724: Will Category Management Ever Become Mainstream?

Category management has been around for decades - so why hasn’t it become ubiquitous? 

Many of the objectives procurement needs to satisfy - both qualitative and quantitative - can be addressed by a category management program. Taking a more comprehensive approach to spend and supplier management can deliver improved cost flexibility, more leverage in tightly held markets, and a closer alignment with the priorities of the business. Despite all of these benefits, category management struggles to secure broad adoption.  

In this solo episode, Philip Ideson speaks about his personal experience with category management and the challenges and opportunities he sees.

Listen in to discover:

• The roadblocks that prevent category management from living up to expectations
• Advancements in procurement technology that will enable everyone in the company to play a larger role at the category level
• Why he still believes category management IS the future of procurement

Links:

• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement
• Philip Ideson on LinkedIn
• Category Management: How Far We’ve Come, How Far We Can Go featuring Mark Webb
• What is Category Management? (According to the Experts)
• Build Your Category Management Framework with Five Evergreen Principles
• Learn from the 4-step Category Management Process Refined by Novartis