Is There an Objective Reality to Procurement?

Recently, the public defender penned a post that asked “should Procurement be more specific?” where he asked if we have an ‘objective reality’ of how procurement works. Are we like scientists; trying to develop more understanding, willing to be challenged, looking for objective ways of proving what works and what doesn’t? Or are we more like the journalists and politicos who express a point of view and get upset if anyone argues strongly and objectively against us?

We think, for the most part, the answer is, unfortunately, a sad no. Why do we think this? Is it because we agree with the public defender in his observations that you never hear “I don’t agree with you” or “I don’t think that’s the best way of doing that” when you go to Procurement event and that you never see an academic paper that objectively measures the success of a particular procurement approach, strategy, or process. No. It’s because, as pointed out in yesterday’s post, there’s still too much magical thinking in Procurement, born in arrogance and self-conceit. Too many people who think that just because they’ve been doing it for 20 years, they’ve been doing it right and all they need is a few more resources and a little more time.

As a result, we wholeheartedly agree with the public defender when he says:

Procurement is THE least scientific of all major business disciplines.

— and that this is the result of —

the lack of clear and objective understanding and
the lack of clear metrics that measure the success of procurement.

As the public defender points out savings are pretty much impossible to measure, and most of the “true” savings is just cost avoidance anyway, and any reduction in cost that was spend above market average can never be counted as savings. If you were paying 10% more than you would in a spot buy, a reduction to market average is not even true cost avoidance that comes from demand management or product redesign, it’s just spending what you should have been in the first place. And other common metrics are equally abhorrent.

And we are still trying to get most organizations from landed cost (which is just one step up from unit cost) to total cost of ownership, which is not the right metric — it should be total value management — the cost relative to the performance (or profit if you want to be so narrow minded) of the buy.

So, no, in the average organization, there is no objective reality to Procurement. And, as it stands now, only the true leaders (the Hackett Group 8%) are even close to getting there (or at least trying). However, like the public defender, we will continue to educate you to the best of our ability so that someday, there may be an objective reality. (But not necessarily the one that will allow a senior buyer to be replaced by a bot. Assisted by, but not replaced.)

Is There Magical Thinking In Your Procurement?

Recently over on the Dilbert Blog, Scott Adams penned a post on “The Magical Thinking Opposition” where he noted that his hypothesis was that the political side that is out of power is the one that hallucinates the most -– and needs to –- in order to keep their worldview intact.

And this got the doctor thinking if there is a corollary that says the Procurement department that is getting the worst deal is the one that hallucinates the most — and needs to — in order to keep their worldview intact.

Why does he posit this? Typically the Procurement departments most against modernizing their processes or platforms are those that are doing the worst and think they are just fine with the processes or platforms they have. These laggards are not only without modern platforms, but resistant to their acquisition and implementation. They are not modern Procurement departments, but traditional Procurement departments that still run on the island of misfit toy principle — staffed with people who are nearing retirement (and being rewarded with a cushy purchasing job), related to the boss (because you can’t fire a relative of the boss), and who have been in the
organization too long to let go (but who are not suited for their current jobs anymore).

But this is not the only way to identify these Procurement organizations. You can also tell them by these telltale arguments against modernization:

  • Our processes are fine, we just need more people to implement them.
    They think that their lack of results is lack of resources, not the processes or the platform.
  • Out platform is just fine, we just need more people to maximize its potential.
    They don’t believe that the throughput is a problem of an outdated platform, just a lack of resources.
  • It’s not worth the cost, and it will slow us down.
    They fight modernization and change, usually based on outdated views, beliefs, or stereotypes.

They feel that all they need is a little more time, a few more resources, and then everything will work out a-ok with the help of a little pixie dust. It’s magical thinking, and there’s no room for it. Just like alchemy needed to be replaced with science, magical thinking needs to be replaced with realist thinking.

To Get the Best Supply Base, Go Beyond the Obvious!

the doctor recently came across an article that said that during the sourcing process, there are many qualitative attributes that procurement teams should take into consideration and that sourcing is about the lowest price, but identifying the greatest value for your sourcing dollars and that one should incorporate multi-factor award criteria into an automated sourcing process. All true. It also provided some examples of the most frequently used qualitative factors, which include:

  • Supplier Market Share
  • Supplier Performance
  • Production & Delivery Capabilities

And these are okay, but they don’t tell the whole story. Plus, sometimes the story they tell is not the right one. For example:

  • with respect to supplier market share, you only care that the market share is big enough to make the supplier financially viable … sometimes the emerging suppliers have the best technologies for you
  • with respect to supplier performance, if you haven’t used the supplier before, and the only data you have is negative data from customers that have gone public, you don’t know if this is the typical experience or an anomaly (like 1 out of 100) and sometimes even how recent the data is
  • with respect to production and delivery capabilities, there’s always a third party partner for delivery

That’s why you need to round out the supplier evaluation components, going beyond the typical, and obvious, evaluation factors, if you want to find the best suppliers for now and the future. Some other factors to consider are:

  • Innovation Capability do they have a track record for innovation and helping customers improve their designs, robustness, product longevity, etc.
  • Corporate Social Responsibility the best supplier from a product perspective could be the worst supplier from a corporate perspective if that supplier uses child labour in the supply chain or buys blood diamonds for their x-ray machines and the story breaks
  • Environmental Risk Profile that examines the supplier from a geo-location, social and political, and economic context which are out of the control of the supplier (whose financial, technological, performance, etc. risk you will be qualifying separately)

And these are valid for all suppliers. When you get into specific categories, you might also want to consider:

  • Services Capability can they support the product, offer consulting services around the product, or streamline the production process beyond other suppliers
  • Six Sigma Black Belt can the supplier help you with your design process or streamline your new product development
  • Supplier’s Supply Chain Design
    is their supply chain more efficient than their peers?

So if you want the best supplier, go beyond the obvious in evaluation.

Procurement and Finance is not a P2P Love Story …

… it’s a bitter rivalry to the bitter end. It’s a feud that makes the Hatfield and McCoy war look like a bitter spat. And you know what, that’s just the way it should be.

Simply put, it’s the CFO’s job to stop spending and it’s the CPO’s job to spend … spend as wisely as possible, but, in a perfect world, spend every dollar that goes out the door that is not a payroll dollar, a lease dollar, a tax dollar, or another dollar that is completely out of negotiable control.

Those job are opposites. Yes, the ultimate goal of the organization is to maximize shareholder value and that is done by maximizing the value of each dollar spent, and both parties are supposed to be working towards this goal, but the CFO, like the CEO, is also beholden to the shareholders, and their value is typically maximized when profit is maximized, and profit is maximized when revenue — spending is minimized, or, in other words, when the CFO succeeds in forcing the CPO to spend less.

And, as we know, spending less is not always the right decision. If the spending less decision results in lower quality, lower reliability, or higher risk, it’s the wrong decision as it will, ultimately, increase (warranty, replacement, service, stock-out, etc.) costs, decrease customer satisfaction, and damage the bottom line to an extent that is many time the short-term cost savings that was obtained from spending less.

But still the CFO will beat the spend less war drum while the CPO beats the give me more budget and more spending control war drum — and this will continue until the end of corporate time. It’s not a love story … it’s a never ending war. And the only hope for tense peace is to find a common enemy — like the enemy of brand damage that can occur if both parties don’t insure that all spend and decisions are made responsibly.