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HomeShop at BookSurgeBusiness & EconomicsGeneralCommon Sense Purchasing: Hard Knock Lessons Learned From a Purchasing Pro |
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2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Common Sense Purchasing: Hard Knock Lessons Learned From a Purchasing Pro Sep 16, 2007
I perform the purchasing function for a small business. I thought this book would be helpful as an instruction manual for improving how our company makes purchases. It was not. The book was geared toward large companies with large purchasing departments. There was little to no instruction on how to actually improve how you make purchases, mostly how to tell staff how to follow company wide purchasing guidelines. I would not recommend this book for small business owners or those without large purchasing departments.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 'Must Read' Supply Chain Book! Feb 24, 2007
Dr. Tom has written a classic for anyone who wants to establish relationships along the entire supply chain. His straight-forward manner and stories are outstanding! I particularly enjoyed all the parts about building supplier relationships and tales of purchasing department bureaucratic culture. An excellent reference book for all levels of professionals. If I could give it six stars, I would!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
OUTSTANDING READ... Dr. Tom is a real pro! Feb 20, 2007
Dr. Tom has written a brilliant supply chain book on relationship building. His writing style makes the concepts clear to novices and experts alike. His practical advice is both enjoyable and pertinent. It is a very easy read and I could not put the book down until I was finished. This is a must read for any supply chain, purchasing or contracting professional. I rate it 5 stars. Dr. Tom's background is as equally impressive as his scholarship.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
An Outstanding Supply Chain Book-Must Read Apr 28, 2005
Just an outstanding purchasing field manual! Most consultants and academic folks will hate this book! They can't stand low cost common sense techniques. The book has many simple common sense approaches to purchasing. Unfortunately common sense is all too rare in purchasing. At our company we don't even want to hire purchasing folks who are certified. We have to spend too much time deprogramming them! The style is eclectic because the author wanted to emulate the chaos of a typical purchasing day. Many bureaucrats can't get this book and just mindlessly pan it. The key point is that relationship building with suppliers is essential. There is no roadmap for this effort other than hard work and getting folks to trust each other.
I personally experienced Dr. Tom's one day workshop on Reengineering Purchasing which was the best experience of my purchasing career bar none. Most of the high priced junk that consultants sell today is smoke and mirrors like spend analysis, reverse on line auctions, portals etc. Bottom line Dr. Tom hits it on the head, "It's about getting world class suppliers and building strong relationships." This is where the quantum leaps are. Many companies are enamored with technology and lose sight of the strategy. Any purchasing dummy can learn tactics and be a fire fighter. The strategists are rare but their gains can be enormous. Dr. Tom is a true and dynamic strategic thinker whose ideas are timeless and right on. Buy this book and use it. Make everyone in your department read it and discuss it.
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
What this book is REALLY about! Jan 20, 2005
I bought this book, in no small part, because of the rave reviews that it's gotten on this site. Now that I've spent half of my day thoroughly reading this 76 page gem, I'm kind of astounded by what's been written about it. In spite of my rating, I don't consider it to be a bad book. If you're the manager of a purchasing department within a large manufacturing firm looking to reengineer your operations, I recommend that you read it. However, if you're looking for sound advice on general purchasing practices, look elsewhere.
This book seems to have been thrown together fairly quickly. It contains numerous typos, and poorly drawn cartoons that add little to it. Nonetheless, the author does dispense some practical advice on modernizing a purchasing organization, and how to sell the plan to affected individuals. He principally focuses on computer automation, developing procurement card programs, and developing "strategic relationships" with suppliers. This last notion refers to his belief that strong business relationships should be forged with important suppliers to get them more fully involved in meeting the company's needs (automatic inventory replenishment and the like). On the whole, the book seems to be more about modern (late 90's theory) operations management than about purchasing, but at least the points that the author does make seem sound. Unfortunately, the book is too short to be of much use as anything but a checklist for people trying to reengineer organizations. At least it's good for that.
As far as the personal stories gleaned from years of purchasing experience are concerned, I could only find two, which collectively took up a whopping half a page. I'm not suggesting that the author didn't rely on his extensive experience to write the book, but he principally just states the "facts" as he sees them, and provides precious few examples to illustrate his points. More vexing still, is that the man probably could have taught his readers a great deal about purchasing, but chose to write about other things instead. I've little doubt that there are people out there who can greatly benefit from this book, but they probably number in the thousands, which is probably why it's called "Common Sense Purchasing" and not "Common Sense Modernization of a Purchasing Organization".
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