MERCK KGAA, DARMSTADT, GERMANY away to the 20 % of the top spend and ignore the 80 % downstream.”
What gets lost in this process is value; the diversity and unpredictability of tail spend, along with the number of stakeholders involved, make it difficult to tackle. Most procurement teams, Sebastien argues, simply don’ t have the capacity to deal with it effectively, so they divert their resources to more strategic areas.
“ I think most procurement professionals don’ t have the right resources to properly tackle it because they want to involve the resources they have on the more strategic activities. It’ s not a quick win,” he says.
“ Our North Star for procurement is advancing procurement for a better tomorrow and a thriving Merck”
SEBASTIEN BALS, EVP & CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, MERCK KGAA, DARMSTADT, GERMANY
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