A rising number of companies around the globe have begun to establish internal consulting units, but the risks aren't always clear.

Earthquakes, rising fuel prices, diversity - there’s any number of reasons for the business to coming knocking on the CPO’s door. We’ve looked a lot this week at where the bigger issues are and how procurement has been reacting.

In this, the first of two guest posts by Fiona Czerniawska, co-founder and director of Sourceforconsulting.com and author of 'Buying Professional Services', she looks at the state of the consultancy market and asks just how much power buyers are able to wield at the negotiation table.

Talk to any procurement executive long enough and eventually the subject will turn to “procurement transformation.” It’s a universal goal in the profession, and that’s a good thing. It’s also a goal that, ironically, may never have an end. The best transformations keep on transforming - that is, procurement executives keep looking for new ways to refine what they do so they can better enable their companies to prosper. In other words, they don’t rest on their laurels. In further words, they’re fussy and never satisfied.

By no means is Xchanging-L’Oreal the only procurement outsourcing deal even in the last month, but beyond its value it’s worth reflecting on for a few reasons and maybe offers a glimpse into some of the shifts in the procurement outsourcing market.

Call-centres are based overseas – everyone knows that. It’s cheaper to employ people in Asia than it is in Western Europe and that’s why many companies manufacture overseas – everyone knows that. Right? Well this paradigm is not only looking outdated, companies and governments are taking a close interest in whether outsourcing overseas is all it’s cracked up to be after all.

Procurement top to bottom dislikes being called a home of ‘bean counters’ and being seen as a straitjacket that creative types have to wear. But despite the growth of the function’s influence, when it comes to marketing procurement, CPOs need to think creatively themselves if they’re going to change the perception of them.

Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the world's largest advertising agency, WPP, is a man in tune with the benefits (and sometimes, drawbacks) of professional procurement.