Being Strategic in Supply Management

What Does It Mean To Be Strategic?

ISM2016 session on Sunday, May 15

Moderator: Joe Sandor, Hoagland-Metzler Endowed Professor of Practice in Supply Chain, Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.

Panelists: Hans Mellotte, senior vice president and chief procurement officer, Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, New Jersey; R. David Nelson, chairman, Dave Nelson Group Inc., Detroit area; Beverly Gaskin, executive director, global purchasing, General Motors, Detroit area; and Jeff Smith, global sourcing director, DuPont, Wilmington, Delaware.

Strategy — or being strategic — can take many forms in supply management. Panelists took questions about strategy, its meaning and implementation from the 100 attendees.

Key takeaways:

●Procurement strategies should align with stakeholders’ strategies.

●Strategy and tactics both have roles in supply management. One person doesn’t usually have both characteristics — each requires different skill sets.

●Once a strategy is established, it needs to be handed off to the right person to execute it.

●There is a risk of being too strategic — by becoming too paralyzed to take action or not being able to adapt your strategies when change or issues occur.

●Whether an organization is centralized or decentralized does not make it any more or any less strategic. An organization’s structure is a means to an end.

●Terms such as “strategic buying” or “strategic sourcing” are redundant. Every action you take or make should be strategic.

Key quote: “The more you use the word ‘strategy’ in conversation, the more you dilute it. Be strategic rather than talk strategic.” — Hans Mellotte.

ISM2016 is May 15-18 in Indianapolis.