VALUE ANALYSIS:  The Key to Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Purchasing and supply management organizations are undergoing profound change.  The reason for this is the realization by senior management of the untapped potential of effective supply chain management.  With outside purchases of goods and services typically representing over 65% of total sales, the effective leveraging of this spend can bolster organizational performance and create competitive advantage.  For the procurement professional, the key to sustainable competitive advantage is Value Analysis.

As the roles and expectations of purchasing and supply management have changed, so have the skills required to succeed.  Traditional skills in cost-price analysis and negotiations are no longer sufficient.  New technical and strategic skills as well as ability to bring about improvements within the organization are critical in this new globally competitive environment.  Value Analysis is the procurement professional’s most powerful tool to bring about change in performance improvement and cost-effectiveness.

We are proud to announce that Abate Kassa, President of AOK Consulting & Education, will be our dinner speaker on Value Analysis on September 11, 2008 to share with us in one hour what normally takes him two days to cover.

What is unique about Abate’s approach to Value Analysis is that he integrates the principles of Value Analysis with Six Sigma, Lean Thinking, Project Management, Business Process Reengineering, and TQM by using whole-system thinking.

Abate is a former Procurement Manager of Ethiopian Airlines where he introduced a corporate-wide value improvement process. He combines resource and process consultancy to provide organic change for his client organizations instead of the traditional mechanistic change. He assists his clients to optimize the value of their procurement and supply management function and also provides a comprehensive professional development program entitled "Supply Management Excellence"

Abate was retained as Executive Director of the National Association of Purchasing Management-New York for 19 years.  He is a recipient of NAPM-New York’s 1992 J. H. Leonard Award for his contributions in institutional capacity building of NAPM-New York as a center of excellence in purchasing and supply management and a Presidential Citation from the Institute for Supply Management.  He holds a bachelor’s degree (with distinction) in economics from Addis Abeba University and a master’s degree in government and politics from St. John’s University, New York.