What Can Yoda Teach Us About The Kraljic Matrix?
By: Bertrand Maltaverne
Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain, Business

A Procurement Transformation

Kraljic recognized that the world was changing fast. He saw that if Procurement continued business as usual, it would expose itself to competitive pressure. If it was to survive, it would have to move into strategic supply management. This was the dawn of the Kraljic matrix. It would have a transformative effect on Procurement. The philosophy (that remains valid today) is that not all spend, all suppliers, all customers & are the same. So, Procurement needs to build tailored and differentiated strategies, notably taking into account profit impact and supply risk.

Fast forward to 2019. A lot has changed. The Cold War is history, and the Internet dominates the globe. The iPhone in my pocket has way more computing power than my first computer, a Commodore 64, also from 1983. Since Kraljic published his famous article, world trade has quadrupled and globalization has exploded. Procurement is operating in a much faster, bolder world than it was in 1983. It faces new challenges like Corporate Social Responsibility and ethical supply chains. In short, our current environment today is more “VUCA” (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) than it ever was.

The Next Evolution Of The Kraljic Matrix

“Since the early 1980s, pioneering individuals and companies such as Peter Kraljic, Michael Porter, and A.T. Kearney have pushed procurement professionals to think more strategically about the art and science of strategic sourcing. […] But times have changed. Today’s environment is more dynamic and is filled with greater uncertainty. The tried and true tools and tactics adopted over the last 30 years as the “gold standard” are not as effective as they once were.” Strategic Sourcing in the New Economy: Harnessing the Potential of Sourcing Business Models for Modern Procurement by Bonnie Keith, Kate Vitasek, Karl Manrodt, and Jeanne Kling

In some ways, the Kraljic matrix still works well. The segmentation at the heart of it remains valid. But the world is so complicated now, the matrix becomes more like a Kraljic Rubik’s cube. There are many more dimensions and parameters to take into account than there were back then.

Procurement now needs to win the Holy Grail of strategic supply management: value. Take Total Value of Ownership (TVO), for instance. Before, sustainability and risk were considered as nice-to-have, but not necessary. The TVO model places non-price information firmly within calculation of cost. This is a concept of sourcing in which the buyer has all the cards in their hand. But more than that, TVO enables the buyer to create bonus-penalty systems. In effect, it is a calculation of value that enables Procurement to identify how they can increase value after the award has been made.

Evolve Or Stay In The 80s

“My colleagues developed [the matrix] further and experimented with a nine-box version that allowed more flexibility. But always it must be adapted to the characteristics of the company where it is being used.”–Dr. Peter Kraljic

The evolution of strategic supply management is challenging. Seeing the Kraljic Matrix as a Rubik’s cube is one thing. Solving the cube is something else entirely. Collecting the enormous amount of information and data that you need for this is almost impossible on your own. However, the change that makes the world so complicated also gives us the tools we need to keep pace: technology. Procurement must have a digital transformation strategy.

Also, and beyond tools like Purchasing Portfolio Analysis matrixes (that needs to evolve to be subtler), it is critical for Procurement organizations to look beyond the technical aspects of the profession. Procurement activities encompass more “soft” activities that require interpersonal skills. It is all about relationships and, even if tools help in defining the right type of relationship to build in a specific context, they fall short in delivering the “human” dimension. Also, that same dimension should be integrated in the tools and models we use.

The “experience” of working with procurement (for suppliers and for stakeholders) is as essential. Procurement delivers a service in a human-to-human context and becoming the supplier/customer of choice requires more than just tools. Digital transformation is not just about tools!

Therefore, just like Yoda “burns” the Jedi Books in “The Last Jedi” to teach Luke a last lesson by symbolizing the need to be able to move forward while being mindful and even respectful of the past, it may be the time for Procurement professional to “burn” the matrix.