13 Million Hits Per Month Signifies the Reach of Social Media

Cenk Uygur, is the main host of the liberal talk radio show The Young Turks. He was also the host of the internet interview show Meet The Bloggers throughout its run.

The show currently airs in a number of places, including the 8pm slot on XM Satellite Radio’s America Left, channel 167. Aside from airing on the radio, TYT has also made several online partnerships with media groups such as AOL News, TidalTV, and YouTube. The show’s YouTube channel gets an average of 13 million hits per month.

Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks

Uygur is also a regular blogger on The Huffington Post and a former practicing attorney. He grew up in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey, where he attended East Brunswick High School. Cenk admits to being a Republican in his youth. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Law School, and a former associate at the law firms of Drinker Biddle & Reath in Washington, D.C. and Parcher, Hayes & Liebman in New York City. He first became a talk show host at a Washington, D.C. radio station on the weekends while working at Drinker, before eventually shifting to full-time radio work. He is an avid fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

This of course is the official bio for Cenk Uygur, and perhaps provides some insight as to why his voice, and the collective reach of his show The Young Turks is an example of Social Media’s ultimate reach.

But would his reach have achieved the numbers it has without the advent of social media? It is an interesting question because Cenk’s background and experience would indicate that he lies somewhere in the middle between the realms of traditional journalism, and the emerging citizen journalism. Being thought of as someone who occupies the “middle ground” may be somewhat unfamiliar territory, especially for someone who was once on the right side of the political spectrum, and is now firmly on the left. Yet Cenk may very well come to represent the bridge that will ultimately help to drive the merger of the old and the new journalistic sensibilities.

Much like my August 29th post “The American Football League, American Basketball Association and Blog Talk Radio?” in which I predicted that the convergence of the free spirited, liberal engagement of the AFL, and the traditional, conservative practicality of the NFL is similar to what will likely take place between traditional journalism and social media journalism, it is clear that one ultimately needs the other to progress.

While the FTC has established workshops and roundtable discussions to try and figure out “How Journalism Will Survive the Internet Age,” a more appropriate question would not be one of survival but transformation.

This of course is the objective for today’s show in which Cenk, world-class thought leader and social media strategist David Cushman, blogger and Baby Boomer agitator Ellen Brandt and, author and publisher Sherrie Wilkolaski come together to discuss and even debate the future of journalism.

You can of course access today’s live broadcast which starts at the 3:00 PM EST through the following “Public Workshops and Roundtables: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age” link.

In the meantime, check out Cenk’s and The Young Turks’ coverage of the Fort Hood Shooting through the following video:

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The Business of Books: How Writing a Book Has Become the New Calling Card

“The first step that many experts take to establish their celebrity is to write a book about their area of expertise.”

“Next to “I Love You,” “are you working tonight” and “no more garlic in the pasta,” is “you know you should write a book!”

“There is a reason the word Authority begins with Author. As an author, you gain instant recognition as an authority in your field.”

The above quotes, including the last one by today’s guest Stephanie Chandler, are for many a call to action.

According to PR expert Marsha Friedman, “Businesses are struggling in this economy and success in today’s world requires business leaders to market in a way they may never have done before,” she added. “They need to rise above their competition, become THE ‘go-to’ guy in their field, the recognized expert people want to deal with. The credibility that comes with this recognition can build a business or turn one around that’s failing.”

So now that the urgency has been established, and the way to distinguish oneself from the crowd and competitive landscape is by putting the proverbial pen to paper, what is the next step?

Enter Stephanie Chandler and her company Authority Publishing. According to the company’s website, “Authority Publishing specializes in publishing business, how-to, self-help and other non-fiction books that make a difference in the world.”

An author of several books herself Stephanie can help you to establish a book marketing plan that creates a sustainable presence while simultaneously establishing your celebrity as an expert in your chosen field.

Are you ready to establish your personal brand through the power of the written word? Don’t wait for the movie, write the book.

Stephanie Chandler

About Stephanie:

Authority Publishing is the result of a dream realized. Founder and CEO Stephanie Chandler is an author of several books, a professional speaker, and former bookstore owner with a unique perspective on the publishing industry.

After developing an ulcer and realizing it was time for a complete lifestyle change, Chandler fled a decade-long career in Silicon Valley to open a bookstore in Sacramento, California in 2003. Her goal was to turn it into a passive income business so that she could write novels.

But the Universe had a different plan . . .

Tune into the November 12th PI Window on Business Show on Blog Talk Radio at 12:30 PM EST to learn more about Stephanie’s journey and how her company can help you to establish a personal brand of expertise and excellence.

Use the On-Demand Player below to access the live broadcast:

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Sponsor Event: Eliminate Ineffective Silos and Achieve Company-Wide Process Improvement Success

Occasionally I will post an event that I feel will be of interest to my readers.

Forrest Breyfogle III has been a guest on the PI Window Business on two separate segments.  His first appearance was on April 23rd, 2009 on a show titled “Unemployed Excellence – Why Lean, Six Sigma Have Left Some People Out in the Cold.”  Interestingly enough, this is one of the most popular on-demand broadcasts we have ever had, inspiring close to 30 listener comments within a few days of the show’s original air date.

Forrest then joined the PI Window on Business as a member of a guest panel of international bestselling authors that included Bill McAneny, Merydith Willoughby and Dr. Gaby Cora to discuss “21st Century Leadership: An Evolutionary Process.”  This two-part segment was both interesting, fast paced and insightful.

As a result, when Forrest contacted me regarding his November 24th webinar “Eliminate Ineffective Silos and Achieve Company-Wide Process Improvement Success,” I immediately felt that it would be of interest to you.

The webinar, which is free of charge starts at 12:00 PM EST and concludes at 4:00 PM.  To register simply use the following link.

In the meantime, here is an overview of the session:

Understand the relationship between a business management system and your corporate performance reporting and subsequent improvement strategies.

Lean Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM), and other process improvement efforts have helped organizations improve; however, these efforts often occur in organizational silos, where the benefits are not felt at the big-picture-executive level. Lean conference presentations often describe how all company associates in a spirit of organizational improvement need to continually identify and resolve waste-reduction problems; i.e., overproduction, waiting, transportation, inventory, over-processing, motion, and defects. Even though there can be significant benefits from these efforts, Lean practitioner conversations at those same conferences can be describing how their organization eliminated much operational waste only to find that executive management did not really seem impressed. How can this disconnect occur? It may be a result of supporting an improvement effort that is not aligned to the business management system and strategic initiatives.

All organizations have a business management system. They also have strategies and improvement programs. Most have corporate performance reporting systems with dashboards and scorecards covering many metrics. Do they all work in unison or are they managed in independent silos that, at some level, compete with each other for influence?

This webinar highlights issues with many existing business system practices and provides a no-nonsense alternative approach that addresses the above issues and more. This system helps organizations move toward achievement of the three Rs of business; i.e., everyone doing the Right things, and doing them Right, at the Right time.

This webinar provides potential solutions and insight to managers and leaders for the following:

• Scorecard metrics that lead to positive behaviors and that support cooperation across the organization.

• Systems for goal setting and performance tracking to these targets that benefit the company as a whole.

• Simple development of corporate strategies and directives that are data-determined and can lead to metrics and activities that are clearly benefiting the whole organization.

• Efforts to improve corporate growth and revenue are actually targeting the areas that could deliver the most gains.

• Align process improvement efforts which impact the business bottom line as a whole, not only the silo organizational activities.

• System that allows for innovative ideas that can truly benefit the business as a whole.

A recording of this Webcast will be available if you can’t attend the above session. Please REGISTER NOW and we’ll send you a link to the recording.

For additional information, please contact Becki at 512-918-0280 or becki@smartersolutions.com.

Comment regarding recent Intel post worth noting

I recently made the following comment in reference to my role and responsibilities as a writer; “My job is not to make you see the world my way, but is instead to alert you as a reader of other possibilities and in the process cause you to think outside of the framework within which you are most familiar and most comfortable.  The conclusion still remains yours to reach.”

A recent comment to one of my posts “Intel, UNC’s Coal Supply and Abbott’s Bottles: When the Shoe is on the Other Foot” illustrated this point because it inspired discussion and ultimately the need to delve deeper to better understand the context in which my article was originally written.

Here is the reader’s observation, and my subsequent response (which I hope gives further pause for thought):

Comparing CPU’s to CPG is invalid…

The size of the supply base and the depth of the relationship, as well as the contractual vehicle / T&C’s used to control the relationship, vary depending on many factors. Not the least of which is the technological complexity of what is being bought.

Comment by Kevin McHenry — November 7, 2009 @ 6:50 am

Thank you for your comment Kevin.

As indicated by the absolute power reference, the broad application of any strategy regardless of what it is is fraught with undesired ramifications.

There are of course instances when a field of suppliers has to be narrowly defined based on the very complexity to which you had referred. In short, I would not go to Mom and Pop’s corner store to by a pacemaker.

That being said, the point of the article is to illustrate the fact that in those instances when a specialized supply base is utilized, challenges such as with the Intel relationship, or the UNC coal transport contract negotiations create a vulnerability that raises the question, why do organizations seek to replicate this scenario through broadly applied rationalization strategies across their entire spend in an attempt to artificially reduce the number of transactions?

That of course was the point of the article.

Thank you again for taking the time to comment. Your thoughts are very much appreciated.

Comment by procureinsights — November 9, 2009 @ 1:22 pm

Whether intended or not, Kevin’s observation is an important one in that he zeros in on the fact that one must first consider the circumstances including what is actually being purchased, and whether or not it is conducive to a strategic relationship.

When organizations such as a Best Buy, Kraft, or for that matter P&G implement a rationalization strategy, their focus is on the program itself and the purported “savings” it is supposedly going to deliver.

They usually assign interesting or catchy monikers to the undertaking such as the “preferred vendor” status as if that will somehow give legs to the undertaking.  (Note: I am reminded here of an observation from Jim Collins’ Good to Great – “Companies that make the change from good to great have no name for their transformation—and absolutely no program.”)

In reality, there are no silver bullets or magical, catch-all strategies that can be broadly applied across an enterprise’s entire spend.

As highlighted with Kevin’s comment and my subsequent response, effective strategies involving the development, engagement and utilization of an organization’s supply base is the result of thoughtful contemplation not program proclamation.  Or to end with Jim Collins’ reference to the final myth, “dramatic results do not come from dramatic process—not if you want them to last, anyway.”

The Twittering Granny: Diary of a Social Media Virgin

Today’s senior population is exploding at historic levels. According to the U.S. Administration on Aging, the senior population numbered 37.3 million in 2006, or 12.4% of the U.S. population, and is expected to reach 20% of the population by 2030. With advances in modern science and medicine lowering mortality rates, the worldwide senior population is expected to grow to 2 billion by 2050.

So what does all that mean for social media? When it comes to the Web, many boomers and senior caretakers are just as tech-savvy as their younger counterparts–and senior-focused social media sites are quickly rising in response to the needs of this rapidly-growing segment of the population.

Seniors are faced with a number of unique challenges, including financial planning and retirement, health care, changing housing needs, grand-parenting, and more. Today there are a whole host of social community websites that focus on the specific needs and concerns of seniors, as well as present marketers an opportunity to reach them.

The above is an excerpt from the May 27th, 2009 article on Web Ad.Vantage titled “The Senior Side of Social Media.” As a Baby Boomer, reconciling the antithesis that is the passing of time with the all too familiar “but I don’t feel like I am 50″ is a strong indication that generational issues and musings are not confined to the traditional mediums of information gathering and exchange.

Yet even with recent studies which indicate that those of us who “mature” in years are with increasing frequency entering the social media realm, very few are creating “worldwide visibility, awareness, and credibility of an on-line brand and persona.”

Enter Joy Webber a.k.a. “The Twittering Granny,” who’s newly launched blog “Diary of a Social Media Virgin” has created the kind of celebrity that national radio show host, author and Public Relations genius Marsha Friedman would applaud.

Joy will be my guest on November 11th to talk about her experience in tackling the challenges of what many seniors consider to be the “new frontier” that is social media, and of course her blog “Diary of a Social Media Virgin.”

Joy Webber, The Twittering Granny

About Joy (Excerpt from the first Diary of a Social Media Virgin post):

I am one of a new breed of “bloggers”, namely those of a certain age and with practically zero skills on the computer. So this all represents a challenge to my practical and intellectual abilities but I’m being advised that this is the way forward for those of us who want to attempt to dominate our areas of expertise on the web.

All sounds pretty impressive, eh? And it certainly is to one of my generation to whom these things don’t necessarily come easily. Why you might be thinking? Well actually I’m setting myself the task of building a business and communicating to everyone I can find, the benefits of a healthy lifestyle that has revolutionised not only my own life but of many, many others since the time I was introduced to it, over ten years ago. A business that has been languishing for some time through not being able to get the word out to those who would like to listen.

“Be grateful if your traditional marketing methods are failing now – in the future they will fail for everyone and it gives you an advantage to get ahead” (Frank Kern)

This is the beginning of a year-long journey for me, starting today, working and liaising on a constant basis with a couple of friends/mentors, to develop my Portfolio of Find-ability and Content on the Web. Central to this process are my business coaches Vanessa Warwick and Nick Tadd who are giving me access to their wealth of business expertise and who over the next twelve months will be helping me devise and refine my online strategies and how to structure my online contribution. I have known Vanessa and Nick now for two years and they have helped me a lot on an informal basis with property and general business advice. So I am delighted and have every confidence in taking this on to the next level through their newly-launched business mentorship programme.

Use the following link to access Joy’s post in its entirety, as well as the subsequent posts in this fascinating series: Diary of a Social Media Virgin – Part 1

Remember to tune in to the live broadcast on November 11th at 12:30 PM EST (5:30 PM UK time) through the On-Demand Player below:

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How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) announced that it will hold two days of public workshops on December 1 and 2, 2009, to examine the Internet’s impact on journalism in newspapers, magazines, broadcast television and radio, and cable television.

The Internet has changed how many consumers receive news and altered the advertising landscape. Low entry barriers on the Internet have allowed new voices of journalism to emerge; the Internet- enabled links from one web site to another have given consumers easy access to all types of news; efficiencies available through the Internet have substantially reduced advertising costs. These and other changes related to the Internet have benefited consumers greatly.

On October 7th, 2009 the Federal Trade Commission announced that they would be hosting Workshops and Roundtables asking the all important question, “How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?”

Our June 11th segment titled “Has Blogging Crossed The Threshold of Legitimacy,” and most recently last week’s segment with Dr. John Tantillo focused on asking the tough questions surrounding this very issue.

Based on the realization that the ever increasing influence of the new social media especially through blogging had not gone unnoticed, the FTCs recent decision to institute standards holding bloggers accountable for what they write, now appears to be just the beginning of a sweeping examination of the influence and responsibilities of social media as a whole.

But what are the consequences of the emerging social media both in the immediate future and long term? In today’s show I welcome an international guest panel to expand on the discussion from our previous shows, specifically looking at the continuing sustainability of traditional models in the areas of “journalism in newspapers, magazines, broadcast television and radio.”

Meet our esteemed panel of experts:

David Cushman

David Cushman

David Cushman is a world-class thought leader and strategist in social media, the power of the network, and how its impact changes everything.

He is Director of Social Media at full service social media agency BrandoSocial.com, independant consultant at FasterFutureConsulting.com and author of The Power of the Network.

His blog, fasterfuture.blogspot.com is ranked among the UK’s Top 20 Marketing Blogs by Adage.com and No7 in the global publishing category by BlogRank.

He has a deep understanding of the emerging dominance of communities and how brands, companies and messages can adapt to prosper in a rapidly changing world.

He works with a wide range of major media companies, advertising agencies, retailers, brands and Government agencies to devise and deliver effective social media strategies and change in businesses.

He also sits on a number of advisory boards and is a member of the board of Trustees of national charity Citizens Online.

Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks

Cenk Uygur, Esq., is the main host of the liberal talk radio show The Young Turks. He was also the host of the internet interview show Meet The Bloggers throughout its run.

The show currently airs in a number of places, including the 8pm slot on XM Satellite Radio’s America Left, channel 167. Aside from airing on the radio, TYT has also made several online partnerships with media groups such as AOL News, TidalTV, and YouTube. The show’s YouTube channel gets an average of 13 million hits per month.

Uygur is also a regular blogger on The Huffington Post and a former practicing attorney. He grew up in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey, where he attended East Brunswick High School. Cenk admits to being a Republican in his youth. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Law School, and a former associate at the law firms of Drinker Biddle & Reath in Washington, D.C. and Parcher, Hayes & Liebman in New York City. He first became a talk show host at a Washington, D.C. radio station on the weekends while working at Drinker, before eventually shifting to full-time radio work. He is an avid fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Dr. Ellen Brandt, PhD

Dr. Ellen Brandt PhD

After a decade away doing something else, Dr. Ellen Brandt has returned to heavy-duty journalism just when the entire media sector is undergoing nothing short of Revolution. She loves it, and is launching a new Group at Linked In called Media Revolution, as well as a new blog site of her own called Baby Boomers-The Angriest Generation.

Ellen thinks these changing times will reward journalists and publishers who are flexible, creative, and experienced, able to embrace new technological protocols, while drawing on their experience at creating compelling content.

And she believes it is high time her fellow Baby Boomers – in the US, Canada, and the rest of the Western World – stopped accepting the attempts to marginalize them and regained center stage in their countries’ economic, political, and cultural life.

Sherrie Wilkolaski, Author & Publisher

Sherrie Wilkolaski

Sherrie related that it’s funny how her career started out in journalism, and then went in the advertising and marketing direction and then back again to writing. An experience which Sherrie feels “blends together nicely.”

Sherrie was the best selling author at Lulu in 2003 and that is how she got into publishing. Her new blog at Lulu is about to be launched, where Sherrie will cover both interesting and thought-provoking topics.

Remember to use the On-Demand Player below to access the November 10th live broadcast of “How Will Journalism Survive the Internet” at the special time of 3:00 PM EST

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Building Your Credibility and Influence by podcasting

This morning at 11:00 AM EST I had the great pleasure to be a guest on Tim Davis’ The Originators Guide.

It was a great opportunity to experience Blog Talk Radio from the other side so to speak as a guest, as we discussed “Building Your Credibility and Influence by podcasting.”

To access this interesting and informative segment use the On-Demand Player below:

Tim Davis

Tim Davis is host of the popular “The Originators Guide” on Blog Talk Radio

New Book Now Available

My new book “Your Show Will Go Live in 5 Seconds” is now available as an eBook. The hard copy version will be released at the end of November.

Click on the Book Cover above to access an excerpt as well as purchase Your Show Will Go Live in 5 Seconds (Confession of a Blog Talk Radio Host).

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Intel, UNC’s Coal Supply and Abbott’s Bottles: When the Shoe is on the Other Foot

It was interesting in that as I was reading the story about Intel in which it is alleged that the company “Used bribery and coercion to maintain its dominance in the microprocessor market,” I could not help but think that this was not the first time that the proverbial shoe was on the other foot in terms of the sometimes strained relationship between buyer and supplier.

I remember in 2004 the head of procurement for the University of North Carolina bemoaning the fact that due to the paucity of options for transporting the coal that kept the institution’s “lights on” he was forced to make a deal with a supplier who held all the cards.

I can also recall the story of Abbott Laboratories’ challenges when, after being informed by their supplier that prices would be going up for a particular bottle (re container) the pharmaceutical giant used, they attempted to stock-up on the said product at the current day price.

The supplier “diplomatically” told them that they no longer had supplies available for shipment under the old price.

In each of these instances, the individuals involved on the buyer side felt that they were being unfairly treated.  A refrain that is often made by the suppliers.

This of course leads to an interesting question . . .being painted into the corner due to a lack of supplier choice, why are vendor rationalization strategies pursued so vigorously by the buyer?

Why is the illusion of transactional reductions and the mirage of lower administrative costs combined with volume discounts so enticing as the flame is to the moth?

This past summer’s decision by P&G to reduce the number of production companies with whom their brand agencies could deal from 125 to 30 through what they referred to as a “preferred vendor status” program made very little sense.  It actually reminds me of the commercial for Angus Beef, where only 1 in 10 cows “qualifies” for the certification.

The cow upon hearing the news that he has made the grade stands up on his two hind hooves and begins to do a celebration dance taunting the other cows saying, “that’s right I’m the best.”  He then pauses for a second and then asks” what do I win?  We all know what happens to Angus beef.

The point here is simply this, there are going to be circumstances in which a reduced supply base is warranted or unavoidable, especially as it relates to the procurement of certain goods and services.   However, the continuing persistence on pursuing the strategy as a means of reducing costs across an enterprise’s entire spend has never made sense in the real-world.

Rather than saving money, it has led to an erosion of supply bases that leaves the buyer with only a handful of vendors with whom to deal.  Those remaining suppliers are often times the least desirable or, can deliver to the requirements yet extract a high price in the process.

The Intel situation clearly demonstrates the old adage that “absolute power, corrupts absolutely.”  While options are naturally limited in some areas of spend leaving companies vulnerable to the vagaries of a narrowed playing field, self-inflicted actions such as the ones by P&G or Kraft Foods makes one wonder why any company would be so eager to replicate the Intel-type scenario through an expanded rationalization strategy.

Is Social Media to Obama What Television Was to Kennedy?

Barack Obama, who is following 751,249 people on Twitter and is followed by 2,584,039 twitter user is the most connected man, not President, on earth!

If Barack Obama is N°5 on twitter regarding the number of followers who follow him, he is the N°1 follower as nobody else besides him follows more than 750,000 people.

This indicates that Barack Obama, who understands the importance of connections, has introduced a bottom-up and democratic, open, random and supportive administration that uses social networks like no administration in no other country has ever used before is shifting away from the old Taylorian mass production philosophy to a Demingian philosophy of KAIZEN, of GOOD CHANGE!

Comments from a forum exchange on Ecademy regarding the blog post “One Year Later: Is the Obama Presidency a Bust?“

President Barack Obama

As is the case with any leader there will always be detractors and of course individual shortcomings to which pundits can and will point out – none of us are infallible. Certainly the polarizing response to the original blog post proved this point with a hard exclamation point!

But there was something that stood out with regard to the above comment in terms of the reference to Obama’s Twitter rank and the 1960 Kennedy – Nixon televised debate (which was the first time a presidential debate had been on television). Like Churchill, I have a voracious appetite regarding the Kennedy political machine and in particular JFK.

If I am correct in my recollection, Nixon was under the weather going into the debate and with a bit of a five o’clock shadow looked pasty on camera. Conversely, the charismatic Kennedy appeared to be the picture of good health portraying an image of youthful energy. Ironically, and due in large part to a back injury and frequent hospital stays for a variety of maladies that began when he was a student at Choate, the reality of Kennedy’s poor health did not match the image.

The point here is that TV was a new medium, and many believed that it was ultimately Kennedy’s performance during the televised debate that pushed him over the top. In fact, many pundits expressed the opinion that Kennedy was made for television.

Can parallels be drawn between Kennedy’s “new” medium advantage in the 1960 election, and President Obama’s advantage in 2008 relative to his early mastery of the Internet and in particular social media networks such as Twitter? How much of an advantage did he gain through his ability to reach out and mobilize so many through the Internet?

As the only candidate to proficiently leverage a Twitter he was after all the dominant voice being heard. How would he have fared in the election if there wasn’t a Twitter or an Internet? How will he fare when he seeks a second term and the political brain trust of the opposition has by that time mastered the use of social media?

This is not an unreasonable question to pose, especially when one considers FDR’s years in the White House.

In my research, I had found references in which some were of the opinion that had FDR run for president in a era in which there was television he would not likely have been elected due to being confined to a wheel chair. However, and without the visual distraction, his oratory over the air waves became the primary focus transcending his physical limitations.

Roosevelt in a wheelchair

Is Obama’s reach with Twitter as suggested by the above referenced comment a sign of a true and overwhelming support at the grass roots level, or does this merely reflect a considerably greater level of mobilization?

We may have to wait until the next election to find out the answer to this question.

Be sure to take our PI Window on Business/Ecademy Poll which asks “Is Social Media to Obama What Television Was to Kennedy?“

New Book Now Available

My new book “Your Show Will Go Live in 5 Seconds” is now available as an eBook. The hard copy version will be released at the end of November.

Click on the Book Cover above to access an excerpt as well as purchase Your Show Will Go Live in 5 Seconds (Confession of a Blog Talk Radio Host).

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Behind Yesterday’s Press Release Regarding Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Decision to Expand Their Utilization of Emptoris’ Sourcing Solution

A beverage company buys large quantities of aluminum, which it uses to manufacture cans to package its products.  They would like to periodically take advantage of spot markets for recycled aluminum.  They can use numerous approaches to buy recycled aluminum from the spot market including bid automation software, auction services, and industry exchanges, but their issue is not related to making the bid process faster and more efficient.

Instead, the problem is that they are unable to turn off their panned purchasing processes when a spot market purchase is made.  In other words, the strategic sourcing decision of making spot aluminum purchases is not coordinated with the planned production process for ordering aluminum.

The result is over-ordering throughout the supplier network . . .

The above excerpt from a research paper provides just one example of the complexities of the procurement process, and in particular sourcing within the beverage industry.

Understanding the interconnecting elements of a global supply practice and the impact of purchasing decisions at the regional or local levels is, according to Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Chief Procurement Officer Tony Milikin, why “sourcing and procurement is a critical component” in terms of “building a truly global brewing company.”

The significance of Milikin’s statement speaks more to the merits of the Emptoris solution, and the expansion of its usage across InBev’s “entire global operations,” than the announcement itself.

The reason of course is that it demonstrates the emerging recognition that procurement including strategic sourcing is no longer viewed as an adjunct functionality of a finance department.  It is in its own right now recognized as a competitive advantage . . . at least when it is successfully executed.

While the recognition of procurement’s strategic importance is reflected in Milikin’s comment that it will help InBev to become “The Best Beer Company in a Better World,” the acknowledgment of sentiments such as those he expressed have been a long time coming.  You merely have to refer to my August 3rd, 2007 article titled “Procurement’s Expanding Role and the Executive of the Future” to appreciate just how far we have come from the Rodney Dangerfield era in which the profession “got no respect.”

Herein of course rests my point.  Elevated to a higher standard of awareness, it becomes increasingly important to make the right decisions especially given the underlying belief by most senior executives that the best people to run a procurement department are those who do not have a purchasing background.  Specifically, there is no room for error in the realms of heightened importance and expectations, which is especially critical in a tight economy.

This to me is the litmus test regarding the viability of a particular vendor’s solution, and is the real message behind a press release such as yesterday’s regarding Anheuser-Busch InBev’s decision to expand it’s use of Emptoris.  It is also the reason that through its evolutionary transformation, including the appointment of a new CEO, Emptoris has to be considered one of the “Emerging Titans” in the shifting landscape of supply chain solution vendors.

The World Leader in Supply and Contract Management

Use the following On-Demand Player to access my September 29th interview with Emptoris’ VP of Marketing and Product Management Kevin Potts: