Category Management

We are committed to sharing knowledge on procurement “best practice and next practice” gained from our work with practitioners.

Icons guide you through four different types of content in the Knowledge Hub:

Category Management Reports

Major Reports
& Surveys

Category Management Articles

Practitioner Focused
Articles

Category Management Communiqués

CPO Communiqués
on Leadership

Category Management Best Practice Guides

Insight Guides
on Best Practice

Please click on to any of the subjects below to access the 100+ articles and guides in our free Knowledge Hub.

Category Management:

argues that successful adoption of a fast, flexible process is a core competence of procurement.

Category Management report part 3
In Part 3 we share findings that cover LEARN building block i.e. the way that organisations train and educate their staff in using the Category Management process and toolkit in the most effective way.
 PDF Available  
Category management report part 2
In Part 2 we share findings that cover the BUILD i.e. the initial design and creation of the core Category Management process and toolkit
 PDF Available  
Category Management Report Part 1
The 2012 Category Management survey provides detailed insight into the best practices that differentiate Category Management Leaders from Followers. We have designed the report in a modular format based on the FP Category Management Building Blocks.
 PDF Available  
FP Category Management Survey 2012 – Key Findings
This one page summary provides some of the key headlines and statistics from the 2012 Category Management Survey – including: the additional value available from optimising category management, level of spend covered by category strategies and the proportion of respondents that consider themselves as Category Management Leaders.
 PDF Available  
Refreshing the Category Management Process
Category management has been the cornerstone of procurement excellence for more than a decade, but in many firms it has lost touch with business needs. This CPO Agenda article (Spring 2009) covers how premium drinks maker Diageo put some fizz back into a universal practice.
 PDF Available  
Five Laws of Category Management
This DILF Orientering article (October 2010) outlines five critical success factors of category management including internal alignment, careful planning, stakeholder outcomes, good programme governance, and a well trained team.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Quick Wins & Speed Sourcing: Productivity & Demonstrable Results
CPOs regularly revisit quick wins with their teams. This Communiqué: describes the key steps.
Case Study: LG Electronics.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Five Laws of Category Management
Category management is the heartland process of modern professional procurement. Here are five golden rules.
Case Study: GSK.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Category Management & Sourcing Strategy: Using Source Plans as Business Plans
Emphasises the role of structured source planning as a critical building block of procurement competence and distinguishes between three types of plan.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Embedding Strategic Sourcing in the Organisation
Highlights the critical success factors for successful implementation of strategic sourcing.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Measuring the Success of Category Management
Focuses on the indicators of world class category management capability that lead to successful change programmes in procurement.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Engaging Stakeholders and Creating a Pipeline of Sourcing Projects
Covers the formalisation of the category planning approach in order to build a category wave plan.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Maximising Value from Category Management: First Law
Outlines the typical sources and levers of value which can be achieved from category management through full internal alignment.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Proactively Managing Change in Category Management: Second Law
Outlines the typical issues that need to be proactively managed by Procurement teams in order to drive successful category management.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Outcomes Led Approach to Category Management: Third Law
Identifies the key factors to move from a traditional procurement approach to an outcomes led category management approach.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Programme Governance in Category Management: Fourth Law
Outlines the critical success factors for good programme governance in category management.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Critical Category Management Activities: Fifth Law
Identifies the 15 critical activities that need to be managed persistently, robustly and successfully within a “best in class” category management process.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Lean Category Management, Part 1
Describes how to apply lean thinking to the development of a category management process.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Lean Category Management, Part 2
Summarises the implications for applying lean principles to building and applying category management processes.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Category Management – Avoiding Savings Leakage
Identifies ways that procurement teams can reduce the 40% difference between their claimed savings and the actual realised value.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Updating & Refreshing Category Management Processes
Outlines 10 guiding principles to follow when updating and refreshing a category management process.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Flexible Application of Category Management Process
Identifies how to use technology to provide different routes through the category management process, ensuring it can be applied to all categories and suppliers.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Project Management Tools for Category Management
Details the five project management tools that are essential for keeping category management projects on track.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Creating a Category Management Dashboard
Outlines the typical approaches used and issues encountered with sourcing scorecards.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Importance of Governance in Category Management
Provides a typical governance structure for strategic sourcing projects and seven keys to success.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Five Building Blocks of Category Management
Provides a summary of the five building blocks for best practice category management.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Ten Ways to Improve Strategic Sourcing
Provides some pointers to making sourcing strategy more strategic, while addressing ten structural weaknesses that Future Purchasing has identified within major companies.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Creating World-class Sourcing Strategies
Outlines the key content for a world class sourcing strategy and the enablers for strategy development.
 PDF Available  
Supplier Management:

targets performance improvement and breakthrough transformation with major suppliers.

Business Relationship Management: The Four Faces of Building Value with Strategic Suppliers
This report summarises the outputs from the "value builder" survey that covered a large number of both buy side and sell side people involved in strategic supplier management in the private and public sectors.
 PDF Available  
Value Delivered by Strategic SRM in Major Organisations
This report contains the key findings, from joint research by Future Purchasing in the UK and Vantage Partners in the US, into the value created by SRM. It is built on interviews with a wide range of multi-national companies who are seen as leaders in the application of SRM.
 PDF Available  
Unlocking the Value of Collaboration with Strategic Suppliers
New global research indicates that working closely with strategic suppliers can yield significant value. The key issue is how to harvest it in practice and this is covered in this CPO Agenda article (Winter 2007/8).
 PDF Available  
Strategic Relationships
How effectively you interact with your key suppliers can have a powerful impact on business performance. This Supply Chain Management Review article (April 2008) focuses on strategic supplier relationship management and how to implement it successfully in the business.
 PDF Available  
Building the Case for SRM
Many organisations struggle to get maximum value out of supplier relationship management programmes. This CPO Agenda article (Autumn 2009), based on joint research by Future Purchasing and Henley Business School, University of Reading, explores ways to capture and measure the value.
 PDF Available  
Supplier Relationship Management 2.0
SRM is undergoing fundamental change and professionalisation as it evolves into a standalone process, the equal of strategic sourcing. This is SRM 2.0, and the implications of the change are detailed in the DILF Orientering article (February 2007).
 PDF Available  
Negotiating with Strategic Partners
Getting optimum value from major suppliers requires a more sophisticated approach to negotiation skills and behaviour. This CPO Agenda article (Autumn 2007) provides insights into strategic negotiation behaviours.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Strategic Supplier Management, Part 1: SRM in its Infancy
Highlights key findings from the Future Purchasing & Vantage Partners study into SRM value delivery.
Case Study: BBC.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Strategic Supplier Management, Part 2: The Business Case for SRM
Outlines eight recommendations for building a business case and demonstrating the value of SRM.
Case Study: Future Purchasing and Vantage Partners' SRM Research.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Strategic Supplier Management, Part 3: The Value of Value
Examines four SRM value enablers as well as value capture through reduced costs, increased revenue and reduced risk exposure.
Case Study: American Airlines.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Strategic Supplier Management, Part 4: Organising for SRM
Looks at timescales, ownership, structure, accountability, resource requirements and key change management levers of SRM.
Case Study: Global Oil Major.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Segmentng Suppliers and Relationships: Critical Frameworks for Managing Supplier Strategy
Systematises five broad supplier initiatives covering different types of suppliers. Identifies relationship factors that can be used to assess these supplier types
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Creating & Capturing Value with Suppliers
Throughout the work of Future Purchasing, we find that organisations talk about value but don’t take appropriate actions to capture it. This Insight Guide provides a framework connecting supplier value to its financial impact.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Making SRM Happen - the Ten Change Levers
Highlights the benefits available from SRM; the need to develop a strategy, process and change plan for successful implementation; and provides a framework to assess "SRM change readiness".
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Developing Skills in Supplier Relationship Management
Compares the SRM skills needed by procurement professionals with their sourcing competencies and identifies actions to address the skills shortfall.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Value Delivered by SRM
Summarises the ten key findings from Future Purchasing’s 2009 SRM value study.
 PDF Available  
Risk Management & Sustainability:

reviews the emerging field of enterprise-wide risk management.

Equipped for a Bumpy Ride: Commodity Risk Management
A sustained period of volatility in commodity markets demands that procurement develop a more disciplined approach to managing cost risk. CPO Agenda article (Autumn 2008).
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Risk Management, Part 1: Enterprise-Wide Strategy as the Starting Point
Provides a 20-point checklist for aligning procurement practice to enterprise-wide risk management.
Case Study: Procter & Gamble and Ryanair.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Risk Management, Part 2: Six Major Risk Management Strategies
Covers six major generic risk management strategies, together with three examples of each.
Case Study: Hewlett Packard.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Risk Management, Part 3: Addressing Supplier Insolvency & Disruption Risks
Argues for a strengthening of procurement risk management at a time of worsening macro-economic trends due to deficit reduction and unsustainable sovereign debt.
Case Study: Tetra Pak.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Risk Management, Part 4: Value at Risk (VaR): Methodology or Mind-Set?
Assesses the relevance of value at risk (VaR) methodologies and how best to apply them in procurement.
Case Study: BP.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Risk Management, Part 5: Deep Values and Behaviour vs. Executional Practice
Draws together key operational risk management requirements as well as a number of deeper concerns about complacency over enterprise risk in the supply chain.
Case Study: Olympus
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Copenhagen (Dis)ac(cord)
Summarises the outcome of climate change negotiations and business leader reaction.
Case Study: Tesco & Wal-Mart.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Sustainable Sourcing: Positioning Best Practice on a Value Curve
Positions sustainable sourcing on a performance value curve and benchmarks emerging practice.
Case Study: AkzoNobel.
 PDF Available  
CPO Communiqué: Responsible Sourcing
Continues the debate on sustainability and provides feedback on CPOs' views.
Case Study: Toyota.
 PDF Available  
Insight Guide: Risk Reduction Through SRM
Outlines how SRM is a key tool for reducing ongoing supply risk as well as reducing costs and maximising value.
 PDF Available