Sourcing Roundtable- Shanghai

Together with our German consulting partner h&z, we held our fourth annual Sourcing Roundtable this year on July 11th in Hong Kong and July 12th in Shanghai.

Our topic this year was “Procurement 4.0 – how digital disruption will change your China sourcing strategy.” With industry experts and senior sourcing managers, we discussed the impact of technology and the potential for innovation along the supply chain:

• Collaborative supplier relations: from transactional procurement to supplier enabled innovation
• Automation and artificial intelligence: will it enhance or replace procurement?
• Speed and agility: leveraging data to catch up with fast-changing consumer preferences
• Made in China 2025: will high-tech China be a less attractive sourcing market, or more?

Here are some soundbites from the event itself:

• “Even with increasing labour costs, China is still the first choice when it comes to flexibility and speed.”
• “The question remains: Who is responsible for innovation: the buyer in the HQ or the sourcing office?”
• “Procurement has to reinvent itself to drive differentiation.”
• “In the future, systems and AI will free us from technical tasks so we can focus on building engagement and trust with suppliers.”

Read more about this topic in h&z’s new book “Procurement 4.0: A survival guide in a digital, disruptive world”.

Our event series will continue in…

• Munich on Wednesday, September 27th from 4pm – 8pm at the h&z office