“ Sustainability is therefore not just the right thing to do, it is a clear driver of performance and long-term competitiveness.”
The modern procurement skill set Driving this level of transformation requires a fundamental shift in the role of the procurement professional. According to Christophe, the traditional focus on cost and compliance is no longer sufficient for managing complex, multivariate supplier relationships.“ If I had to pick a single most important skill, it would be empathy grounded in business, understanding: the ability to truly put yourself in the supplier’ s shoes,” he says.
“ As procurement professionals, we own the supplier relationship and today that relationship is far more complex than just cost or compliance. It’ s a complex multivariate equation: we have to balance performance, cost, quality, resilience, sustainability, innovation and long-term value creation, all at once. To do that effectively, we need to understand how our requirements translate into the supplier’ s reality.”
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