Daily Archives: September 6, 2015

When Debating Where To Open Your Procurement Centre of Excellence

May we recommend getting way ahead of the curve and selecting Merv, Turkmenistan, which is the oldest and most completely preserved of the oasis cities along the Silk Roads in Central Asia and which was likely (briefly) the largest city in the world in the 12th century. It’s a World Heritage Site which has likely been continuously inhabited for over 5,000 years, centrally situated between Asia and Europe, and not that far from the Arabian Sea (which leads into the Indian Ocean which is, as we know, situated between the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans).

We all know that nations and societies rise and fall and that what once was great can be great again, with China being one of the best examples. Over the last few thousand years it went from the global powerhouse to a closed society back to the global powerhouse which is projected to soon be the largest economy in the world in terms of GDP. Russia is in the same rise and fall cycle and when it rises again, its rise will likely bolster the surrounding former Soviet Union countries as well.

But most importantly, it’s about as close as you’re going to get to the Door to Hell, and given that Procurement is Hell, as we have been painfully illuminating in our 101 Damnations Series (with links to the first 50 posts indexed), it just seems to make sense.

 

photo by Tormod Sandtorv