Although brief, the discussion covered a lot of ground – not least, talent. (It seems whatever forum or seminar you attend, the subject of talent soon rears its head.)

So I used the opportunity to test a theory – or, at least, a hypothesis – that most middle-manager level procurement people are, at heart, negotiators and lack the strategic ability to take their function to the next level.

The example I used is a story I’ve told elsewhere on this blog:

Having spent almost three years’ on a strategic transformation of his team, one CPO was asked by senior management to return to short-term cost cutting to address the current climate.

No real harm in that. The problem was that this particular CPO’s team was delighted. Back to the good old days of hitting suppliers over the head with a big stick…

Having told this particular story at the roundtable, I was quite pleased by the reaction (I got a laugh) but not necessarily the response: lots of knowing nods and smiles.

So, to put this one to the floor – is the average procurement team happier when simply negotiating price? And if so, how the heck do we successfully take procurement to the next level?