Archive

Raw materials. Whether copper, cocoa or rubber – prices are exploding. Some basic materials are very hard to be had even. The difficult supply situation is a threat to the existence of more and more companies. And it's also...

Purchasing consultants help companies to significantly lower their purchasing costs. Their procedure: By creating competition among suppliers and through renegotiations, new, lower market prices result which are accepted on both...

Economic upswing. Business is buzzing again – but the economic crisis has not been forgotten by German companies. Unlike in previous economic slumps, this time, all sectors of the industry have experienced changes that will be...

It's frightening: Most contracts are formulated by suppliers. In this respect, buyers are giving up vital conceptual possibilities and advantages, says Sabrina Keese, partner and head of Compliance Projects at Kerkhoff...

The importance of purchasing for a company's overall performance has long been underestimated. Specialized consultants now provide for a professionalization of procurement in business enterprises.

In recent years, international procurement further gained in importance due to cost pressures. Aside from perennially successful China, three regions especially are currently being scrutinized: India, Brazil and Turkey.

Security of supply presents a major challenge for many purchasing managers

In their search for the cheapest logistics service provider, ever more companies discover the awarding platforms. That's how costs are to be reduced and the purchasing process simplified.

There aren't that many management consultancies with their main focus of work on purchasing and procurement. Actually, major strategy consultancies such as Deloitte, KPMG, Arthur D. Little, Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman and many...

Optimizing purchasing costs is the fastest way to increase earnings or yield without jeopardizing sustainability and customer confidence. In a talk with experts from Kerkhoff Consulting, the essential point is made clear:...

Enterprises in the social services sector are especially able to save considerable time and costs with centralized purchasing. Better terms and conditions are obtained particularly in buyers' cooperatives and through product...

The executive floor is responsible for purchasing. That statement from many trading companies not only shows the priority attributed to purchasing. But it also shows that there is a person handling purchases who is frequently...

According to a Kerkhoff study, purchasing managers at suppliers are facing a great many challenges after the 2009 crisis year.

Cost pressures and compliance rules force buyers and marketing decision makers to team up much more in the future.

Caused by increasing raw material prices

Industrial buyers today must be able to handle complex challenges. Limited potentials: 68 percent of German companies have no or not enough purchasing talents. This is a situation also complained about by the Bundesverband...

It's nowhere easier to make savings than in purchasing. Going about it strategically, costs can be lowered by up to 20 percent. But only very few medium-sized businesses use this chance.

According to a Kerkhoff study, purchasing managers of suppliers will be facing difficult times.

Still young solar companies need flexible logistics people with international know-how.

Current study: Lack of strategies, few systematic quality controls and hardly any bargaining range

Bottlenecks are slowing down the solar industry. Equipment suppliers and manufacturers are unable to carry out all orders on time. What comes in will be installed immediately.

A survey among buyers in the German machinery industry provides a sharp analysis of challenges. At the same time, however, purchasing departments seem unable to adequately react to these challenges. Reasons are provided by Gerd...

Two thirds of the industrial buyers of major machine manufacturing companies in Germany expect that there will be an upward trend for this industry sector in coming months. But not all of them are prepared for the challenges...

Business is back in the upswing: Following hectic austerity measures, heads of companies are planning long-term again; the focus is back on growth and innovative projects. To this end, companies seek help from consultants – also...

In times of economic upswing and recovery, the procurement of goods is becoming even more important. But there is often a shortage of qualified junior buyers.

PROCUREMENT UNIVERSITIES - Coming out of the far corners of the organization and getting up onto the big stage of strategic management – that's the development purchasing departments currently go through in many locations. To...

Procurement. All too often, buying is also part of a secretary's job. Yet, farsighted managers and company owners consider purchasing their responsibility and top priority. Because this is where big savings can be realized.

Manufacturers and suppliers must cooperate closely so that the flows of goods are moving in time with manufacturing processes. This requires mutual trust and permanent dialog

The consultant Gerd Kerkhoff from Büderich started up a network of 40 business people for the politician Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In his private life, Gerd Kerkhoff also appreciates networks...

The editors of Managementbuch.de distinguished Gerd Kerkhoff's book Einkaufsagenda 2020 as 'recommended reading'.

Some companies already use external suppliers and allow innovations to "produce". A current challenge for purchasing which changes the purchasing organization and which is increasingly discussed in business management and in...

How companies optimally integrate their most important cost leverage.

China's blue-collar and office workers are getting rebellious and demand more money – successfully. Gerald Boess, the partner responsible for Asia at Kerkhoff Consulting: "Medium-sized companies buying in China should be looking...

State finances. Experts say that Berlin's savings and economy package is much too small. Germany needs a forward strategy. What politics can learn from the economy.

Gerd Kerkhoff is not only founder and general manager of the Düsseldorf-based consultancy Kerkhoff Consulting, but he is also the initiator of a circle of 40 people from the management boards of major German corporate groups and...

For many graduates, consulting is the classic sector for a meteoric rise. For career ladders to really work out well, junior consultants should examine what type of consultants they are.

Study on purchasing and procurement: Medium-sized companies ignore fundamental market changes

Reducing working capital and freeing up liquidity.

Industrial buyers can't be taken advantage of when they are using an analysis software and thus know a supplier's production costs in all details. Sellers themselves frequently don’t' even have exact production costs at their...

Research and development (R & D) are vitally important – especially in the economic crisis. But is it necessary for every company to do its own R & D? No. For medium-sized businesses particularly, it might be worth buying such...

Panel discussions during the event combine different views

WirtschaftsWoche determined the best consulting specialists for medium-sized companies in five different disciplines. What problems the consultants were faced with at their clients; how they set up their projects, and the results...

Crucially changing global framework conditions present threatening challenges for the German furniture industry. In this respect, procurement is actually particularly important due to its considerable effect on business operating...

Many consultancies have specialized: Kerkhoff in purchasing; Prolean in production. Now, these two will go together. In a talk with Beschaffung aktuell, the two managing directors Gerd Kerkhoff and Bodo Wiegand explained this...

From now on, an entry for Gerd Kerkhoff can be found in the German Rednerlexikon (Speakers' Dictionary).

Jens Hornstein, Head of the Competence Team Sustainability at Kerkhoff Consulting in Düsseldorf, recommends to scrutinize labels and seals.

Procurement experts are considered to provide fast success – the industry segment is growing at double digit rates.

Restructuring consultancies frequently rely on strategic consulting – and thus solve only one side of the problem. That's why a consultancy for restructuring, named lore-ley, has been founded in Düsseldorf which particularly...

For 41 % of those responsible for purchasing and procurement in the producing industry, ecological standards still play no part in purchasing; and for one quarter of them, social standards are still no important subject in...

In many companies, secretaries and production managers just order what they need. And their bosses pay.