From Procurement’s perspective, innovation is a red-hot area of focus, particularly given the increasing levels of outsourcing and growing complexity of supply networks.

We're thirty days into the second quarter of the calendar year, and it seems that many of the predictions for the health of the US economy for 2012 were right. Despite some bumps, the economy continues to grow. But the growth is painfully slow. And so, observers can choose between viewing the glass as half empty or half full. How should CPOs view the glass? As opaque. They should reflect instead on how to improve and leverage their supplier relationships. That’s a strategy that will improve their competitive position no matter what the glass looks like.

It's been another busy week here at Procurement Leaders as we put the finishing touches to the next issue of the magazine, which is packed full of the latest news and views from the procurement world.

There has been a vast amount of debate surrounding the use of palm oil in products due to its unethical sourcing. Used in products ranging from food and cosmetics to biofuel, the demand for palm oil is increasingly high and acquiring it at such quantities comes with a price - but sustainability campaigns aren't making the progress businesses might have hoped.

This guest post by Ivan Skoric, head of digital production at Charterhouse discusses the benefits of decoupling in digital marketing, looks for answers behind the recent report that procurement and marketing are still in conflict, particularly in relatively new areas of spend, such as digital marketing.

The subjects of risk management, marketing, and new products doomed to fail may seem to have little in common. But, five separate and unconnected reports I read last week tied them all together as procurement concerns, at least in my mind

I spent last week in Las Vegas courtesy of Ariba, at its US customer conference. There are over 2000 attendees, which is not huge compared with Oracle’s or SAP’s events, but impressive for such a focused event

Last week's announcement by Cristina Fernandez Kirchner, Argentina's president, of the state acquisition of 51% of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), the Spanish-controlled oil company, has put the spotlight on the issue of resource nationalisation in Latin America.