Stephen Easton – författare

In the novel The CPO: Transforming Procurement in the Real World, we meet Thomas Sutter, a German-American living in Dusseldorf and working as a procurement manager for a major global automobile manufacturer, Autowerke. On a chance encounter while flying to Chicago, he meets the CEO of Heartland, a major food company in the U.S. Sutter impresses the CEO with his knowledge and, after a whirlwind courtship, he joins Heartland as its new Chief Procurement Officer, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Hired to transform procurement at Heartland, Sutter has an enormous challenge: to bring its procurement practices into the 21st century and save the company $5 billion. Despite the knowledge and experience he gained at Autowerke, Sutter fights over the next 18 months to find his place at Heartland, institute world-class procurement models and methods, win over the procurement teams and senior executives, and meet his goal. At first, his reputation--and his marriage--suffer, alongwith the company's overall sales and revenue. Can he pull a rabbit out of the hat? The CPO: Transforming Procurement depicts the real-life challenges of transforming procurement, while demonstrating the benefits of innovative procurement and leadership methods. Written by global thought leaders in A.T. Kearney's procurement and supply management practice--consultants who have helped numerous companies chop billions of dollars in costs out of their procurement budgets--The CPO will prove invaluable for those in purchasing and procurement. It will also present essential information to those in the C suite looking for ways to boost profits and productivity. The CPO: Portrays best-in-class, real-life, actionable methods to turn procurement into a function that can save billions and improve the bottom line.  Provides a fun way to learn essential lessons in procurement and change management. Shows how rejecting victimhood in all its aspects leads to personal and business success. Presents lessons in novel format--like The Goal, Who Moved My Cheese, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and others--to engage you and show techniques in action.

In the novel The CPO: Transforming Procurement in the Real World, we meet Thomas Sutter, a German-American living in Dusseldorf and working as a procurement manager for a major global automobile manufacturer, Autowerke. On a chance encounter while flying to Chicago, he meets the CEO of Heartland, a major food company in the U.S. Sutter impresses the CEO with his knowledge and, after a whirlwind courtship, he joins Heartland as its new Chief Procurement Officer, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Hired to transform procurement at Heartland, Sutter has an enormous challenge: to bring its procurement practices into the 21st century and save the company $5 billion. Despite the knowledge and experience he gained at Autowerke, Sutter fights over the next 18 months to find his place at Heartland, institute world-class procurement models and methods, win over the procurement teams and senior executives, and meet his goal. At first, his reputation--and his marriage--suffer, alongwith the company''s overall sales and revenue. Can he pull a rabbit out of the hat?

The CPO: Transforming Procurement depicts the real-life challenges of transforming procurement, while demonstrating the benefits of innovative procurement and leadership methods. Written by global thought leaders in A.T. Kearney''s procurement and supply management practice--consultants who have helped numerous companies chop billions of dollars in costs out of their procurement budgets--The CPO will prove invaluable for those in purchasing and procurement. It will also present essential information to those in the C suite looking for ways to boost profits and productivity. The CPO:

Portrays best-in-class, real-life, actionable methods to turn procurement into a function that can save billions and improve the bottom line.  Provides a fun way to learn essential lessons in procurement and change management. Shows how rejecting victimhood in all its aspects leads to personal and business success. Presents lessons in novel format--like The Goal, Who Moved My Cheese, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and others--to engage you and show techniques in action. 

There’s a new buzz phrase in the air: Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). Corporate executives know it’s necessary, but there’s only one problem. Nobody yet knows how to do it. Or they think it’s all about bashing your vendors over the head until they reduce the price another 4%. Supplier Relationship Management: How to Maximize Vendor Value and Opportunity changes all that. Containing the best and most innovative advice from the operations and procurement experts at consultant AT Kearney, this book shows that SRM is at root a strategic discussion requiring cross-functional interaction and internal alignment at the highest levels. It requires an honest appraisal of the value that suppliers now bring to your firm, as well as their potential value. It then requires a frank and constructive business-to-business dialogue about how to improve the relationship. When this happens, a company reaps myriad benefits, ranging from new opportunity to added value to competitive advantage—and, quite likely, to overall (and sometimes substantial) cost reductions. This book shows the most concrete methods you can use today to:Identify value-adding opportunities in the supply chainWork closely with suppliers to maximize the benefitsWork the "Critical Cluster" of suppliers, where the greatest opportunity for advantage liesReview suppliers to encourage constant gains in quality and costTurn your SRM strategy into a major competitive advantageSupplier Relationship Management introduces and explains the Supplier Interaction Model, a key tool that will help you get the most from your supplier relationships. It segments the supplier universe into nine categories, from those you want to run away from fast to those so good and so useful to your organization that it can make sense to invest in them directly. Numerous case studies show how to apply the principles to your situation. Supplier Relationship Management burns off the fog that has surrounded the procurement process for far too long. It is the definitive guide for business executives who want to get the maximum benefits from suppliers and gain very real advantages over competitors.

There’s a new buzz phrase in the air: Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). Corporate executives know it’s necessary, but there’s only one problem. Nobody yet knows how to do it. Or they think it’s all about bashing your vendors over the head until they reduce the price another 4%. Supplier Relationship Management: How to Maximize Vendor Value and Opportunity changes all that.

Containing the best and most innovative advice from the operations and procurement experts at consultant AT Kearney, this book shows that SRM is at root a strategic discussion requiring cross-functional interaction and internal alignment at the highest levels. It requires an honest appraisal of the value that suppliers now bring to your firm, as well as their potential value. It then requires a frank and constructive business-to-business dialogue about how to improve the relationship. When this happens, a company reaps myriad benefits, ranging from new opportunity to added value to competitive advantage—and, quite likely, to overall (and sometimes substantial) cost reductions.

This book shows the most concrete methods you can use today to:

Identify value-adding opportunities in the supply chainWork closely with suppliers to maximize the benefitsWork the "Critical Cluster" of suppliers, where the greatest opportunity for advantage liesReview suppliers to encourage constant gains in quality and costTurn your SRM strategy into a major competitive advantage

Supplier Relationship Management introduces and explains the Supplier Interaction Model, a key tool that will help you get the most from your supplier relationships. It segments the supplier universe into nine categories, from those you want to run away from fast to those so good and so useful to your organization that it can make sense to invest in them directly. Numerous case studies show how to apply the principles to your situation.

Supplier Relationship Management burns off the fog that has surrounded the procurement process for far too long. It is the definitive guide for business executives who want to get the maximum benefits from suppliers and gain very real advantages over competitors.

Disruptive Procurement is a radical new approach to creating value and innovation by challenging the status quo in the entire product and service line. It requires going far beyond conventional desktop procurement to understand the value the company brings to its customers as well as the value that suppliers bring to the company.By combining knowledge of these two dimensions, companies become far more flexible and they move closer to disrupting the environment in ways that create value.  To move toward Disruptive Procurement, companies need a holistic view and a complete new set of capabilities for staff in marketing, sales, R&D, manufacturing, innovation, and, of course, procurement.This will only happen if procurement is fully backed by the Chief Executive Officer and companies embrace digital tools that will help make procurement slimmer and smarter.

Disruptive Procurement is a radical new approach to creating value and innovation by challenging the status quo in the entire product and service line. It requires going far beyond conventional desktop procurement to understand the value the company brings to its customers as well as the value that suppliers bring to the company.

By combining knowledge of these two dimensions, companies become far more flexible and they move closer to disrupting the environment in ways that create value.  To move toward Disruptive Procurement, companies need a holistic view and a complete new set of capabilities for staff in marketing, sales, R&D, manufacturing, innovation, and, of course, procurement.

This will only happen if procurement is fully backed by the Chief Executive Officer and companies embrace digital tools that will help make procurement slimmer and smarter.