SDCExec.com |

By Anne M. Kohler

Gone are the days when it was enough to deliver incremental savings by forcing suppliers to shave a couple of percentage points off their prices. Now CEOs are demanding that their supply chain/strategic sourcing organizations become competitive competencies for their companies. Creating complex global supply chains to take advantage of constantly moving cost arbitrage opportunities and managing the inherent risk involved; constantly increasing the value from supplier relationships by relying on them for things like joint product innovation; and having supply chain strategies drive business strategies — these are examples of the new realities facing our profession. In fact, in certain industries the supply market is so constrained that the sourcing professional's challenge is to create competitive advantage for the company by securing capacity at favorable terms over the competition.

The role that supply chain/strategic sourcing professionals are expected to play in today's environment has shifted dramatically, demanding competencies that reach far beyond traditional process skills. Savvy supply chain/strategic sourcing leaders have recognized that "process" skills are not strategic. Some of the skills and competencies necessary to play a more strategic role are: consulting and facilitation, change management, project management, industry expertise and information technology savvy. In addition, the complex issues that face world-class supply chain/strategic sourcing organizations require a brand new way of thinking about skill and competency development.

This article will focus on the complex issue of talent management within a supply chain/strategic sourcing environment and how effective people development can be your secret weapon.

What is "Strategic"?

The definition of "strategic," according to Webster's Dictionary, is: "Of or relating to strategy. Of great importance within an integrated whole or to a planned effect." The Mpower Group's (TMG) sourcing/supply chain Maturity Model highlights the meaning of "strategic" within sourcing/supply chain and how it has shifted over the last five years. This model allows us to look at the characteristics of a sourcing/supply chain organization at various levels of maturity:

The Value Creating maturity level is where truly "strategic" organizations operate. Elements of this maturity level are:

• Corporate, business unit and sourcing/supply chain goals and objectives are tightly aligned and managed.
• Sourcing/supply chain leads value engineering efforts to drive out inefficiencies.