been buzzing lately. Apple successfully shipped 1.7 million devices in the first couple weeks of release. However, it wasn't completely smooth sailing for Apple. During the first days of preordering, Apple had their share of problems. It was widely reported that the ordering systems were faulty, either outright not allowing people to place orders, or worse, having corrupt systems which displayed...

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The "Unfriendly" Skies

Why bother booking your airline travel in advance if you can't get your seat assignment until 20 minutes before your flight anyway. My business trip was booked weeks in advance with United Airlines. I can say that the flight down was not too shabby although I had to shove my suit in a small carry-on so I did not incur a costly fee to put a larger bag under the plane. My co-workers and I sat together which was beneficial when discussing the purpose of our trip. But I was not so lucky on the...

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Ask Your Suppliers for Help in Identifying Suppliers

We often mention in our articles, best practices, blog and marketing materials that purchasing professionals should be casting the widest net possible in their initial RFI stage of their strategic sourcing process. Rather than looking to disqualify potential suppliers, you should be looking to qualify as many as possible in your initial sourcing initiative. An easy way to accomplish this is to ask your existing and potential suppliers for help in identifying new sources of supply, regardless...

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Project Management 101 - Email Do’s and Don’ts

DO: Follow up a phone conversation with an email restating action items agreed to on the call. DON’T: Follow up the email with another email asking for a status update on the first email. Email makes our lives much more efficient. In the business world, it’s probably also the Number 1 reason why things don’t get done. I try to only use email if I am sending an attachment, following up a phone call, or trying to get someone’s attention anyway I can. I might also send an email if the message I...

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INTRAnational Outsourcing?

We hear all the time about offshore outsourcing to India, China, and many other countries in various industries such as IT, manufacturing, and customer service. But recently with the changes in the economy and overseas costs beginning to rise to help combat poor economic conditions worldwide and address poor labor conditions, we are seeing a bigger trend in intranational outsourcing. With the national unemployment rate remaining steady at 10%, corporations are starting to look into lower...

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The Power of a Decimal Point

Right after the World Cup had held its opening ceremony and the games were about to get underway, the tournament’s popularity and hype began to escalate. One news outlet, which will remain nameless, went on to report a projection that 36 billion people would be tuning in to watch the games. That’s right: 36 BILLION. Go ahead and google “36 billion people” and the results page will have Google asking you: “Did you mean to search for: 36 million people?” According to the United States Census...

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Sourcing Capitalism

I recently read this article about how small businesses run by locals in remote villages in Africa are the key to integrating technology and free enterprise into the hands that need it most. In remote communities of Rwanda most villagers only have access to kerosene lamps for lighting. The problem with kerosene lamps is they are very dangerous to your health and the environment. Not only are they highly flammable but they are also known to produce fumes that can cause lung cancer, therefore...

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All Hands On Deck

As Delaware seeks to join the club for banning hand held devices while driving, motorists should consider not only the legal ramifications of continuing this behavior, but personal consequences. Consumerreports.com reported, "There are currently 600 million cars on the road and 4.6 billion cell phone subscriptions. Between 80-90 percent of accidents are caused by driver behavior like distracted driving." This can only lead me to believe that the majority of the "distracted driving" is...

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Hands-Off Rules Of Thumb

That is when considering using them in a typical sourcing process. Earlier this year, I was skimming through a market research report which detailed the current market conditions for a certain commodity. A colleague of mine had read through the same report, pinpointed a piece of information, and questioned the source. An individual who participated in developing the report replied, “It’s a rule of thumb,” as if the rule was the most trusted source ever utilized. At the time, my colleague and I...

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“Welcome to the mysterious world of back-alley exotic meat purveyance….”

I came upon this article and just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share. If I owned a restaurant, personally I do not, I would be concerned about where the food I was serving to my patrons was coming from. I think this would be a significant concern if I were serving something such as lion burgers! Not sure if this would be a big seller anyway and for an Arizona restaurant owner it is causing quite the stir. The restaurant, Il Vinaio, thought it would be a different promotion to serve...

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A Quick Overview of a RFQ (Request for Quotation)

According to Wikipedia, “a request for quotation (RFQ) is a standard business process whose purpose is to invite suppliers into a bidding process to bid on specific products or services. An RFQ typically involves more than the price per item. Information like payment terms, quality level per item or contract length is possible to be requested during the bidding process.” An RFQ should always request the following information: Price requirements (fixed price, firm price with an escalation...

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Wireless Corporate Liability

I have been reading and hearing more and more stories about wireless policy and corporate liability regarding cell phone usage while driving. According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, 28 states have ban text messaging while driving and over nearly every state has some form of cell phone or distracted driving legislation on the books. While the law and your corporate wireless policy may restrict phone usage while driving, it’s not stopping many from continuing the...

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Is our economy better yet?

Although the economy is not improving by leaps and bounds, an article in Business Week indicates there are some signs of recovery. Here’s a few metrics the article highlights. PCI Index (Pulse of Commerce Index) The index measures the diesel fuel consumption data from over the road trucking. “The index climbed 3.1 percent in May from April, the largest monthly increase since February 1999.” This shows a sign of industry production as manufacturers stock their inventories. ISM’s...

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The Importance of an Accurate Spend Analysis - (A Spend Analysis Introduction, Part 1)

According to Wikipedia, spend analysis is, “the process of collecting, cleansing, classifying and analyzing expenditure data with the purpose of reducing procurement costs, improving efficiency and monitoring compliance.” Quoting The Aberdeen Group, savings are typically achieved by: Identifying opportunities to aggregate spend and negotiate superior contractsIdentifying and reducing non-compliant or “maverick” spend and Improving procurement operations and supplier performance.There are 3 key...

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Competition Where You Least Expect It

There is a nice article in the Spring edition of Parcel magazine that refers to a new player in the small parcel shipping market – the United States Postal Service. The article’s author, Michael Ryan, concludes that the perceived differences in service between the USPS and UPS/Fed Ex are just that, perceived. According to the article, USPS’ own reporting indicated an on-time service performance record of 96.4% in 2009, versus 99%+ for UPS and FedEx. On the surface there still appears to be a...

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Jobless Professions?

The down turn in the economy has brought on many effects in the workforce and in homes across the nation. So it is not surprising that this has affected the way college students make decisions regarding their career and education paths. An article from CNN indicates that students are turning to more economically robust majors that are likely to get them a more lucrative and secure job offer after graduation. More in 2009 than 2010, students were giving up the pursuit of further education and...

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Change Management - The Time is Now

Last week I spoke with a purchasing manager about the opportunity for savings in the category of benefits and insurance. The manager was in complete agreement that his company could probably save millions and that insurance categories had never been properly sourced within his organization. He then shyly announced his plans to kick off a sourcing initiative in the category - in about two years. Given his company’s urgent need for cost savings, I asked why not get started now? The answer was...

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Stock Market Wild Ride: Update

Saturday’s New York Times reported that “stocks tumbled Friday in one of their sharpest declines this year, leaving the Dow Jones industrial average firmly below 10,000.” They went on to confirm that “the sell-off was swift and brutal, with the broad market losing roughly 3.4 percent.” The Dow fell 324 points to close at 9,931.97. CNN.com reports, since peaking on April 26, the Dow has now lost 11.4% and sits firmly in so-called correction territory. Since hitting rally highs on April 23, the...

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Soybean Oil - Commodity Speculation Report: Updated 6-1-2010

According to Jim Wykoff, writing on commoditytrader.com, “March soybean oil futures at the Chicago Board of Trade are presently in a strong three-week-old price down-trend on the daily bar chart. Prices have sold off sharply, scoring a fresh 2.5-month low on Tuesday, after hitting a fresh seven-month high of 41.91 cents a pound in early January.” Factors in the market to be considered are as follows: According to The Refined Oils Weekly Wire, published by Bunge for its customers, “corn planting...

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LOST Spending: Apparently Getting Through Purgatory Ain’t Cheap

I am sure most of you, much like myself, were confused, bewildered, and left with your head spinning last Sunday at the finale of LOST. I began reflecting on the last 6 years and what has happened. I first thought of all the money I’ve spent the last 5 years on food, drinks, and cleaning products while hosting weekly LOST parties at my house. We went back and watched the very first episode and began discussing how the characters got from that point to the finale and everything that happened...

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The Stock Market Wild Ride

The Dow Jones continued its wild ride yesterday. According to Wednesday’s New York Times, “after days of sudden losses and reversals in the market, investors rallied around a rare bit of good news. The Chinese Government dismissed reports that it might pare its European investments given the debt problems gripping Europe.” On Wednesday, the Dow fell below 10,000 for the first time since February 8th. According to MarketWatch.com, “analysts said stocks seemed to react to a late-day dip in the...

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