For those who joined Procurement Leaders’ CPO Connect call on the first two weeks of President Trump’s administration earlier this month, I’m sure you’ll have found the conversation therapeutic. A large group of CPOs sharing what they thought about the various executive orders, their potential impact and the need to stay calm was reassuring.
In fact, I wrote last week about how CPOs must remain committed to long-term goals, reiterating that sustainable business strategies involve investing in and resourcing strategies that span years, not weeks. They transcend political terms and, although it can make life more difficult in the short term, they are what serious investors and other key stakeholders really care about.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it will always be easy, but I was encouraged by the fact that CPOs – for the most part – seem committed to their long-term plans. They don’t appear to be dialling back their energy or resourcing significantly in areas that we might associate with the now dirty acronym of ESG, for example.
We shouldn’t be surprised by this. While there’s a lot to criticise when it comes to ESG – overly bureaucratic, a burdensome regulatory landscape, too complex, a box-ticking exercise – many of the component parts of it come down to business fundamentals.
Consumer appetites and buying behaviours are changing – a longer-term trend that transcends political terms. As a result, organisations that prioritise responsible business practices will be valued more highly in the future than those that don’t.
Innovation has been democratised – no longer are large corporate laboratories the main source of new ideas and technology. Small companies and startups, graduate research students and the many thousands of incubators that exist in every corner of the world could all sow the seeds of the next big breakthrough.
Artificial intelligence will democratise things still further and bring a whole new dimension of value that we can’t yet foresee. I could go on.
In short, those business leaders who continue to embrace a wide spectrum of inputs, harness the global village, are led by the long term and see growth as something that should benefit all stakeholders will win out.
We could give it a name, but let’s just call it good business sense.
The return of supplier-enabled innovation
Another interesting data point that came through a short survey we ran ahead of the call, was a renewed focus on supplier-enabled innovation. More than 20% of CPOs who responded said they intend to commit more resources to this area. This is a positive development – the years of Covid, scarcity, disruption and geopolitical tension have all taken their toll on one of the key areas in which procurement can bring significant added value to the enterprise.
Let’s hope this is a meaningful trend, and not just a data burp.
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