Procurement Lab
Excellence in Procurement Management
Procurement LAB partners with the sponsors to define different research topics and investigation methods. Starting from an annual work plan determined and shared with all participants, the LAB sets up a range of projects with various profiles and time spans.
Research
Research projects developed by SDA Bocconi with topics and goals determined by the Procurement LAB.
Development and Training
Training activities carried out by SDA Bocconi on topics of interest for the Procurement LAB’s sponsors and their partners.
Sharing
Sharing activities regarding practices and approaches, based on schemes structured by SDA Bocconi with the support of Procurement LAB’s sponsors.
Research Topics
The topics for research at the Procurement LAB are presented and shared annually together with the sponsors. Some examples of requests that have produced research are:
- Covid-19 impact on procurement and supply chains
- Contracts at the time of Covid-19
- Cost Breakdown structure. Assessing and managing suppliers’ cost structure
- OBA. Open Book Accounting and procurement relationships
- Dependency Ratio. When «dependent» suppliers become a source of risk for your company
- Sustainable Procurement. Governing your supply chain towards accountability
- Procurement KPIs. Building your balanced scorecards and reaching your goals
- Buyer 4.0. Skills and tasks of the modern buyer
- Artificial Intelligence in Procurement. Use cases and experiences compared
- RPA. Where, with what purpose, how to manage your RPA project
- Vertical software and Cloud for procurement. The role of vendors in product and process innovation
- Digital Procurement. How to start a digital transformation project, who guides it and with which partners
- Procurement and Start-Ups. Creating an «open» environment to integrate new cultures and new actors
- Global Supply Chain. International trade, government policies and purchase choices
- Procurement and Finance. Their roles, their tasks, their goals, where they converge or diverge
- Pricing. Building purchase agreements using «price» as a variable to guide the relationship.
- Global Commodity Buyers’ role and skills
- Commodities – Purchase choice, contracts and risk management
- Procurement organization. A matrix and the choice to centralize
- Managing indirect materials. Operational practices and models for calculating the TCO
- Innovating competition. Managing supplier selection with a «fixed budget» or specific «variable technique».
Some Researches Carried Out by Procurement Lab
Our 2021 research project has been focused on the implementation of AI technologies in the different phases of the procurement process. The research has used a large classification of AI, including complex methodologies such as Machine and Deep Learning, and deterministic applications such as Robotic Process Automation and Optical Character Recognition. Through a survey addressed to CPO’s from companies operating in Italy, data has been gathered from more than 130 companies with numerous AI projects implemented.
Our Digital Procurement, research project delved into the goals, processes and technology for digitalizing purchase departments and supply relationships. The researchers surveyed participants about the details of their business objectives, purchasing process steps involved in digitalization plans, adopted technology, desired or achieved outcome and major barriers encountered. Gathered data allows not only to clearly picture the state of the art of digitalization in purchasing in Italy, but also to provide managers at each participating company with hints to better understand their own level of digitalization and find a clear benchmark at an industry level or similar companies level.