Managing a Global Procurement Project one needs to start with a Global Category Plan. This looks quite different from a local Category Plan in that there are more complexities not least being the resources availability to help with the project. Additionally, as happens with a lot of global organizations, the Procurement team and the rest of the other functions have not “matured” at the same rate as each other and therefore there is a (steep) learning curve for everyone; the Global Category Lead, the local Category Managers, their internal stakeholders and their suppliers.
The key to success I have found is for the Global Category Leads to invest a considerable amount of time communicating (asking and answering questions, demonstrating, sharing and constructing the plan, etc) to their local country stakeholder groups. Written and verbal communications need to be created for everyone; the Local Procurement Support team, the local internal stakeholders and the local suppliers and they should not be shy to reiterate at each stage of the project whatever they had communicated before. I suggest to keep a Communications File as part of your Category Plan so that you know what was communicated, when and to whom and resend the information if so required. Over-communication is not a punishable crime, under-communication is!
The biggest and hardest task I have found is to verify the data. This is of the utmost importance to get a clear idea of total spend, number of suppliers, local country regulatory requirements etc. Pulling a global project together is complex, but also very satisfying. Being able to pull a plan together that details all relevant information is key to making decisions about when/what resources will be mobilised to have the biggest impact at the right time. The other benefits for an organization are vast: interaction between the local teams mean that everyone gets to learn from each other, know and understand their colleagues from another part of the world and this brings with it better ways of working and make people sensitive and appreciate the pressures and challenges their distant colleagues face. Everyone Wins!
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