The seminar will cover the following four themes in depth:

• Procurement as a business function  Practice reveals many terms to relate to procurement activities. As a result the view and expectations of procurement differs among managers and procurement professionals. What is the role of procurement, is it strategically relevant, and how to manage it? Are you a procurement hero or a business partner?
• Category Sourcing Category management is the corner stone for a successful business strategy. However, many sourcing strategies seem nothing more than well-planned tactics. Procurement is assumed to manage a spend that relates to budgets managed by other disciplines. Not seldomly, category sourcing leads to intra organizational conflicts. How to overcome such conflicts? How to develop effective sourcing strategies?
• Innovation sourcing Outsourcing has made companies and government dependent on their suppliers and service providers. Today most innovations come from external partners, who are not always willing to share their best ideas and people with all of their customers. Innovation sourcing through procurement: is it possible?
• Procurement with Purpose When outsourcing, companies and government have created over time complex, global supply chains, which created external dependencies and a massive carbon footprint. Should procurement change its global scope and change its sustainability orientation towards circular sourcing? Is it able to do so?