Time to Explore the Business Ecosystem!

Previously I wrote a post on our recent research project that shows that purchasing is delivering value to the business.

Part of this research also shows that one question Most Business leaders will face in the future is “Where should we look within our business ecosystems for new opportunities to create value?”

Purchasing Executives offer a daring answer to this question. They acknowledge that today most of their focus in on existing suppliers. But they believe that in the future, to create value for the business they will need to look beyond the obvious. They will need to further explore the ecosystem and engage with:

• Tier 2 Tier 3 suppliers for 56% of them
• Start-ups and new players for 65% of them
• Research Centres, Universities and NGO’s for 56% of them.

This makes a lot of sense from a business point of views and this is a great sign that purchasing is increasingly thinking creatively!

That being said; this will also require changing the way people look at business ecosystems:

• They need to understand the trends that will transform their ecosystems
• They have to identify who could be future key players that can help them deliver value
• They need to spot who collaborates with whom… not just who competes with whom!
• They will have to learn how to establish and develop relationships with these players

This is exciting time. And we will continue to monitor closely the progress of this profession and the best practices they use to make this happen?