Magazin
Interview with
Nandini Basuthakur
CEO of Procurement Leaders
Authors
Klaus Katzer
Partner at h&z
Johanna Mühlenberg
Consultant at h&z
Buyers are increasingly in a key position given current rapid global changes. Procurement Leaders provides them with analyses, tools, and knowledge and accompanies them through the challenges of the future. More than 27,000 purchasing managers are organized in the worldwide network. Nandini Basuthakur, CEO, spoke with Klaus Katzer and Johanna Mühlenberg of h&z.
Ms. Basuthakur, what are the challenges of your job?
As with many of our clients, the challenge is to build and develop teams with the right combination of talent, agility, values, and culture. This is crucial for a scalable growth strategy. Our most important goal is to help our customers stay competitive and drive their growth.
Why become a member of Procurement Leaders?
Existing business models are increasingly being called into question in our digitalized world. Consumers are more demanding; the competition and tempo are increasing. Procurement professionals experience this pressure within their companies, but also externally, from the side of their customers. Procurement Leaders has a membership base of 700 companies worldwide and 27,000 purchasing managers. We offer them practical knowledge, applications, and connections. With conferences, online platforms, and studies, all of our members have the opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from the best in the industry, and position themselves accordingly.
Does Procurement Leaders provide consulting as well?
We don’t provide management consulting. We do, however, provide very concrete tools with which purchasing managers can save costs and achieve better business results overall: Case studies, strategy and category research, benchmarking, templates, and guidelines for argumentative support of business cases for management boards and supervisory boards.
Do you also see yourself as a lobby organization?
Not in the sense of political lobbying. But as a high-caliber global network, we can influence the future of procurement. Many companies see procurement as purchasing only and as a chance to save costs. This makes it difficult to recruit new talent, because those with talent don’t find it attractive to make a career in purchasing. As Procurement Leaders, there is much we can do to clear this up. Or, we can put pressure on companies such as SAP and IBM to finally provide buyers with the best IT solutions. We can also provide the software developers with experience and input from our network – like a kind of crowd solution.
Are there already concrete indications of possible consequences of Brexit?
There are signs that many EU companies are reluctant to use British companies in their supply chains. BMW is closing its factories as a precaution around the exit date. Many companies are setting up warehouses for fear of delivery bottlenecks due to long wait times at the borders. It’s a disaster. On top of that, there is the trade dispute between the USA and China. The world is without a leader.
How can Procurement Leaders support companies?
Again, by bringing those involved into the conversation. Times of uncertainty are often times when major changes are possible. Our organization is open to anyone who has something interesting to contribute. For example, at conferences, as a participant you bring an interesting thought with you and drive home with ten new ones. At our flagship event, the World Procurement Congress in May of this year, several billion dollars of purchasing power were gathered in one room. If we wanted to, we could change the whole world.
Ms. Basuthakur, thank you for the interview.
Following this discussion, the joint event “Procurement Athletes Think Tank” took place in h&z’s Munich offices with buyers from major companies in various industries.
NANDINI BASUTHAKUR
Nandini Basuthakur studied economics and psychology and worked for more than 20 years for various companies including auditors Ernst & Young, CEB and Opower. She has been with Procurement Leaders (PL) for three years and has led this important international network of purchasing managers based in London for the last 18 months. h&z is one of the shareholders and early supporters of Procurement Leaders.
