Purchasing Chessboard: 64 Methods to Reduce Costs and Increase Value with Suppliers

by Christian Schuh, Joseph L. Raudabaugh, Robert Kromoser

The approach used on a given spend item should largely depend on the balance between supply power and demand power. That is the logic behind the bestselling Purchasing Chessboard(r), used by hundreds of corporations worldwide to reduce costs and increase value with suppliers. The 64 squares in the Purchasing Chessboard provide a rich reservoir of methods that can be applied either individually or combined. And because many of these methods are not customarily used by procurement, the Purchasing Chessboard is also the perfect tool for helping buyers to think and act outside the box and find new solutions. A well-proven concept that works across all industries and all categories in any given situation, it is little wonder that business leaders and procurement professionals alike are excited by, and enjoy strategizing around, the Purchasing Chessboard.This second edition of The Purchasing Chessboard addresses the new realities of a highly volatile economic environment and describes the manysometimes surprisingways in which the Purchasing Chessboard is being used in today's business world. Yet despite all of the great achievements of procurement executives and their teams, they do not always receive the recognition they deserve. In response, the authors have developed and outlined within the book an unequivocal approach to measure procurements impact on a companys performanceReturn on Supply Management Assets (ROSMA(r))

Genres: Business

242 pages, ebook

First published December 25, 2008

About the author

Christian Schuh is a trained engineer with degrees in aeromechanics and artificial intelligence (doctorate) from TU Graz. After three years at Unilever, he joined A.T. Kearney in 1995. His career in consulting has taken him to exciting places like NASA's Johnson Space Center and mega-factories in China with more than 300,000 workers. He spent many years advising car makers in Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Brazil and the US and is more recently focusing on high tech firms in the US and in Taiwan.

He is best known for his books The Purchasing Chessboard and The CPO and is currently launching two new books, one on Supplier Relationship management with Michael Strohmer, Stephen Easton Mike Hales and Alenka Triplat and another one on Corporate Plasticity with Laurent Chevreux, Wim Plaizier, Wayne Brown and Alenka Triplat.

He lives in the historic center of Vienna, Austria.

Reviews

[Mark Phinney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Passably Interesting Tale of a CPO at a Multinational Corporation

A very high-level tale of an outsider expatriate that happens to get tapped for the "modern" Chief Procurement Officer position at a multinational foodstuffs corporation with its headquarters in Indiana. The struggles involve remolding the corporate structure and culture to create integrated product lines, as well as dealing with the family stresses of moving from a "cosmopolitan" German city to a provincial/backwards "American heartland" town.

[Allen He · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most relevant book for me right now. Ever since I became the procurement manager of my family business, I experienced many similar problems faced by the CPO in this book. Almost all of the solutions & advice offered in the book can be well applied in China. Although I don't enjoy my time at Kearney, I am grateful for Kearney's consultants writing this engaging book.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

About as a exciting a novel as can be written about the recruitment of a procurement executive from Dusseldorf to Fort Wayne, IN. In true business fashion he fixes his business first and his marriage second.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's like "The Goal", but focused in Procurement. I really enjoyed reading this book. Well written and full of "CPO Best Practices".

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Business-book written as a novel that explains the challenges of change management and procurement. Easy to read, entertaining, informative.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent exposition of modern procurement theory and practice