THE BUSINESS REVIEW FOR PROCUREMENT LEADERS
Purchasing has been a bit of a latecomer to the "chief officer" or "CXO" bandwagon, with the chief procurement officer (CPO) title really only taking hold since the late 1990s. In contrast, titles such as CEO, CFO and COO – collectively known as "C-suite" executives – have been common currency for longer.
In the US, where these titles have sprung from, big companies that have CPOs include DuPont, Motorola, ChevronTexaco and JP Morgan Chase. In Europe, CPO has also taken root in companies such as Philips, Novartis and ABN Amro.
One reason that CPO is catching on is the increasing globalisation of business. Another is that unlike titles such as director and vice-president, CPO clearly differentiates the postholder as the overall functional leader. Adoption of the CPO title often coincides with a bigger remit for procurement. But there don’t appear to be any significant differences in their job description.
Because it positions the function at, or near, board level, CPO is "very aspirational for the next generation of procurement leaders," says Theo Theocharides at IBM. It may also encourage ambitious graduates to choose procurement, rather than fall into it by accident later on.
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