EVENTS

PMMS Forum 2007

On Friday 11th May 2007 PMMS held its Forum at the IOD in London. For these interested in finding out what hot topics and burgeoning issues were debated, please click here to view the flyer and click here to view some images of the day

NEWS

Strategic Proposals

Our Strategic Proposal practice continues to establish real thought leadership in the marketplace. Three consultants attended the Association of Proposal Management Professionals Conference in America in June, with very unusual presentations, as usual!

Richard Jenkins and BJ Lownie presented Extreme Proposal Makeover', looking at tactics to enable organisations to build more strategic proposal capabilities.

Jon Williams and BJ presented 'The Fairytale Proposal' in where Jon read a specially-written children's fairytale about scribes in an ancient castle with slide analogies showing a parallel story of a proposal team generating a tremendous response.

A session by Jon garnered praise from the APMP's CEO and COO in the lead column in this quarter's Proposal Management Journal: "'Proposal Idol' was an overwhelming favourite, proving that even such mundane topics as proposal best practices can be presented in interactive, fun ways."

You too can enjoy these entertaining yet highly constructive insights into how to improve RFPs for buyers and proposal responses for sellers. Just email Jon on jw@strategicproposals.com.

There was great customer feedback all round:
"you guys always do the best presentations"
"we always make sure our team comes to your sessions"
Delegates said "we're only staying until the Friday because Jon and BJ are speaking".

PMMS Asia Pacific celebrates 10 years

PMMS Asia Pacific has celebrated its 10th anniversary and chairman, Paul Steele, and managing director, Steve Mullins, joined in the celebrations.

Amid a hectic seven day tour, they met more than 150 clients and colleagues and laid the foundations for the Group's expansion. Several key topics recurred during the week including the increasing importance of low cost economy sourcing, development of the successful NRI programme across the region, the work with CIPS' accreditation programmes in Asia, and the Asia Pacific team's innovative approaches to the development of business in the Chinese and Japanese markets.

So many people, places and meetings were enjoyed by Paul and Steve:

addressing the AGM of the local CIPS branch
a meeting with Bob Dandie, Chief Procurement Officer at CLPP, Hong Kong's largest power generating utility
10th anniversary celebrations at the Hong Kong Club joined by many clients
breakfast with the Hong Kong British Chamber of Commerce
lunch at Shanghai's British Chamber of Commerce
breakfast briefing at the British High Commission in Malaysia
the official opening of the new PMMS office in Kuala Lumpur

Richard May spoke of how the business had indeed come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1994 to the present day, with an Asia wide team approaching 30, with more than 16 in HK and a resource centre in the Hong Kong Central Business District. He paid tribute to the Asia Pacific team's innovative approaches to the development of brand and clients in the region and PMMS' geographical expansion.

Paul and Steve remarked on "an amazing trip which really opened our eyes to the potential in Asia and the hard work the Asian team has put in over the past few years under extremely difficult economic challenges, in order to prepare the ground for rapid growth in the future. Well done Asia and roll on the next 10 years".

How strategic is purchasing?

Procurement topics were hotly debated at the first PMMS Business Forum, held in June in London at the Institute of Directors. Feedback suggests it was a great success, in terms of speakers, discussion points and the networking opportunity amongst delegates. Marketing manager, Michele Alston, was delighted with the response. "Once we had such expert speakers on board, we were pretty sure that clients would want to attend the day and over a hundred did!"

Managing Director, Steve Mullins, commented on the Forum's topic of 'signposting issues for the 21st century'. "The issues on purchasing are crucial and the Forum provided the opportunity for some exciting, and somewhat controversial, discussion points."

Paul Cousins - The evolution of strategic relationship management - developments in business relationships in the 21st century

Richard May - Strategic challenges and opportunities from low cost economy sourcing, comparing China and India

Roel Bellens - Total value of ownership - the potential and risk of procurement decisions within the supply chain system

Andrew Cox - Strategic Procurement in a globalised economy - can purchasing become supply management?

European connections:

Our legal expert, Paul Abbiati, has been nominated to the International Chamber of Commerce CLP Commission. This Commission comprises members from 42 countries, including partners in international law firms, in-house counsels, law professors and trade executives in member companies and international organizations.