Review published in the Handelsblatt, March 17, 2004

Goldmine

"Purchase has to become a matter for the management, the management consultant Gerd Kerkhoff claims. Frequently the entrepreneurs and managers neglect the possibilities which an efficient procurement management involves. Kerkhoff makes the reader aware of this by giving examples and describes how revenue potentials which are left unexploited can be developed."

Book ranking from January 2004
Economic Books Top 10 Germany

(4) The Bermuda Triangle of Business Procurement
Gerd Kerkhoff. Wiley-VCH 2003, 232 p., 39.90 Euro, ISBN 3527500677 (German edition). How can the optimum be achieved from the sector of procurement. Everybody who takes purchasing seriously can save a lot of money.

Review published in: Financial Times Germany, December 09, 2003

Shopping has to be learned

Due to pure ignorance German companies throw away a lot of money within the The Bermuda Triangle of Business Procurement.

From Sven Nagel

"Inaki has changed everything. With him a new time began. He did things which nobody before him dared to do. He was a hard negotiator, earned the companies’ respect, gained reputation and gave his employers excellent figures. At the height of his career he went astray, fell deeply and never has got up again. He wanted too much, made himself too many enemies, who are mocking at him now.

I am talking about Ignacio Lopez de Arritura, nickname Inaki. In 1987 he became the chief purchaser of Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors, turned the purchase inside out, changed to Volkswagen in 1993, was suspected of carrying out espionage and shortly after that he was out of the running.

Gerd Kerkhoff still admires him today. The management consultant and author of the book “The Bermuda Triangle of Business Procurement” has specialized in the optimization of purchase and sees in Lopez the pioneer of a new era within the industrial purchase. In this, the Basque only acted resolutely and has optimized the value-added chain of his company also beyond the factory gates. The suppliers were astonished when Lopez turned up at the production plants to visit them. He also showed up at Siemens. There Lopez wanted to know how the air-conditioning systems are constructed for Opel. When he went away, the assembly ran faster by 85 percent, the material stock was reduced by 95, the production costs were reduced by 20 percent. Lopez had his advices rewarded with stricter supplier contracts. The strategic procurement management was born. And this, Kerkhoff writes, is decisive for a lasting company growth. “The automobile industry has clearly shown that nowadays procurement management has only little to do with the classic process of forcing down prices during the last years”, the consultant explains.

Lopez has resolutely integrated the procurement market into the development and production and saved billions by this. However, in most of the other industrial sectors this development cannot be recognized, here the purchasers are still considered as slum kids: badly educated, badly paid and with the sense of self-esteem of a clerk, who is occupied 80 percent of his working time with administrative tasks. There is no strategy at all. Kerkhoff criticizes that the purchase within the company hierarchy still remains far behind research, development, marketing or sales. Most of the managers have never worked in purchase and treat the procurement staff without the necessary attention. For Kerkhoff savings of at least ten percent are always possible by means of an optimized purchase strategy: “In the purchase departments huge return potentials get lost".

His book develops the ideal form of a strategic procurement and demonstrates which additional revenue positions can be developed by a motivated and highly qualified procurement team. Through sophisticated checklists Kerkhoff helps to investigate unused revenue potentials. He asks: Do you regularly explore the purchase markets? Do you act globally in this? Are you in contact with purchasers of other companies? Not only the position of purchase within the company should be investigated in the analysis but also the qualification of the present purchase leader.

An own chapter is dedicated to the e-procurement, the procurement via internet-based database systems. The book documents the consulting competence of the author and does not leave any essential aspect of a state-of-the-art and sustained procurement management untreated.

An appropriate supplement for Kerkhoff is offered by Heinrich Orths, purchaser at ABB, who considers “purchase controlling as a management instrument”. In his manual Orths develops purchase-specific management tools, which are to enable responsible purchasers to organize procurement processes through target definitions, logistical and psychological measures as well as an active supplier management more efficiently and cooperatively. For Orths “the purchaser of the future increasingly takes over the task of a cost manager."

Review published under www.getabstract.com
      
You will learn the following facts: 

• the profit potential which can be realized by an optimization of procurement,
• typical mistakes at the presently usual purchase and
• ways to an efficient procurement management.

Information about the author:
Gerd Kerkhoff is the managing partner of the Gerd Kerkhoff Consulting GmbH, the largest specialized management consultancy for the optimization of procurement. His list of clients not only includes enterprises listed on the stock exchange but also medium-sized companies.

Review published in: Creditreform, February 2004

Purchase – the top responsibility of the company not only in difficult times

" “The Bermuda Triangle of Business Procurement”, using this provocative title the Wiley publishing house located in Weinheim launches an economic manual to the market. The author Gerd Kerhoff, owner and managing partner of a business consultancy specialized in procurement optimization, summarizes the status quo of purchasing in Germany as follows: insignificant within the company hierarchy, few qualified purchasers, hardly any insight by the management and massive waste of money due to an inefficient procurement management. The expert pleads for a new status of purchasing in the companies as well as an orientation towards a state-of-the-art and integral procurement management. He points out that an optimization of procurement has little to do with forcing down prices by every means. The book is based on the long-year, practical experiences of the author and offers analysis instruments, checklists to examine the actual situation, argumentation guidelines and pragmatic solution approaches."

Review published in: Der Platow Brief, October 08, 2003

"The economic pressure compels an optimization process. This should also include the sector of purchasing, because in many large enterprises billions are squandered in this area. Within this context you should read “The Bermuda Triangle of Business Procurement” (228 p., 39.90 Euro, order number 1130203). Purchasing will become the top responsibility of the entrepreneur not only in difficult times."