Common Sense Supply Management by Tom DePaoli - Book review

Common Sense Supply Management

Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches

By: Tom DePaoli

Published: September 9, 2012
Format: Paperback, 202 pages
ISBN-10: 1477686452
ISBN-13: 978-1477686454
Publisher: CreateSpace











"This book is a summary of many of the lessons that I learned in my supply management and management career", writes Management Program Director at Marian University, and Principal and CEO of Apollo Solutions, Tom DePaoli, in his engaging and practical lesson filled book Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches. The author describes best practices, Lean Six Sigma, and information based negotiations through the medium of stories as superior teaching and idea retention vehicle.

Tom DePaoli recognizes that supply chain management remains the basic framework of most organizations. As a result, the author provides insights into how to transform that crucial element into a powerful competitive advantage. While the management of the supply chain is complex undertaking for most companies, Tom DePaoli shares his experience by way of readily understood and remembered stories. As with any other aspect of the overall business, supply chain management is fundamentally based in business and personal relationships. Because of the complexity nature of supply chains, the author presents the premise that a s successful supply chain manager is able to develop and maintain many simultaneous relationships across many organizations and different people.

Tom DePaoli (photo left) recognizes the primary importance of business relationships, and their critical role in navigating the complexities of supply management. The stories shared by the author present this concept very well. Indeed, the focus of the entire book is on the interaction and relationships between people. The concepts of best practices, Lean Six Sigma, and information based negotiations all share a common human relationship element. Tom DePaoli offers a proven multi-layered approach to finding, sourcing, and working effectively with suppliers.

Perhaps even more importantly, the author cautions business people about the problems that arise through international sourcing strategies. For negotiating better terms with suppliers, while developing strong personal relationships, the author shares his real world tested strategies and tactics. At the same time, Tom Depaoli provides an understandable and useful system of metrics for measuring the effectiveness of the entire supply management system.

For me, the power of the book is how Tom DePaoli combines the human aspects of supply management with a comprehensive strategic approach to developing an effective management system. The author shares his personal experience in the real world of supply management, and as a result, offers practical and readily applied knowledge and information. Tom DePaoli also shares his concepts of negotiation that apply lessons learned in actual negotiation situations.

Instead of automatically recommending a win-win negotiation strategy, the author presents an effective alternative in the form of an information-based technique. This contrast is one of the many valuable lessons offered in the book. Unlike many books on the topic, the author shares an accessible and readily applied approach to metrics and measurement. The chapters in the book are short and contain useful and relevant stories of the principles in action. The book is a handy reference that can be referred to as a guide to improving any supply management system.

I highly recommend the very accessible and hands on book Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches by Dr. Tom DePaoli, to any business leaders, entrepreneurs, and negotiators seeking a practical and no nonsense guide to improving any supply management process. This book will transform your supply management system from the ordinary to the outstanding, while boosting your overall bottom line.