Overview

Over 500 procurement leaders from 39 countries representing organisations with a combined annual turnover of $5.5 trillion took part.

A clear shift in procurement focus towards innovation and value requires an acceleration in the pace of change especially in leadership, talent and innovation.

Procurement has continued to successfully deliver short-term savings and manage risk to support growth during a period of uncertainty. As the economy improves, procurement has a pivotal role to play in increasing supply chain transparency, accessing supplier innovation and delivering enterprise wide cost reduction. Exceptional procurement, supplier, business and digital leadership will differentiate those organisations that will make an impact that matters.

Key findings

• Cost reduction (78%), new products/market development (58%) and managing risks (54%) remain the top business strategies for procurement leaders

• 61% of procurement leaders delivered better year-on-year savings performance than last year
• Supply chain transparency is poor, with 65% of procurement leaders having limited or no visibility beyond their tier 1 suppliers
• 73% of procurement leaders believe they have the support of their organisation’s leadership

• 51% of procurement leaders believe their current teams do not have sufficient levels of skills and capabilities to deliver on their procurement strategy

• The most common leadership traits in procurement are acting as a role model, collaborating internally and externally to deliver value and delivering results. Conversely, strategic leadership traits such as positive disruption, leading digital transformation and innovation are not widely evident

• 33% of procurement leaders believe that their digital procurement strategy will enable them to deliver on their organizational objectives and value

• The extent to which modern technologies are used in procurement is low, with only one-third of procurement leaders using technologies such as predictive analytics and collaboration networks

• High performing procurement leaders out performed others in Executive Advocacy, Leadership, Strategic Decision Making, Talent Capability, Digital Procurement, Supply Chain Transparency and Balanced Scorecard capabilities.
  

_{Published: March 2018}