Gerd Kerkhoff and his consultants publish monographs on the topics of purchasing, procurement, and supply chain management, which have been published by the renowned publishers, Wiley and Springer.
Purchase reference number
For around 80 percent of German companies, the subject of “compliance” is very important today. 41 percent of the companies with an annual turnover of more than 250 million euros even state that this value is very high. However, 65 percent, yet featuring no compliance management system, 42 percent do not even have a compliance policy - and that, despite more stringent regulations for Manager liability. Compliance plays the greatest role in the company's purchasing departments.
In view of the dynamic markets and steadily increasing requirements, more and more medium-sized companies are recognizing the importance of professional purchasing. The demands of the market demand changes in order to ensure the competitiveness of the company. However, all changes are only as good as the people who carry them. Thus, professional human resource management in purchasing plays an important role.
Secure and expand competitive advantages through visionary purchasing.
What will the purchasing and procurement market look like in 2020? What influence do political and demographic changes as well as ecological and economic changes have?
The current economic situation shows that companies that deal with their market environment in a visionary manner are more flexible to adapt to market changes.
In the past, the purchasing organization was only of minor importance in many companies. This situation is now beginning to change. More and more managers are questioning the existing structures and processes of their purchasing. Rightly so: because an efficient purchasing organization is the prerequisite for sustainable optimization of purchasing prices.
Globalization is often blamed for job losses and increasing competitive pressure. However, in globalization itself lies the future opportunity to secure jobs and to strengthen one's own business and competitive situation. Professional global sourcing has both entrepreneurial earnings as well as development and quality potential that can be realized through the use of high-performance international suppliers.
The message of purchasing as a revenue generator has not yet penetrated all boardrooms. The classic, albeit risky, ways of increasing marketing and sales budgets to increase sales or reduce staffing levels still have priority. The magic formula is called “procurement optimization.” With a modern procurement management, the yield can be increased immediately and sustainably - not with " price depressions at any price."
Author contribution - restructuring methods in purchasing
If a company is threatened with bankruptcy, suitable, immediate measures to ensure liquidity, followed by measures to restore profitability, must be implemented in order to ensure the company's long-term survival. Instead of using the specific know-how of the purchasing department, it is often treated as a renovation object itself.
The purchasing of capital goods has a considerable influence on the economic success of companies.
However, the degree of professionalism of this particular form of procurement has not yet reached the required level in many companies, and from a scientific point of view, the topic is more of a "shadowy existence".
Due to the increasing competitive pressure and the requirement for purchasing to present its performance, the subject of success measurement in purchasing is becoming more and more important. Although monetary success factors ( savings ) are often still the top priority, non-monetary goals are increasingly moving into the focus of purchasing.
Success measurement and incentive systems in purchasing
The importance of measuring success in purchasing has increased steadily in science and practice in recent years. Nevertheless, in many cases there is still a focus on cost parameters - especially savings. In addition, the proven key performance indicators for purchasing in terms of amount and effectiveness are often questioned.
Especially in times of economic upswing after going through a crisis, companies often struggle with the phenomenon of a “working capital trap.” The “working capital trap” describes the combination of increasing liquidity needs of a company, and at the same time, more difficult access to outside capital due to restrictive lending practices of financial institutions.
