We are excited to announce that we are exhibiting at Learning Technologies on 17-18 April 2024! Learning Technologies is Europe’s leading showcase of organizational learning and the technology used to support learning at work. With over 10,000 attendees from 50 different countries, 200 unmissable seminars and 200 international exhibitors expected this year, this event continues to grow in importance, value and attendance year after year. Who should attend Learning Technologies is open to all decision makers working within learning and development including: Learning and Development Managers O ..read more

We are delighted to have formed a new tech partnership with Matchory! Matchory is a Germany-based supplier discovery tool, enabling fast and easy searches for new vendors, from a database of millions of companies. This is a great complementary solution which can be used alongside tools like Capella, our guided category strategy creator®, and Ruby, our guided negotiation plan creator ®. At Positive Purchasing, we’re actively building our tech partner network to leverage the best complementary software to assist users of our products to solve other common procurement challenges. We firmly believ ..read more

Jonathan O’Brien, CEO of Positive Purchasing, author, and global procurement thought leader, outlines his effective approach to assessing the current levels of sustainability within your supply base, then prioritizing where and how to focus your resources to make the greatest positive impact. He examines this fully in his definitive work on this fast-evolving subject, Sustainable Procurement. Mind The Gap You have probably determined your overall sustainability strategy. You may have implemented internal sustainability initiatives and are now looking to extend that positive impact into your su ..read more

Approach Purchasing and Procurement Strategically, Effectively and Sustainably with Category Management. Category Management in Purchasing will help you source strategically and deliver profitability and new supply-side value effectively with a step-by-step guide to the tools, techniques and application of category management. Now in its fifth edition, this highly regarded and essential text provides what everyone in procurement needs when striving to make category management a reality. Author, Jonathan O’Brien, wrote the first edition of this book 15 years ago. Below, he shares the journey fr ..read more

Can Digital Category Management Enhance Efficiency Without Sacrificing Human integrity? We’re tackling this of-the-moment topic during our upcoming webinar, Digital Category Management – Is it Robust, Faster and Better?, on Monday 26 February at 3PM GMT/10AM ET. We will discuss digitizing Category Management and question whether a machine could really replace the business engagement and breakthrough thinking in traditional, well applied Category Management. With up to 98% of procurement professionals planning AI investments over the next few years, it’s imperative that we make the best use of ..read more

We are delighted to be sponsoring Procurement Strategies & Innovation (PSI) on 5 March 2024! Formerly known as eWorld Procurement & Supply, this is the UK’s technology showcase for procurement professionals. Since February 2001, more than 10,000 procurement professionals have attended this unique platform for learning and sharing knowledge about the myriad of developments that have transformed purchasing and supply chain processes in the 21st Century. The event will be more curated and interactive than ever before, building on its incredible 20-year pedigree. The free seminars and ded ..read more

Introduction by Jonathan O’Brien As CEO of Positive Purchasing, I get to host The Procurement Show podcast, and through that meet some very interesting people. Recently, I welcomed Dr Elouise Epstein to the podcast. A leading futurist, Elouise is in great demand on the speaking circuit and has authored two leading procurement books: ‘Disruptive Procurement’ and, most recently, ‘Trade Wars, Pandemics and Chaos’. She’s also a partner at Kearney. Elouise left me with a whole heap of things to think about, especially how AI is set to impact the world of procurement. The topics we discussed are so ..read more

Written by Jonathan O’Brien, leading procurement expert and CEO of Positive Purchasing Ltd. Jonathan and his team work with global blue-chip organizations to help transform their procurement capability. Increasing consumer pressure is a huge part of what is driving organizations to develop their sustainability initiatives and support improved human rights. Customers are literally voting with their wallets by demanding ever more green and sustainable practices from their favourite brands. Greenwashing platitudes won’t cut it. Consumers are discerning and are increasingly demanding evidence, so ..read more

Public Sector: The Future Starts Here Kick-start 2024 with the year’s largest public sector gathering! The Public Procurement and Purchasing Innovations Conference is the must-attend event for those steering, developing, and optimizing public services. It is expected to attract over 4000 visitors, over 2000 delegates, over 250 exhibitors and over 250 speakers! Taking place on 24-25 January in Stockholm, Sweden, the conference will bring together market-leading suppliers with prominent purchasers, decision-makers, officials, elected representatives, and influencers from town and county councils ..read more

Marcus Evans has been advising us for over ten years and is also a senior instructor on our Red Sheet^® advanced negotiation course. Before this, he spent 30 years in advertising, running agencies for Ogilvy, BBDO and TBWA, where he spent a good proportion of his time selling to enterprise clients. He makes no secret of the fact that he has never enjoyed his negotiations and interactions with his client’s procurement teams, so we thought – as he has now “come over to the Dark Side” as he puts it – we’d take the opportunity to find out why.   Long Ago and Far Away I t ..read more