The Procurement Game Plan offers the guidance needed to take the career and the department of the procurement professional to progressively higher levels. It provides easy-to-follow strategies for improving supplier relationships, securing measurable cost reductions, achieving operational excellence, and improving margins and competitiveness. Key Features: --Provides valuable insights into strategic procurement and supply management principles, processes and best practices, and how to manage productive and successful procurement organizations --Presents guidelines, techniques, and tools for converting a transaction-based reactive function into a proactive and powerful strategic contributor, and uses sports analogies to explain how everything fits together --Uses real scenarios and examples to make the principles and methodologies more relevant and easy to understand --Simplifies complex concepts into easy-to-follow steps that procurement professionals can use to secure tangible results --WAV features a 13-point procurement ethics checklist, a 20-point proposal evaluation checklist, a 21-point negotiation checklist, and a case study on Business Process Re-engineering and e-Procurement Implementation at ASSET, Inc. -- available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at jrosspub.com Chapter 1: Procurements Place in the Organization: What Position Does Supply Management Play? Chapter 2: Setting a Supply Management Strategy: Developing the Procurement Playbook Chapter 3: Procurement Talent Management: Ensuring That You Have the Right Players on Your Team Chapter 4: Social Responsibility in Procurement: The New Rules for a More Responsible Game Chapter 5: Strategic Sourcing for More Effective Procurement: Marching Toward the Goal Line Chapter 6: Comparing and Qualifying Suppliers: Separating the Winners from the Losers Chapter 7: Negotiating With Suppliers: Jockeying for Position Chapter 8: Negotiation in Specialized Situations: Adapting Your Game Plan for Different Conditions Chapter 9: Implementing Agreements and Managing Supplier Relationships: From the Whiteboard to the Field Chapter 10: Measuring Procurement Performance: Analyzing the Scoreboard Chapter 11: Technologies and Services for Improving Procurement Performance: The Sticks, Gloves, and Bats of Supply Management Chapter 12: Specialized Areas of Procurement: Special Teams Players Are Important Chapter 13: A Career in Procurement: Becoming an All-Star Index