That the balance of commercial power is steadily shifting east is no secret, as western companies attracted by low labour rates and a willing workforce tap into the energy and growth of the, predominantly Chinese, market. But while companies have been importing from and outsourcing to China for some time, fewer have been tapping into the huge markets over there.

As a writer who covers procurement, I like to occasionally get outside the function and find out what others in business who depend on procurement are reading about and worrying about. It’s a good way to look at a business the way your stakeholders do, and I recommend it to everyone. Recently, I was reading about the concerns of chief information officers (CIOs), professionals whom procurement deals with regularly, and who are not always procurement’s biggest fans. I wanted to learn what is currently topmost on their minds, and what their aspirations are. That’s when I saw a pitch that CIOs could easily qualify as chief innovation officers.