Advanced Purchasing Dynamics (APD) has introduced a cloud-based software addition to the APD Cloud for supporting sourcing.

Investments into sourcing operations are paying off substantially for retailers, grocers and restaurants, according to an industry survey of procurement executives and practitioners, conducted by Intesource. Sixty-two percent of the procurement and sourcing professionals surveyed report their sourcing strategy has a direct and positive impact on company margins, profitability, working capital and cash flow.

Richard Adams, principal research analyst with Gartner, describes the term "supply management" and talks about its importance to the organization.

A rationale often used in support of a more centralized corporate purchasing function is the need for a company to project "One Face to the Supplier".

OnProcess Technology has extended its global partnership with Ariba to provide spend-management software and services in North America.

SciQuest Inc., a provider of cloud-based applications for automating spend management, has released version 15.1 of its spend-automation suite.

Lee Young, director of supplier quality at Thermo Fisher Scientific, explains the company's approach risk management, and how it copes with issues such as sole sourcing and supplier qualification.

Applying leverage in negotiations results in a zero-sum outcome where one side wins and the other side loses. This typically means that the winner ends up with somewhat more than 50 percent of their hoped-for result and the loser gets somewhat less than 50 percent since, just as in sports competitions where the potential results are win-lose, lose-win and tie, the use of leverage doesn't allow for combined outcomes above 100 percent. Zero-sum outcomes not only create a relational imbalance, they create hard feelings. People who lose in one negotiation often do their best to turn the tables the next time such that they win - and you lose.

Why is sole-supplier sourcing a potential problem for supply chains, and what should companies do to mitigate the risk? Jillian Alexander, managing director of Conduit Consulting LLC, provides some answers.