Art of Procurement 714: Category Management: How Far We’ve Come, How Far We Can Go w/ Mark Webb
“I think category management is great fun because you have the freedom to do things. It’s not following a rote process. It’s using structure to be creative. I think that’s the great benefit of it.” - Mark Webb, Managing Director at Future Purchasing
For many in procurement, category management is “old hat.” Some even assume that widespread adoption and integration of category management structures and processes within the business are non-issues in 2024. They see category management as a mountain that has been scaled, and now procurement just needs to sit back and enjoy the view.
When we look more closely, however, there is still significant room for improvement in category management strategy and for expanded scope of implementation throughout the business.
In this episode, Philip Ideson welcomes back Mark Webb, Managing Director at Future Purchasing, for a deep dive into the current state of category management, including where we’ve been and how far we have left to go. Mark also shares the results of the 2024 Global Category Management Report, a large, comprehensive study Future Purchasing conducts in partnership with Henley Business School.
They discuss the importance of stakeholder involvement, the need for more consistency and effective communication, the distinctions between category management and strategic sourcing, and the delicate balance between internal expertise versus external resources in implementation.
Philip and Mark also explore:
- Why 80 percent of stakeholders don’t fully understand their role in category management, and what procurement can do to fix that
- Practical advice to streamline category planning and improve stakeholder engagement
- The ideal model for category management when considering big versus small teams
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