Tuesday, 3 February 2009

Six step International Purchasing Office (IPO) set up procedure


There has been a sharp increase in the number of International Purchasing Office in recent times. What remains unfolded is the process of IPO setup and operation. Based on the research so far and the discussions with industry experts – I have charted a few steps that successful companies have done in regard to the IPO setup. 

(1)   Identify the opportunities of the Indian supply market

What remains a mystery is a documented approach towards understanding the supply market for foreign companies. Most multinationals stereotype India as an exotic country of snake charmers and national highways with elephants rides. IPO’s typically need to create knowledge about the nature of the Indian supply market and its potentials. 

(2)   Identify and select suppliers to partner with 

International sourcing involves long term association with suppliers to partner with. This is the case to build a sustainable supply platform from India hence the choice of the supplier and long term sustainability is important. 

(3)   Identify the internal and external coordination processes necessary

Successful IPO operations need good adaptation and integration of both external and internal coordination processes. Internal coordination includes coordination within the same function, across different functions and business units. External coordination includes coordination with suppliers and other service providers.

(4)   Hire, train and retain talent at IPO 

Given the challenges of IPO it is important to hire the right talent of people. Even more important is to train and retain the talent for IPO. Purchasing in IPO is much more of a balance between strategic skills and operational capability.

(5)   Set internal and external performance measures 

IPO’s in particular are service centres for global operations of Multi national companies, IPO’s are savings generators rather than revenue generators. It is important and critical to set the performance measures for IPO based on internal and external issues

(6)   Develop, monitor and sustain supply base 

Rather than selecting suppliers, supplier development is more essential for companies. This helps to sustain the savings from supply base. Monitoring the supply base and also constant feedback to suppliers will help improve the supply base. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Jayakumar said...

The mid-market companies are finding ways to improve their supply chain processes by upgrading their tools or implementing new systems so that they can compete with their large better-resourced competitors.
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