Part 1: Playing Politics with Supply Chains

“You have to build a business case and be mindful and purposeful about your continuous improvement and your education around the art of what is possible.” Joël Collin-Demers, Consulting Principal at Pure Procurement The rapid expansion in the procurement technology landscape in recent years has left many procurement leaders feeling overwhelmed by choice and complexity and second-guessing themselves about how to successfully take advantage of all the opportunities that technology provides. In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Joël Collin-Demers, Consulting Principal at Pure Procurement, about why continuous improvement, rather than transformation, might be the key to successful procurement digitization.  Joël explains how the tendency to view transformation as a means to a clearly defined endpoint often leads to overwhelmed teams and unrealized value. Instead of a one-off digital transformation overhaul, he advocates for a measured, strategic approach that starts with understanding business processes and builds technology capabilities incrementally over a sustained period of time.In this episode, Joel and Philip explore: Practical steps on how to embark on a digitization journey and develop an effective procurement technology roadmap, no matter where you’re starting from How to navigate trends and changes in the procure tech market, including full-suite versus single-point solutions How to leverage the relationship between procurement and IT to overcome constraints to digitization Links: Joël Collin-Demers on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

In the final part of this four-part special series, we compare and contrast the actual policy positions of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Candidate Former President Donald J. Trump.  With less than two weeks until election day, procurement and supply chain professionals must have plans in place for the eventuality of either candidate being voted into office, focusing on the areas where they agree as much as where they differ. Listen in as Kelly Barner describes where the two major party candidates actually differ (and where they have a lot in common) based on their own campaign websites, policy platforms, and statements from publicly available interviews: The differences we can expect when supply chain policy is focused on critical industries versus an emphasis on keeping production domestic Looking at a diverse range of energy sources as well as the overall cost and supply of available energy Corporate tax rates that may go up or down And one thing both candidates agree upon: China Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

In part three of this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Republican Candidate former President Donald Trump.  Former President Donald Trump is 78 Years old, and a former businessman/real estate developer as well as the former host of The Apprentice. He became the nominee on July 18, 2024 when he accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention Listen in as Kelly Barner explores his policy positions and platform: Detailed positions on global trade and China The lack of detail regarding his position on emissions and the environment Strong statements about both the cost and availability of energy, and the importance of emphasizing domestic production over imports from other parts of the world  Links: Donald J. Trump for President website Transcript of the September 10, 2024 Presidential Debate on ABC Transcript of the June 27, 2024 Presidential Debate on CNN Republican Party 2024 Platform Document Donald Trump Republican National Convention Speech Transcript Transcript of Donald Trump’s interview with Time Magazine Video of Bloomberg interview from October 15, 2024 Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

In part two of this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.  Vice President Kamala is 60 Years old and a former Senator and Attorney General from the State of California. She became the presumptive Democratic nominee on July 21, 2024 when President Biden suspended his campaign for re-election, and the official nominee on August 22 when she accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. Listen in as Kelly Barner explores her policy positions and platform: Detailed plans for renewable energy and the environment The lack of detail regarding her position on trade and tariffs Strong statements about China, specifically around the race to dominate AI, domestic labor protections, and intellectual property concerns  Links: Kamala Harris for President website A New Way Forward for the Middle Class Transcript of the September 10, 2024 Presidential Debate on ABC Kamala Harris Democratic National Convention Speech Transcript Democratic Party 2024 Platform Document 60 Minutes Interview with Bill Whitaker Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

There are two weeks to go until the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Interest, speculation, and tension have been building all year. Most news coverage of the election is intended to sway voters, hyperbolic to a fault, and not tailored to the specific information needs of procurement and supply chain professionals. What we really need to know is what each major party candidate has said and what likely outcomes that would lead to. In this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Candidate Former President Donald J. Trump as well as how they compare. Listen in as Kelly Barner kicks off the series by explaining: Why all procurement and supply chain professionals need to be prepared for either candidate to win The impact of tariffs, China, energy, and environmental policy on corporate strategy The rules of engagement and discussion that will apply in this series and the discussions that result Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“What we are seeing is companies have made the decision that they believe being more sustainable is good business. Therefore, that is the number one priority.” - Daniel Dorr, VP of Marketing at Supplier.io Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations are core components of a strong supply chain, but these initiatives can also expose the business to unexpected areas of risk. In this episode, based on an AOP Live session, hosts Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner talk with Daniel Dorr and Laura Noonan from Supplier.io and Alexandra Di Fabrizio from Impak Analytics to discuss the findings of over 200 in-depth ESG risk assessments that provide an unparalleled look into the current risks of supplier sustainability performance.  They break down the highest risk areas associated with ESG, share mitigation best practices, and elaborate on the opportunities procurement has to strengthen their role in the business by neutralizing ESG risk. In this episode, Daniel, Alexandra, and Laura discuss: The highest ESG risks currently impacting global supply chains and how to assess your company’s threat level Effective ESG risk mitigation strategies and lessons learned from other companies’ innovative approaches How highlighting areas where your suppliers are excelling in ESG performance can minimize risk, provide inspiration for your supply chain, and benchmark your organization’s sustainability initiatives Links: Daniel Dorr on LinkedIn Laura Noonan on LinkedIn Alexandra Di Fabrizio on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“Procurement teams face increasing pressure to demonstrate value and drive business outcomes, but sometimes there's a disconnect between the skills that they have and the skills that they need to deliver at the highest level.” - Philip Ideson, Founder & Managing Director at Art of Procurement A robust capability framework is the heart of procurement team development. It’s a powerful tool that teams can use to enhance their performance, better align with the business, and ultimately drive better outcomes across all initiatives, big and small. In this solo episode, Philip Ideson explains why capability frameworks have emerged as a critical part of building stronger, more impactful teams.  Specifically, he explains: What a capability framework is and how to build one for your procurement team Key strategies for assessing your team’s skills and how to conduct a gap analysis to prioritize professional development needs How to account for diverse learning and working styles when building a tailored development plan, even if you’re working with limited resources Links: Philip Ideson on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube