For many years CAPS Research has relied primarily on its public web site to communicate research study results and benchmark outcomes, and to provide information about our programs and events. We've worked hard to strike a balance between providing public access to our research products while ensuring that our corporate sponsors have on-demand access to the entire CAPS Research library of resources. CAPS Research recently released a new knowledgebase exclusively for major sponsor organizations. Knowledge Central (www.capsknowledge.org) is a searchable archive of over 800 CAPS Research studies, including leading-edge practices, benchmarking reports, focus studies, assessments, event presentations and more. This new web site provides sponsors easy access to the entire CAPS Research library of research results and assessment tools. Knowledge Central does not replace our public web site (www.capsresearch.org). The vast majority of our research results will still be available to all interested parties. However, to increase the value of CAPS Research to our major sponsors, most new research will be released first on Knowledge Central to sponsors only.

If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to click Knowledge Central Overview for a short, five-minute guided tour of Knowledge Central. If your company is not a CAPS Research sponsor please click on the following Becoming a Sponsor link to learn more.

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CPO Insights: Extent of and Experiences with Centers of Excellence

Many companies have tasked their supply management organizations to perform every phase of category management and other sourcing and supply management activities for specific categories or business units. Although supply management professionals are very effective at performing various activities ranging from supply market analysis through e-sourcing, negotiation, implementation and supplier management, it is unlikely that all of the supply management professionals are effective at performing all of these activities. If you have implemented, or if you are considering implementing Centers of Excellence (COEs) around supply management competencies or capabilities, you should read what our CPO community has said about activities aligned with organizational COEs. In addition to asking about COE competencies and capabilities, this edition of CPO Insights provides information about COE team structures.

Click here to access the resource information page associated with this edition of CPO Insights. CAPS Research sponsors with established user profiles may click 'login to view document' to access this report.

For more information on how to gain full access to Knowledge Central resources, see Establishing Sponsor Login.

Not a CAPS Research Sponsor? To learn more about the benefits of becoming a CAPS Research Sponsor, click here.

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Focus Study: Achieving World-Class Supply Chain Collaboration: Managing the Transformation

As firms examine their supply chain management models for ways to be more competitive, the nature of the discussion often turns toward collaboration. However, despite efforts by firms to work toward this goal, this research study suggests that few companies are fully able to grasp the nature of collaboration and what it takes to achieve a true collaborative capability. The study details how firms are engaged in supply chain collaboration initiatives and whether or not a roadmap can be developed to manage the transformation to true collaborative supply chains. Note: This Focus Study was slightly modified in March 2008 to amend some minor data points, which did not affect the overall conclusions and themes of the work. Please disregard any version you may have downloaded in 2007.

This focus study, "Achieving World-Class Supply Chain Collaboration: Managing the Transformation", is located at the CAPS Research public web site: click here.

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Other Reports posted to the CAPS Research public web site in April 2008:

Print Services Market Basket Report February 2008: click here

Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration Contractors 2007 Industry Benchmarking: click here

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Benchmarking in Progress:

Data collection for Cross Industry Standard Benchmarks, the Engineering Construction, Financial Services, Pharmaceutical and Telecommunications Services Industries starts this month. If you did not receive an email with your participant login information but would like to take part in any of these benchmarking industry surveys, contact us at: metrics@capsresearch.org.

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Note: If you're a first-time visitor to CAPS Research you will need to create a user login to access reports. Otherwise, just enter your previously established login data.

Public access to reports is available at www.capsresearch.org.

CAPS Research Sponsors may also access resources at Knowledge Central at www.capsknowledge.org.

To access the newsletter and press release archive click here.

For more information about CAPS Research programs and products please contact us at Research@capsresearch.org.

Sincerely,
Phillip Carter, D.B.A.
Executive Director
CAPS Research

CAPS Research is a global research organization jointly sponsored by the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and the Institute for Supply Management™.