Earlier this month, Hospira, the sole FDA-approved U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental, decided to pull the proverbial plug on production of that key lethal injection drug according to the Huffington Post. There were already many complications with the supply of the drug, including: An existing shortage of the drug due to “problems with [Hospira’s] raw-material suppliers”; A corporate decision…
Longtime readers of my blog know that I love to dissect educational sales material to determine appropriate procurement reactions. I recently came across a fascinating article entitled “The 8 Buyer Personas (and How to Sell to Them)” on the RAIN Selling Blog. I think that it is worth a procurement professional’s time to read this article and evaluate which persona…
Over the last couple of days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been flirting with the 12,000 mark. The Dow last hit this mark around 18 months ago. This mark is near the all-time high close of 14,164.53 on October 9, 2007. Since that high point over three years ago, the Dow closed as low as 6,547.05 (March 9, 2009).…
These last few weeks, there has been ample media coverage of rising prices for a variety of commodities, from gold to food and many more. Yesterday’s article, “Rising costs threaten corporate profits,” on Comcast.net is just one example. That article noted that “[c]oncern about the effect of rising [commodity] costs on profit margins” has impacted stock prices of publicly-held companies.…
I hope that you have enjoyed the article “Can Supplier Consolidation Truly Save Cash?” In the article, I referred to “pending legislation in the USA that will require businesses to file a 1099 form for every supplier with whom they spend $600 or more per year.” You can read more about that brilliant idea here if you’re not familiar with…
Today, US Congressman Tim Murphy visited Next Level Purchasing’s headquarters. He and I talked for an hour about a variety of legislation-related topics, one of which that has procurement implications I’ll discuss here. Congressman Murphy and other congressmen/women are seeking to revise the healthcare legislation signed into law last year. The congressman believes what I fear: that the individuals and…
I spent the first several days of this week on this road, getting on and off more airplanes that I care to count. And, if you’re like most procurement professionals, you probably do your fair share of traveling, too. Of course, there’s one thing that is like nails on a chalkboard to most business travelers: sitting next to a crying…
Today, I had a great conversation with an attorney I shared an employer with in my early days in the purchasing profession. We recorded a podcast on a topic that the purchasing profession just doesn’t have enough available educational material on. You’ll hear more about that in the weeks ahead. Anyway, my colleague recalled a legal training session that he…
In a recent post, Spend Matters addressed a significant issue: handling supplier selection advice from a third party. In that post, editor Jason Busch cautions those in buying roles to be wary of such advice because it may be covertly driven by some type of revenue-sharing arrangement between the advisor and the recommended supplier. Jason writes that “the onus should…
Every month, Next Level Purchasing recognizes a purchasing professional who has made impressive progress in learning more about his/her field. We are excited to announce that the Dedicated Purchasing Student of the Month for January 2011 is… Timothy Showalter, SPSM, a Buyer for Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California, USA. Timothy completed all six Senior Professional in Supply Management®…