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Latest Research

As a core membership service, the Procurement Intelligence Unit's research team produces a high volume of in-depth market and best practice reports, and benchmarking studies.

Working in partnership with our members, the research topics, and the market intelligence that underpins and supports these reports, are chosen based on their perceived degree of importance, priority, complexity and, indeed, opportunity, to deliver quick or longer-term savings and improvements to clients.

Firstly, our quarterly executive research studies provide a detailed, cross-sector and case study-led examination of high-priority CPO topics, such as 2010's Organisational Alignment, Talent Management, Demand Management and Procurement Strategy reports.

In addition to this, our weekly operational reports analyse a variety of key spend categories, sub-categories, supplier markets, commodities, new technologies and country risk profiles.

Finally, we further supplement these reports via a series of best practice reports, developed by bringing small groups of members together and utilising a unique process to identify and, over time, test operational solutions to specific procurement challenges, for example, within priority categories.

All of this research brings together a combination of qualitative and quantitative primary research - such as community surveys, personal and group interviews, and corporate case studies undertaken via the PIU's access to the global procurement community - and an analysis of trends, enablers and subject drivers, backed up by key data, analyst opinion and secondary research.

Outlined below are the latest quarterly PIU Executive Research studies, in addition to a selection of PIU Operational Reports.

Executive Reports

CPO Strategy 2010 - Playing the Full Role (Q1 2010)

This research aims to provide a current snapshot of the major challenges at the top of the procurement agenda, the factors that CPOs believe are most critical to meeting and overcoming these challenges and the ways in which performance will be measured and benchmarked.

Moreover, the final report groups responses against various maturity measures, such as spend under management, spend under executed category strategy and key performance indicators (KPIs) in order to compare and contrast respondent practices against industry leaders.

Finally, the survey also examines the ways in which procurement organisations are gathering and sharing intelligence to support key decisions both internally and across the wider business.

Click here to find out more about this report and request a free copy of the report's executive summary.

Demand Management: Changing the Rules of Engagement (Q1 2010)

Demand management – influencing the specification, quantity and usage of goods/services purchased by internal staff – is a key lever that procurement can use to generate cost savings and promote more sustainable consumption within their organisation.

This report aims to identify the extent to which procurement functions are actively involved in demand management, the key challenges faced in changing user behaviour, the level of savings that can be achieved, and the skills required to manage demand successfully.

Click here to find out more about this report and request a free copy of the report's executive summary.

Supply Chain Finance: The Anti-Crunch (2009)

This report focused on Supply Chain Finance (SCF) as a viable and yet some what complex solution for better managing working capital and realising a range of other buyer- and supplier-side benefits.

The report aims to remove some of the confusion surrounding the term, vis-à-vis somewhat similar concepts, while also providing an examination of the key steps involved in implementing an SCF programme and an overview of some of the main SCF solution providers.

Click here to find out more about this report and request a free copy of the report's executive summary.

Operational Reports

The PIU produces five types of Operational Report on a regular basis, based around the broad headings of Supplier Market, Category, Country Risk, Commodity and Technology reports. Topics are chosen carefully based on member feedback and high agenda topics, as identified through member discussions and community research studies.

Recent reports have focused on a diverse range of topics and sub-topics, from within areas such as management consultancy, facilities management, marketing services, business travel, green IT, business process outsourcing (BPO), strategic sourcing applications, paper and pulp, Bangladesh, Russia, voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and many more.