The Strategic Sourceror

Reform or Politics as Usual?

2010-03-17T15:33:00.004-04:00

New Jerseyans have the highest tax burden in the nation. To balance the budget, Governor Christie has to close a $10.7 billion deficit. His goal is to end New Jersey's "addiction to spending" and to find ways to reduce the taxpayers' burden. How will he accomplish this task? Slash state education spending by more than $1 billion Skip $3 billion in pension payments - NJ pension plan is currently underfunded by $46 billion Cut property tax rebates Cut $445 million in aid to towns Lay off...

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Celebrate All That’s Green Today!

2010-03-17T08:15:00.006-04:00

On a day sunny day like today, who would think about solar power not working enough for green energy? However, it was a different story if you think back a few days ago. After Irish-jigging my way through the monsoon-like rain this past weekend I came across another article which explores even further into alternative energy. Thanks to government subsidies, wind and solar projects are abound. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (NEF) nearly 8,000 megawatts of new wind capacity was...

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WTF - Health Care Reform?

2010-03-16T15:30:00.003-04:00

I've been hearing about how important health care reform is. Our leaders can't seem to agree on what exactly needs to be reformed...but something has to be done and done quickly. Now, no one wants their name attached to reform, but they still want it done. Today, Erica Werner of the Associated Press, writes that "Democrats defended plans to push massive health care legislation through the house without a direct vote". If health care reform is so urgent and important, then why doesn't anyone...

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Defense IT Acquisition Reform

2010-03-16T10:11:00.003-04:00

Information Week posted an interesting article titled "Congress Targeting Defense IT Acquisition Reform" The article is a summary of an interim report issued by the House armed services committee panel on defense acquisition reform. The report specifically says that IT acquisition programs are "managed in such a document-intensive, process-bound way that defense IT system deployments typically take about 3 to 5 times longer than deployments in the private sector, and can be outdated several...

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Isn’t Everything Negotiable? Part 2

2010-03-11T15:09:00.000-05:00

Alright, so I have officially completed my bridesmaid’s gown shopping fiasco. Here is a tip from an experienced shopper, be careful when negotiating with certain retailers. They are not all very keen on those extra-thrifty shoppers. You need to get a good feel for the type of business owner you are dealing with before launching into negotiations. Needless to say, I tried to negotiate the price of the gown I selected for my bridesmaids and was not as successful as I had hoped. It turns out...

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Will the Cloud Reign or Evaporate?

2010-02-26T15:34:00.016-05:00

You may not have heard about cloud computing but it has been stirring a lot of buzz this past year within the telecommunications industry. For those of you that are wondering what I’m talking about, the term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, in network diagrams we use a cloud to abstractly represent the internet since the technical infrastructure behind the actual internet can become very complicated. Essentially, cloud computing allows a user to provision applications via the...

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What is the Government doing to save your tax dollars?

2010-02-26T12:21:00.003-05:00

We have all heard a lot in the news recently about the stimulus packages, bailouts, government spending, etc. Not too long ago the $787 billion American Recovery Act, aka stimulus law, went into effect. That number seems so ridiculous and surreal it’s difficult to wrap your head around it. Where does that money go in terms of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas? After everything was said and done, $16 billion of that is expected to flow into Pennsylvania and $17.5 billion into New Jersey. I...

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Tax Breaks, Tax Breaks, Read All About It!

2010-02-25T12:21:00.003-05:00

I think at this point we are all looking for ways to save every dime we can. One important thing to remember is that we can realize excellent savings opportunities during tax time. Two big issues that people have in this regard are that 1) they do not know the opportunities available and 2) they do not bother taking the time to learn about and use them. I came upon this article from CNN that lists five new tax breaks that have come about from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka...

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US and Canada “Resolve” Buy American Spat

2010-02-17T08:30:00.003-05:00

Things seem to be going well up north for the Canucks. The Winter Olympics are in full swing, the local economy is buzzing, and Bilodeau has even earned the Canadians their very first gold on home soil. On top of all this, according to the US Trade Representative’s Office, US and Canada have finally “resolved” the key disputes they have recently had over the Buy American provisions listed in the US Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Unfortunately, the Ontario Federation of...

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Social Security or a Tax Free Loan?

2010-02-16T13:59:00.002-05:00

Since I can remember, the Social Security Trust Fund has been going broke. Politicians tell us that we have to fix the system or payments to seniors will be in jeopardy. Social Security has taken in more money than it has paid out just about every year since inception. In 2009 alone, $121 billion more came in than went out. The fund balance is $2.5 trillion. Depending upon who you believe, there is enough money until 2035 -2045. Some fund! There is not a penny held in any account. There is no...

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RIM Announces Free BlackBerry Enterprise Server

2010-02-16T09:07:00.002-05:00

The makers of BlackBerrys (BlackBerries?), Research in Motion, announced Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress Expo in Barcelona that they will begin offering a slightly watered down version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server for free. This new product, labeled BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express is compatible with Microsoft Exchange version 2k3 through 2010. The product is specifically targeted at medium and small businesses that want the functionality and security of BlackBerry devices, but have...

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Google Broadband?

2010-02-11T10:02:00.005-05:00

While some of the country is still on sub-Mb/sec Internet connectivity, Google is rolling out 1 Gb/sec fiber connections 'in a small number of trial locations' around the country at prices competitive with today's leading home broadband solutions. That small number is going to be somewhere between 50,000 and 500,000 homes. Google started strictly as a search engine and has set the bar for which competitors strive has expanded it's offerings over the past decade into e-mail, applications, voice...

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Enjoy the Green Snow!

2010-02-10T20:40:00.005-05:00

As I sat and watched the snow pile up today here in the great North East and procrastinated shoveling for the umpteenth time, I thought about the green possibilities of snow removal. Thankfully my neighborhood does not have sidewalks and does not warrant a snow blower but I am not sure I would buy one for the air pollution it causes. Although it would certainly save a few backaches in a lifetime! Green snow removal option #1 is using a shovel versus a snow blower. You can even save some...

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“Third-Party” Avoidance – The Newest Page in the Parcel Industry Playbook

2010-02-05T08:57:00.001-05:00

A recent article by Michael Ryan in Parcel Magazine(and referenced last week on our blog) provides great insight into a trend I’ve seen in the parcel industry, that of consultant, or “third-party” avoidance. FedEx and UPS have always been adverse to any discussion surrounding rate negotiations (what supplier isn’t?). In past years, the standard play would be for FedEx and UPS to use DHL as an excuse to disqualify requests for pricing concessions during an RFP or latter stage negotiation. They...

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Isn’t Everything Negotiable?

2010-02-03T16:26:00.002-05:00

Wedding planning is full of ups and downs, I should know, I am knee deep in it! There are so many decisions to make and prices to consider. What is the best price for a cake? Do I need the five hour open bar or will four do? Do I really need the blow up guitars and fake plastic Hawaiian leis? Everything in the wedding industry is marked up way beyond its par value. Typical markups can range from 10% to 200% depending on the item or service and can get as high as 500% to 600% in some...

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UPS and FedEx: a Shipper’s Nightmare

2010-01-28T15:21:00.000-05:00

A recent article in the Parcel Industry magazine discussed UPS and FedEx’s determination to banish the third party consultant involvement in negotiations; “FedEx and UPS claim they want to deal directly with their customers, reasoning that consultants don’t know much about the shipper’s business”. Is it the consultant’s continuous success in achieving savings or the potential loss of business that threatens these packaging suppliers? Michael J. Ryan, Vice President-Sales Marketing for GENCO,...

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Market Intelligence – Real Time is the Only Kind – Part II

2010-01-28T11:39:00.001-05:00

In my last post I reviewed the importance of Market Intelligence (MI) to supply chain managers, and also discussed some of the different types of MI. In this post, I will review typical ways to collect this information. A simple example of MI would be a commodity report that detail plant capacities for steel production. Organizations that make steel-based products will use these reports to determine which mills to buy from and forecast future costs. The importance of market intelligence is...

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Reputations in Business

2010-01-27T14:49:00.005-05:00

As many of you may have heard and seen in the news, Toyota recently found that many of their most popular models produced within the last few years had a major defect. The defect is related to the accelerator sticking and is something that they have been researching for a few years now. This defect has resulted in Toyota having to recall over 2.3 million vehicles. For years Toyota has been a name synonymous with quality and safety. With this detrimental blow to their reputation Toyota is likely...

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Tips For Picking the Right Contingency Based Sourcing Consultant.

2010-01-20T10:25:00.004-05:00

So, you are in the market for some Strategic Sourcing Consulting Services, but you don't have a budget set aside? No problem, Contingency Based Strategic Sourcing may be the answer for you. However, when you engage a provider, or evaluate your RFP responses, there are a few things that you need to watch out for. The Strategic Sourceror's parent, Source One, is a procurement service provider, founded in 1992, that focuses on Strategic Sourcing. The majority of our customers often choose to...

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A Light at the End of the Tunnel ….or Not?

2010-01-18T15:49:00.004-05:00

News lately has been suggesting that the economy is on the road to recovery but according to an article written by Charles Hugh Smith, there are some potential road blocks, or potholes as he would like to call them, along that road. The author lists these five issues as follows: 1.) Employment. Although it may appear that unemployment rates are declining there are underlying reasons for this false façade. One being that fewer people are able to collect unemployment benefits; they may...

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Pay-What-You-Want Purchasing

2010-01-15T13:24:00.008-05:00

Imagine paying whatever you wanted for all the materials and services you need to run your business. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Guess what, though, this fantasyland may not be as far fetched as it seems. I’ll explain why. If you look around, many consumer businesses are already saying "pay what you want!" with remarkable success, but it’s not as surprising as it seems when you take a minute to think about it. Let’s take a look at a few examples like Eric Hagen’s startup, Recession Ride Taxi...

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Market Intelligence: Real Time is the Only Kind – Part I

2010-01-11T16:05:00.001-05:00

Market Intelligence (MI) is critical for any supply chain manager. MI helps businesses assess supply chain risk, evaluate supplier pricing proposals, and realize new operational efficiencies. However, many businesses rely on a limited, and in most cases outdated, set of market intelligence as the basis for decision making. Markets are constantly changing, but getting access to new information in real time can be difficult. Over the course of my next few blogs, I am going to examine what market...

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The Grape Wrangler

2010-01-08T10:15:00.002-05:00

I recently read an article on msnbc.com about a man known as the “Grape Wrangler.” This man, otherwise known as David Forbes, is the founder of Accidental Wine Company in Los Angeles. In the midst of an economic downturn this so called “Wrangler” has found a small sourcing niche. Most wine distributors or vintners hardly think twice about the few bottles of wine that break and spill onto other bottles because to them it’s only a few bottles that they can easily dispose of. To the wrangler...

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Happy New Year From The Strategic Sourceror

2010-01-04T09:36:00.002-05:00

Happy 2010 from Source One and The Strategic Sourceror. Let's hope this year marks an improvement in the U.S. and World Economy. January also marks the 2nd birthday of the Strategic Sourceror. We are now moving into our third year of blogging and would like to thank our loyal readers. With 325+ posts over the last two years, we have been able to rapidly increase our readership base, and are looking forward to another year of positive activity. Our 8 most popular articles from 2009:A...

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Roll Over Philly BigBelly, Atlanta Has You All Outta Sorts

2009-12-29T16:22:00.004-05:00

My holiday travels this season brought me through the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) with about an hour and a half between flights. I grabbed some lunch at the food court area and headed toward my gate to relax and await my boarding time. That’s when the larger than usual trash cans caught my attention. At first I wondered if the Philly BigBelly’s had made it to Atlanta but then discovered the logo GreenSortATL. It’s as simple as their slogan: “You Trash. We Sort. It’s...

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