Disrupted supply chains, uncertain sales volumes, closed production halls: The lockdown had serious consequences for the purchasing departments of companies. But even after that, the corona virus changed procurement. Experts describe how purchasing is developing.

Termination options in the event of payment problems

The coronavirus has shaken up supply chains worldwide. There are not only bottlenecks on the supplier side, but also liquidity problems on the buyer side. The legal possibilities to make provisions for times of crisis in purchasing contracts are limited and should therefore be fully exploited.

Yurda Burghardt, Managing Director of Kerkhoff Experts, on professions where there is a shortage - and why gender has become a minor matter.

Those who want to operate sustainably must be able to negotiate systematically

Game theory has left the ivory tower and has also arrived in the business world. At its core it is about modelling decision-making situations and deriving rational decisions from them. This makes game theory interesting for buyers as well. The purchasing consultancy Kerkhoff Consulting uses game theory insights and has already been able to achieve great successes for its clients, as René Schumann, Managing Director of Kerkhoff Negotiations, explains in an interview with MBI Buyers in the Market.

For the fifth time in a row, Kerkhoff Consulting GmbH was honored by the magazine Capital as one of the hidden champions of management consultancies.

Requirements on the logistics chain

Negotiations on an end to the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine are stalling. Time is pressing. The contract for the transport of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe expires this year. The Europeans are dependent on natural gas as long as the new Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 has not yet been built. Negotiation expert René Schumann, Managing Director of Kerkhoff Negotiations, explains how game theory helps to solve the conflict.

Whether Brexit, Brussels or an office - negotiations shape our everyday life. In business life, complex negotiation situations are the order of the day: they arise in purchasing, for example, when there is an urgent need to cut costs, in mergers and acquisitions, when no reasonable price is called for, as well as in negotiations with employee representatives, without whose approval no restructuring programme can be implemented.

The world is changing, and many companies feel that they have to move too. But wanting change is easier than living change. Gundula Pally from Kerkhoff Consulting explains why change processes often fail and how it can work.

Today, companies apply to the candidates, say labour market experts. How do companies get trainees and skilled workers? How can they score points in the competition for talent? About 30 entrepreneurs and experts discussed this at the RP Forum "Attractive Employers".

A learning factory makes companies fit for the digital future

Kerkhoff Group with dual leadership: Frank Wiethoff becomes second CEO

On 1st August 2019, Frank Wiethoff (50) will become the new Chairman of the Kerkhoff Group's Management Board. With this, the Düsseldorf-based consulting company will soon be led by dual management. While Kerkhoff and Wiethoff will define the future strategy together, Wiethoff will take over operational leadership and founder and CEO Kerkhoff will focus on the areas of networking and strategic partnerships.

On 1st August 2019, Frank Wiethoff (50) will become the new Chairman of the Kerkhoff Group's Management Board. With this, the Düsseldorf-based consulting company will soon be led by dual management.

New joint leadership at the Düsseldorf specialist consultants

Yurda Burghardt, CEO of Kerkhoff Experts, on establishing a culture for innovation.

Gerd Kerkhoff and Matthias Schranner discussing the implementation of strategic approach to negotiations.

Supply chain, procurement and production are key competencies of the Kerkhoff Group in Düsseldorf, Germany. Consultants Johannes Kobbeloer and Yasin Tepe discuss their work and what makes a good consultant.

Yurda Burghardt is an HR consultant at Kerkhoff Group. She has noticed that every other recruitment drive fails because the HR department’s job description is not up to scratch. Five questions for the staffing expert. An analysis of what exactly is going wrong.

Kerkhoff Negotiations and Schranner AG agree to an exclusive partnership. The focus of this cooperation will be to develop solutions for complex, high-volume procurement negotiations. Companies operating in difficult and highly competitive markets will especially benefit from this collaboration.

Düsseldorf/Zurich, 6th February 2019 - Kerkhoff Negotiations and Schranner AG agree to an exclusive partnership. The focus of this cooperation will be to develop solutions for complex, high-volume procurement negotiations.

Did you think management consultants only had offices and conference rooms on site? Stylish indeed - but can it be replicated? I asked myself the same question. That is, until I arrived at Kerkhoff Group, based in the city of Düsseldorf. I’d been invited by Gerd Kerkhoff to a business lunch - directly opposite the Ständehaus at the Kaiserteich on Elisabethstrasse. Much of what was on view was far more fascinating than the plate of steak and salad that Kerkhoff had organized - so much so that I forgot to photograph the plate as usual.

An inventory is essential for correct accounting and balancing. But it could be easier than that. Automated warehouse processes make the once-difficult random sample inventory appealing again. But there is another convincing argument to promote digitisation in the company.

Gerd Kerkhoff, Managing Director of the Kerkhoff Group, is a pioneer in terms of digitalisation and objectification of procurement costs. Now he has launched a new software-based best-price solution.

The questionnaire is answered by Gerd Kerkhoff, founder and CEO of the Düsseldorf-based consultancy Kerkhoff Group with customers such as Warsteiner, Krone, Interlübke and Voith.

Today, businesses have to compete on a global level. This increasingly puts pressure on the purchasing departments, who have to perform a balancing act between supply reliability and cost pressure. We spoke to Dirk Schäfer, Managing Director of the Kerkhoff Group, and Ralf Altpeter, Managing Director of Kerkhoff Cost Engineering GmbH, about levers in the optimisation process.

A new ranking by an analyst firm in Germany has identified the country’s best mid-sized, small and boutique management consulting firms.

The Erber Group’s turnover has doubled every five years since it was founded 35 years ago. This is only likely to be more difficult given that turnover currently stands at 300 M euros. Then again, maybe not.

The Kerkhoff Group companies are specialist consultants for purchasing, procurement, supply chain management, lean management, and engineering. Head of HR Kathleen Buddenkotte talks about graduate opportunities in management consultancy.

BERLIN, 21. April – Gerd Kerkhoff, Gründer der Kerkhoff Consulting Group, hat eine Vision für die Welt, in der die Entscheidungsfindung beim Einkauf in Unternehmen durch digitale Automatisierung verändert wird.

BERLIN, Apr 21 -- Gerd Kerkhoff, founder of the Kerkhoff Consulting Group, has a vision for the world where the way firms make procurement decisions is transformed by digital automation.

Consumer products. The interplay of production, logistics and trade determines how much consumers learn about supply chains. In reality, however, there are still many problems.

The number of imports from Asia to Europe is constantly growing – but the number of shipping companies is in continuous decline. The market is tense and requires new concepts. A purchasing network cuts ocean freight costs and ensures long-term planning security.

Maintenance – the Gallic Village of digitalisation?

The content of specialist articles on the digitalisation of maintenance is just as broad as the reality among German SMEs. All SMEs have one thing in common: they identify maintenance as a topic which isn’t considered nearly enough – despite it having immense potential.

Specialist consultancy firms are often stronger in their fields than the sector giants. An exclusive study shows where hidden champions score big – and how digitisation is mixing up the consultant market

There are 16,000 consulting firms in Germany. But which ones are worth the money? For the ninth time, the business magazine WirtschaftsWoche has awarded prizes to the best corporate consulting firms.

The format is always the same. First, the company management team discovers a problem. Sometimes production operations are in bad shape, and other times distribution isn’t doing so well – but, in essence, two aspects are always at the heart of the matter: either the company isn’t earning enough profit, or it’s spending too much. But no matter how threatening the situation is, how dissatisfied the...

Major discounts on electricity or gas prices can no longer be negotiated – but comprehensive service packages supplementing energy supplies can. These help inexperienced buyers to optimise their energy purchases.

Savings and process efficiency through cross-company bundling -

Managed services are flexibly provided services by an external service provider for a company. The customer benefits from better services and less costs, when the service provider does his job well. In the IT industry, this system has long been established. Storage, server and security infrastructures are offered "as a service". Companies no longer purchase printers, but rather managed print services. Previously, client hardware and on-premise software packages were procured, today its managed workplaces.

Digitalisierung und Industrie 4.0 – alle sprechen davon und Unternehmen, die die Chancen erkannt haben, sind bereits auf dem Weg und befinden sich aktuell im Veränderungsprozess. Industrie 4.0 ist aber weit mehr als eine Neustrukturierung technischer Prozesse und birgt viele Herausforderungen für das Change-Management.

Industry 4.0, big data, artificial intelligence, cloud services, digitisation; all of these are issues businesses have already tackled to varying degrees. Jochen Wilms and Christian Hoffmeister are discussing the best way to approach these.

The “Kerkhoff Cost Analysis” software has once again been awarded the two certificates Innovation Award 2017 and Industry Award 2017

Digitisation, increased networking, the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 are increasingly shaping HR-related processes in companies too. Recruitment strategies need to be adapted to these mega-trends. The topic of temporary management assistance is gaining in significance in this regard.

Chong-Ho Hwang, Senior Manager at Kerkhoff Consulting about the advances of data scientists in industry - and the profile they should meet.

Gleich zwei Kerkhoff Unternehmen prämiert - "Es gibt kein besseres Votum als das des Kunden"

CETA: Europe and Canada in a free-trade relationship

The European Parliament has signed off on the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada. This means the trade section of the agreement is now already provisionally applicable. What does this mean for companies in Germany with regard to new sales and supply markets?

Digitalisation is also gaining ground in sourcing. Many medium-sized companies struggle to keep pace with electronic procurement.

Globalisation is coming up against regionalisation and, in some cases, even nationalisation. And, in this mega global election year, political unknowns are bringing added uncertainty. What does this mean for logistics providers in trade and industry and service enterprises?

Successful digitisation requires the complete commitment of corporate management. Dirk Schäfer, CEO of Kerkhoff Consulting, explains why Austria’s SMEs must act now in response to the trend and what stumbling blocks need to be overcome.

A customer-specific, analogue learning factory followed by digital, dynamic simulation translates into a method that a company has developed to enable comprehensive and realistic optimisation of production processes.

The purchasing process at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has seen itself confronted over the years with ever-increasing challenges: greater variety, the integration of supply chains, market volatility and tighter time-to-market periods. The factors influencing procurement are growing all the time – with the result that the complexity of the purchasing process is increasing as well.

"Procurement 4.0" is the title of a concept that intelligently combines and consistently develops tools and methods of strategic purchasing that already exist.

A systemic solution that guarantees long-term best price certainty and transparent cost trends for all commodities? What buyer would not want that? The Procurement 4.0 one-solution concept by Kerkhoff Consulting meets these demands and offers a sustainable approach to implementing the best price guarantee for years to come.

A systemic solution that guarantees long-term best price certainty and transparent cost trends for all commodities? What buyer would not want that? The Procurement 4.0 one-solution concept by Kerkhoff Consulting meets these demands and offers a sustainable approach to implementing the best price guarantee for years to come.

The issue of digitization is one of the greatest present and future challenges for companies – especially for those in the medium-sized sector. Together with the company Kerkhoff Software, the Kerkhoff Group focused at an early stage on the digitization of procurement processes in companies. As in the past year, the Kerkhoff IT solutions developed by Kerkhoff Software were awarded the "Best of 2016" prize.

In the past, strategic purchasing was not exactly a key issue in the banking sector; attention was much rather focused on regulation, turnover and customer acquisition. Meanwhile, however, there has been the widespread realization that profits or earnings may also be excellently increased through optimizations in purchasing. Traveling, telecommunications, energy supply and facility management – nothing will escape the ax. Eli Hamacher

From an economic point of view, a crisis presents a situation in which the company's existence is threatened or its continuation is uncertain. Especially in such an exceptional situation, interim management might just be the right instrument. By YURDA BURGHARDT

Interim management is ideal for purchasing organizations because of their high profit responsibility but their frequently all too lean setup. All about Sourcing talked with Yurda Burghardt who, jointly with Gerd Kerkhoff, manages the Kerkhoff Interim business. Before that, she had been senior partner of Kerkhoff Consulting for more than 12 years where she had been responsible for business development among other things.

At an early stage before the planned sale of a company, strategic, sustainable and already implemented change processes provide the highest value added. However, if there is not enough time left, attractive "quick wins" can generally be realized, and the parallel, objective audit by a third party has a confidence-building effect and provides substantiated and well-founded arguments for sales negotiations. Corporate opportunities are assessed and allow the justification of a higher sales price. At the same time, the potential buyer is able to safeguard against purchasing risks.

Design-to-cost means that optimum product costs are determined early on already in the development stage to thus secure the competitiveness of one's own product. As simple as that may sound, it takes many departments to play the same tune – as shown by the example of the automotive supplier SHW.

INTERVIEW with Gerd Kerkhoff

Why the logistics expert expects corporate buyers to change from procurement handlers to well-connected strategists.

Gerd Kerkhoff is a successful entrepreneur and the founder of Kerkhoff Consulting GmbH. With about 150 consultants in eight countries, he is concentrating on raising, nationally and internationally, earnings potentials in purchasing for his clients. With convincing results. Today, the Kerkhoff Group is the uncontested number 1 of the most renowned purchasing consultancies.

The calculation of purchased parts, analyzing in-house manufactured products or the design- and planning-driven product cost calculations no longer are solely the instruments of the automotive sector. We talked with Godo Lange-Hilmers, Managing Director of Kerkhoff Software GmbH, about the implementation by means of a calculation software.

Purchasing has a great impact on profits. At least if one does not just try to apply only downward pressure on prices.

Savings through Targeted Product Cost Analysis

Synergy Potential for Purchasing and the Supply Chain

Energy Seal for Complex Processing Plants

By way of cooperations with kindred spirits, companies cannot only reduce expenditures and costs but also influence the quality of goods.

How Open Book Calculation May Help Lower Your Costs

Major tax advisory and auditing companies are entering the consulting field. Is this development fundamentally important for the market? BeraterGuide talked to Gerd Kerkhoff of the Düsseldorf-based procurement consultancy Kerkhoff Consulting.

Procurement management is a central factor for the successful implementation of a business strategy and a company's successful performance. A well functioning supply chain ensures that processes, organizational flows and IT systems from customer to supplier will meet present and future requirements. Mathias Renz, publishing manager of VentureCapital Magazin, talked to Gerd Kerkhoff whose consultancy once again received – from the [German business weekly] Wirtschaftswoche – the award "Best of Consulting" in the area of supply chain management.

He is considered the pioneer of purchasing consultants in Germany. Gerd Kerkhoff provides services not only for small and medium-sized enterprises but also for major groups like ThyssenKrupp and Klöckner. Talking with Beschaffung-aktuell editor Sabine Schulz-Rohde, Gerd Kerkhoff explains the functions and tasks which purchasing has to face in the future, and he also explains the difference between specialized consultancies and major consulting firms.

Ranking first in the category "Supply Chain Management". Major auditing companies are now pushing into consulting niches as well. Yet, quite a few small players can still counter it.

Alternative procedures to ensure series production

A conversation with Ludwig Goebl, Managing Director China & Head of Operations Asia/ Pacific at Kerkhoff Consulting, on the consequences of Chinese direct investments for the procurement policy.

Purchasing – child's play? Far from it. Companies proceeding strategically in the procurement of products and materials will save a lot of money. Consultants from Kerkhoff Consulting of Düsseldorf know how it's done.

The consulting market is increasingly being changed due to major audit firms acquiring purchase consultancies. TECHNIK+EINKAUF talked to Gerd Kerkhoff, Managing Director of Kerkhoff Consulting, about the development in purchase consulting.

Purchasing talk at John Deere in Mannheim

Smart strategies also help small companies

Interview with Gerd Kerkhoff, Managing Director of Kerkhoff Consulting

Colleagues instead of consultants. In organized meetings, ever more heads of companies seek advice from like-minded people.

Strategic Supplier Management Minimizes Risks

Study on the Consultancy Market

Buyers generally don’t know how raw material purchase prices are broken down. To avoid becoming dependent on dealers, one should do own mining or extraction of part of the goods or buy them directly from the producer. Only up to a point will it make sense to fall back on other countries.

The Land of Mountains is Calling

Austrian Companies Find No Buyers

Consultants Study. During the crisis, many companies optimized their processes and reduced costs with assistance from major consultancies. Today, industry knowledge is primarily in demand – and that’s where small specialists often have more to offer

Thorough, punctual and persistent: management consultants from Germany are held in high esteem worldwide

Baiting prohibited: Gifts of expensive soccer tickets to business partners getting too delicate for both sponsors and invitees

The basis: Recognize specific characteristics of the Chinese market and deal with them specifically

Complex machinery and plants are usually procured by top management, as well as the development and engineering department. Buyers are just vicarious agents. However, they cannot only negotiate better terms but optimize the procurement process as well.

Purchasing. Long treated like poor relations, the department is gaining importance in many places. But the personnel market has a gap: There are hardly any of the all-rounders so much in demand.

Kerkhoff Consulting is used to handle tough challenges. That's true especially for China.

Shopping with a strategy: Why natural scientists are ever more in demand in the field of purchasing

Following a period of cost reductions, investments are again on top of the agenda at German companies. Purchasing capital goods is a complex process and considered the most prestigious discipline in purchasing. In this interview, Kerkhoff Consulting expert Jens Hornstein and Rüdiger Voß – purchasing specialist at BARD Engineering GmbH currently building the largest North Sea offshore wind park – talk about challenges in the capital goods procurement process, cost savings potentials and special contract design conditions.

In times of lean budgets and looming credit crunches, capital goods purchasing will require more than just price comparisons. The following trade paper describes which levers bring about successful purchasing.

Christine Yu, Managing Director of Kerkhoff Consulting in China, about management consulting in Cathay, an old name for the Middle Empire.

Entrepreneurs don't like consultants. When you are looking for the reasons, you will encounter mistrust, psychological complexes – and the unplumbed depths of the human soul. Insights into a troubled relationship

Investments are again at the very top of the to-do list — five levers for full utilization of potentials

Greece is not yet saved after having taken a haircut. Its restructuring will be long and painful: manager magazin online shows five examples of how management consultants and debt experts want to solve the case of Greece.

German consultants are in demand worldwide. Because they are considered cost-conscious and reliable

The triple catastrophe of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor failure one year ago yesterday had hit Japan hard – economically as well. Yet, Japan's industry recovered amazingly fast. Now reconstruction is overshadowed by the fear of energy shortages. And of a new quake.

Global sourcing has become a strategically vital factor for companies.

A huge choice is available on the world procurement market, which means it is all the more important for purchasers to be focused and smart with their orders.

Danger looms if technical departments determine conditions for capital goods together with suppliers. That will result in unexpected follow-up costs.

Given the increasing competitive pressure, outsourcing is becoming an important issue for ever more companies. Purchasing and its role in this respect – that had been the subject of a talk between Daniel Zabota, Editor in Chief of Beschaffung-aktuell and Oliver Kreienbrink, Partner at Kerkhoff Consulting, the purchasing consultancy, and Andreas Pasing-Husemann, staff member of business development at BUW Group, both companies just having submitted a study on the subject.

Purchasing departments are facing special challenges in the procurement of capital goods: They must handle negotiations with suppliers, keep an eye on the life cycle costs of capital goods, and generally act as interface managers. "To keep costs under control, the purchasing department must be involved, from the start, in the planning and implementation phase of the investment. Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case although large amounts of money are often concerned", says Jens Hornstein, consultant at the purchasing consultancy Kerkhoff.

The complexity of parts is ever increasing, the supply chain is getting longer, the number of interfaces is growing. Modern manufacturing enterprises must specifically manage the manifold variants to minimize the costs in the entire supply chain for a great number of different components. A well-conceived variant management can simplify processes and structures as well as measurably increase supply chain efficiency — without losing customers.

In 2012, technical purchasing trends concern, on the one hand, further reductions of procurement prices; on the other hand, the area of functions and responsibilities expands further: In the future, purchasers have to be in charge of cross-functional teams and, as project managers, help think in engineering.

INTERVIEW Management consultant Gerd Kerkhoff about the "dorf" in Düsseldorf – dorf meaning village or hamlet; also about the municipal campaign against the city's chichi image, its advantages versus Berlin and the lively community of Düsseldorf's business scene.

The budget deficit could drop by one fifth with a modern procurement system

Buyers in Austria's energy industry are top earners. Overall, the first comprehensive study on purchasing detects the need to catch up all around and notes, for the future, a significant upgrading of purchasing departments.

Buyers do not yet get paid in accordance with their strategic responsibility. That will change – believe the initiators of the first domestic study on buyers' salaries.

Special consultants implement their ideas and concepts in factories and offices – together with the workforce

Relationships are the foundations of business. Also a good meal or a token gift. But beware! Many companies have rigid compliance rules. There's nothing doing, and nothing at all for professional buyers. The roundtable of Beschaffung aktuell and Kerkhoff Consulting had a discussion as to what extent that's reasonable.

In recent years, China's importance as a procurement market also increased very much for Germany's small and medium-sized enterprises. In an interview, Managing Director Gerald Boess of Kerkhoff Consulting International talked about what German companies need to take into account in negotiations with Chinese business partners.

Consultants usually have a difficult time with small and medium-sized business owners and managers. Because they prefer to settle everything on their own

In the final months of a year, many companies start planning for the next year. That's why All about Sourcing wanted to know from leading procurement consultancies and from enterprises what challenges they can see in purchasing for the year 2012:

Purchasing consultant Gerd Kerkhoff about markets going crazy, the right procurement strategy, China's unpredictability, and what the German humorist, comedian, art director and writer Loriot had to do with single sourcing.

Business in the consulting industry is cooling off. Consulting contracts are only awarded after tough reviews of bids, costs and benefits

Interview: Christian Michalak, Managing Director Projects at Kerkhoff Consulting, on how small and medium enterprises optimize their steel purchases

Unbeatable in mass production – but is China already on the brink of instability?

One in five businesses needs outside capital

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)—A crucial risk for the food industry is the availability of agricultural commodities in adequate quantities, at reasonable prices, as well as in the required quality. In a talk with Dow Jones, Jürgen Pahl, Senior Partner at Kerkhoff Consulting, explains how the industry is handling that risk. Kerkhoff Consulting is a consultancy for procurement and supply chain management, and one focus is consulting for the food industry.

Risk control. To protect against new dangers, companies need to do some rethinking – brains and intuition are required instead of checklists.

PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT. Modern supply chains are spinning ever more tightly around our planet. But the more intertwined the net becomes, the more fragile it will also be: Natural disasters, crop failures or political upheavals threaten especially the logistics of small and mid-sized businesses – and that's why they, in turn, begin to think more locally again.

Presents and favors are out. Transparency and digital sales portals have ended nepotism in purchasing. Those will be successful today who know their customers better than the competition.

For decades, industrial buyers lived in the shadows as procurement people. Due to increasing complexities, internationalization and strategic tasks, buyers can move up the career ladder all the way to the management board in some cases.

Environmental protection is expensive. Thus, many buyers find themselves in a catch-22 situation because the lower the value of the goods, the faster the cost benefit will be neutralized. Companies nonetheless doing their purchases with a view to conserving resources will be able to create a positive image for themselves.

Suppliers are increasingly taken up on their promises in terms of quality management and responsibility for products after their installation. Suppliers will take over maintenance work and accompany machines over their entire service life. That should be taken into account in the selection of suppliers.

Germany's companies are heavily investing again and mostly have good access to bank loans as well. Nonetheless, many companies could still optimize their capital procurement even in times of the economic high.

INDIAN TOP MANAGERS. Indians conquer the executive floors – not only at Deutsche Bank. What drives them; where do they get their competence from?

PRODUCT COST ANALYSIS: Quite legally obtained external data allow buyers to gather their suppliers' internal production and unit costs. That kind of knowledge will strengthen a buyer's position in price negotiations. Using such benchmarks, production managers can trace cost drivers.

More than ever before, the food industry is currently facing difficulties threatening its existence – whether due to food scandals, natural disasters, or economic crises. It's important to economize to be able to safeguard liquidity and weather a crisis. Every cent saved in purchasing will show directly as profit in the annual profit and loss account. It's therefore important to examine processes and lay down a clear strategy.

Credit crash, Lehman failure, explosion of BP offshore oil platform, the Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents in Japan – companies are facing bad surprises ever faster. Small wonder that there is a growing need for stability and security. Both promises the HRO approach (high reliability organization). It is to make companies as crisis-safe as a hospital emergency room.

To improve their financial maneuvering room, many German enterprises keep up all efforts to improve their liquidity. A survey is now shedding light on how they go about it.

During the crisis, small and medium-sized companies learnt to dig out liquidity – that also helps them now to grow during the upswing

When Comex, the commodities exchange, recently increased security deposits for speculative traders, many investors had to liquidate their leveraged positions. The consequence: The biggest exchange rate plunge in years. This won't change anything in the long-term upward trend for copper, aluminum, nickel, lead and the like: Ever more speculative capital is flowing into the market via such investment products as ETFs and ETCs.

It's true that ever more companies are aware of the importance of travel management.

Yet, there's still great potential going to waste.

In selecting their suppliers, enterprises should also take into account such factors as the qualification of personnel, logistics, flexibility and sustainability.

More liquidity through working capital management

Just about every car has Japanese vendor parts; 40 percent of the worldwide required technology components come from Japan. Consultant Gerd Kerkhoff explains how the German economy is affected by the disasters in Japan.

It's considered taboo to talk about business in times of human tragedies. That's why nothing much leaks out to the public concerning the other side of Japan's disasters – while many thousands of Japanese are still fleeing from radiation.

Due to changing framework conditions in many areas, Germany's automotive supplier industry is facing numerous challenges. Since material costs are, at 45%, by far the largest cost item for automotive suppliers, purchasing is of particular importance in this sector of the industry. This article presents the challenges, necessities for changes and measures which have been ascertained within the scope of a study by the Kerkhoff Competence Center of Supply Chain Management (KCC) about purchasing in the German automotive supplier industry.

What do small enterprises excel in; what are the strengths of corporate groups? A study has shown: The big ones are champions in savings. The small ones are especially innovative – and they also don't complain about a lack of qualified, specialized personnel.

Although the much-invoked credit squeeze has not come about, especially small and medium-sized companies still need assistance in getting outside capital. Alternative ways of financing are more in demand than ever before. Particularly start-ups currently have bad hands. Even with investors.

After years of transparency, consultancies are now clamming up. Business developments are kept secret and new company strategies are disclosed with delays only. What's more: The new generation of consultancy managers is shunning the public.

Until last year, Jürgen Pahl served in the function of managing director of Metro Group Buying as head buyer of the Düsseldorf-based retail giant. Since the beginning of the month, Pahl is Senior Partner of the consultancy Kerkhoff Consulting.

Cooperation with sustainable suppliers and the rigorous optimization of supply chain management under CO2 aspects provides companies with important leverage to save costs.

Compliance is the conformity in fulfilling all statutorily prescribed as well as voluntarily imposed regulations in an enterprise. In a talk with Mathias Renz from VentureCapital magazine, Sabrina Keese, partner at Kerkhoff Consulting, explains not only how the introduction of compliance guidelines can help realize cost benefits but also the advantages resulting for private equity companies upon the introduction of a specific compliance management.

Raw materials. Whether copper, cocoa or rubber – prices are exploding. Some basic materials are very hard to be had even. The difficult supply situation is a threat to the existence of more and more companies. And it's also threatening the economic upswing.

Purchasing consultants help companies to significantly lower their purchasing costs. Their procedure: By creating competition among suppliers and through renegotiations, new, lower market prices result which are accepted on both sides. But what purchasing consultants cannot see: What is the maximum cost of products – on the basis of a precise itemization of individual costs. These questions will be answered by the manufacturing and cost professionals of the Düsseldorf-based consultancy costdata Cost Engineering.

Economic upswing. Business is buzzing again – but the economic crisis has not been forgotten by German companies. Unlike in previous economic slumps, this time, all sectors of the industry have experienced changes that will be permanent.

The importance of purchasing for a company's overall performance has long been underestimated. Specialized consultants now provide for a professionalization of procurement in business enterprises.

In recent years, international procurement further gained in importance due to cost pressures. Aside from perennially successful China, three regions especially are currently being scrutinized: India, Brazil and Turkey.

In their search for the cheapest logistics service provider, ever more companies discover the awarding platforms. That's how costs are to be reduced and the purchasing process simplified.

Optimizing purchasing costs is the fastest way to increase earnings or yield without jeopardizing sustainability and customer confidence. In a talk with experts from Kerkhoff Consulting, the essential point is made clear: Farsighted entrepreneurs will make this subject matter their own responsibility!

Enterprises in the social services sector are especially able to save considerable time and costs with centralized purchasing. Better terms and conditions are obtained particularly in buyers' cooperatives and through product concentrations.

The executive floor is responsible for purchasing. That statement from many trading companies not only shows the priority attributed to purchasing. But it also shows that there is a person handling purchases who is frequently unable to give it the necessary time or energy because that person also has to manage an entire company as well.

According to a Kerkhoff study, purchasing managers at suppliers are facing a great many challenges after the 2009 crisis year.

Caused by increasing raw material prices

Industrial buyers today must be able to handle complex challenges. Limited potentials: 68 percent of German companies have no or not enough purchasing talents. This is a situation also complained about by the Bundesverband Materialeinkauf und Logistik in Österreich (Federal Association of Materials Purchasing and Logistics in Austria).

It's nowhere easier to make savings than in purchasing. Going about it strategically, costs can be lowered by up to 20 percent. But only very few medium-sized businesses use this chance.

According to a Kerkhoff study, purchasing managers of suppliers will be facing difficult times.

Still young solar companies need flexible logistics people with international know-how.

Current study: Lack of strategies, few systematic quality controls and hardly any bargaining range

A survey among buyers in the German machinery industry provides a sharp analysis of challenges. At the same time, however, purchasing departments seem unable to adequately react to these challenges. Reasons are provided by Gerd Kerkhoff, founder and managing director of Kerkhoff Consulting.

Two thirds of the industrial buyers of major machine manufacturing companies in Germany expect that there will be an upward trend for this industry sector in coming months. But not all of them are prepared for the challenges they'll be facing.

Business is back in the upswing: Following hectic austerity measures, heads of companies are planning long-term again; the focus is back on growth and innovative projects. To this end, companies seek help from consultants – also to steel themselves against the next crisis.

In times of economic upswing and recovery, the procurement of goods is becoming even more important. But there is often a shortage of qualified junior buyers.

PROCUREMENT UNIVERSITIES - Coming out of the far corners of the organization and getting up onto the big stage of strategic management – that's the development purchasing departments currently go through in many locations. To prepare procurement specialists for their new role, companies spend up to seven figures. Those training providers stand good chances to be awarded orders who not only know what buyers have to learn but also how they want to learn.

Procurement. All too often, buying is also part of a secretary's job. Yet, farsighted managers and company owners consider purchasing their responsibility and top priority. Because this is where big savings can be realized.

Manufacturers and suppliers must cooperate closely so that the flows of goods are moving in time with manufacturing processes. This requires mutual trust and permanent dialog

The consultant Gerd Kerkhoff from Büderich started up a network of 40 business people for the politician Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In his private life, Gerd Kerkhoff also appreciates networks of good neighborly contacts.

Pilotprojekt mit Nationaltheater und Stadtpark-Gesellschaft – Zwölf Prozent weniger Ausgaben

Kerkhoff Consulting optimiert in zwei Pilotprojekten den Einkauf für die Stadt Mannheim

Einkaufsmanagement kompakt

Im Einkauf liegt der halbe Gewinn - immer noch?

Hoffen auf Einkaufsberater

Die Globalisierung der Wirtschaft zwingt immer mehr Unternehmen zu einer Internationalisierung ihrer Beschaffungsaktivitäten

Die meisten Konzerne verschleudern bei der Beschaffung enorme Summen - und merken es oft nicht einmal

Das Milliardenprojekt Herkules ist gescheitert. Die Vernetzung der Computer- und Kommunikationssysteme der Bundeswehr wird verschoben. Politik und Wirtschaft geben sich gegenseitig die Schuld für das Desaster.

Beschaffungsmanagement - Im Einkauf liegt der Gewinn. Mit der richtigen Preis- und Verhandlungsstrategie können Unternehmen die Kosten deutlich reduzieren und so die Ertragslage stärken.