ICYMIM: February 26, 2018

Source One's series for keeping up with the most recent highlights in procurement, strategic sourcing, and supply chain news week-to-week.  Check in with us every Monday to stay up to date with the latest supply management news.

Michael Lamoureux, Sourcing Innovation, 2/19/2018
There's no such thing as a free lunch. There's a reason you'll hear this on the first day of any beginner's economics class. It's true. Procurement professionals should be wary of any 'free' platform their team employs. Before growing too reliant on these tools, they've got to ask themselves, "who's paying?" If supplier networks are footing the bill for databases and other software, chances are they're finding ways to pass those costs onto you. LinkedIn, too, should give Procurement teams pause. Companies tend to load their profiles with corporate intelligence that unscrupulous rivals can easily make use of. In other words, free can be pretty expensive.

Sydney Lazarus, Spend Matters, 2/21/2018
Lazarus summarizes a recent Spend Matters webinar hosted by analysts Michael Lamoureaux and Tom Finn. Together, they suggest new categories that could benefit from sourcing optimization efforts. It's no secret that strategic sourcing produces value in the MRO, Logistics, and Packaging. Even relative laggards have seen results in these categories. Lamoureaux and Finn suggest applying the same principles to Marketing, Fleet, Subscriber Services, Legal, Facilities, and Direct Materials. Purchasing in these categories, they suggest, is no different than purchasing in the Logistics or MRO space. Certainly sourcing optimization should produce comparable results. 

Kelly Barner, Buyer's Meeting Point, 2/19/2018
Today's chicken supply chain looks a lot more like a ladder than a chain. Organizations throughout the industry are struggling for their margins and attempting to gain the advantage necessary to reach the next tier. Competitive pressure has led to considerable controversy. Distributors Sysco and US Foods are currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Tyson and a number of other chicken producers. The distributors allege that producers have engaged in collusion and price fixing for over a decade. It's not yet clear how this lawsuit will play out, but it's abundantly clear that such a competitive industry breeds conflict and controversy. 
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