Halfway through their journey toward purposeful procurement, the co-hosts confront a fundamental question: if procurement drives value in so many ways beyond cost savings, why do incentive structures ignore virtually everything else? In this episode of "Buy: The Way...To Purposeful Procurement," Philip Ideson, Rich Ham, and Kelly Barner discuss insights from their recent conversations with Martin Chilcott and Paul Polizzotto to explore a troubling pattern: procurement consistently creates value despite their flawed incentive structures, not because of them. The conversation maps procurement's hidden value drivers… from supplier-enabled innovation that harnesses R&D capabilities many times larger than any single organization, to supplier diversification efforts that identify alternatives but rarely get implemented, to risk mitigation strategies that could free companies from incumbent supplier traps. The hosts also examine why procurement tends to abandon innovation initiatives precisely when they're most needed, creating self-defeating cycles that damage supplier relationships. Kelly adds a practitioner's perspective into the mix, pointing out the frustration of extensive supplier qualification work that gets shelved due to entrenched decision structures, systematically wasting value creation that never appears on any scorecard. The episode also sets up the series' next phase: conversations with executives who've successfully broken the mold on traditional incentive structures, proving that purposeful procurement is achievable at any scale. Links: Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com

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