Where Does the Services Supply Chain Lag the Physical Supply Chain?
It is not overly surprising that the services supply chain lags the physical supply chain (i.e., direct materials) in rigorous management processes. But the delta between relative maturity and sophistication of indirect materials (e.g., MRO, IT) procurement management compared with services spending is perhaps even more suggestive of the comparative immaturity of how organizations are […]
Walmart — Investing in Diversity (Women-Owned Businesses, That Is) For the Right Reasons
When supplier diversity becomes simply a whisper down the lane, reporting exercise built around a check-the-box mentality for Federal reporting, it’s pretty clear what the ultimate outcome of such programs will become. Namely, an inter…
SAP Ventures Backs Lavante: Despite Hiccups, the Supplier Management Gets a Vote of Support (Part 2)
Last week, Lavante raised a new $8 million funding round in an effort led by SAP Ventures (as background on Lavante and the funding round, please read our initial coverage of the news). We think the SAP Ventures connection is intr…
SAP Ventures Backs Lavante: Despite Hiccups, the Supplier Management Gets a Vote of Support (Part 1)
Spend Matters has spent quite a bit of time covering vendor happenings in the supplier information management (SIM) and related markets of late. Some providers in the sector, such as Aravo and Rollstream, appear to be winning a se…
Is SAP E-Sourcing (or now just "Sourcing") Still Competitive? (Part 2)
In the first installment of this post (which has already lead to a healthy debate in the comments section), I examined a number of the sourcing enhancements, customer milestones and related news surrounding the fall launch of SAP’…
P&G – Where Revenue, Savings and Sustainability Go Hand-in-Hand (Part 3)
One area that many individuals tend not to lump in with supply chain sustainability initiatives is supplier diversity. But supplier diversity, which still falls under the same CSR umbrella as other sustainability programs in some companies — at leas…
