Book review: Why revamping procurement benefits business—and compliance

Lockdowns. Factory shutdowns. Labor and goods shortages. From Covid-19 to the Suez Canal blockage, the global tumult of the last three years has underscored the criticality of supply chain management for businesses.

Despite the importance of the job, procurement has historically received a lackluster reputation as a backroom function myopically focused on cost-cutting. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) procurement experts Christian Schuh, Wolfgang Schnellbächer, Alenka Triplat, and Daniel Weise beg to differ. Their book, “Profit from the Source: Transforming Your Business by Putting Suppliers at the Core,” rethinks the function’s reputation.

“In many companies, if not most, procurement is an unglamorous, unloved part of the business,” the book states. “… The CPO (chief procurement officer) and the procurement function are marginalized because procurement is a deeply misunderstood corporate capability.”