The old adage that the more things change the more they stay the same probably should be revised when it comes to contract terms: the more things stay the same the worse they get. Tim Cummins, CEO of the International Association for Contract & Commercial Management (IACCM), expressed that thought in a recent Commitment Matters [...]
The old adage about being careful what you ask for applies to contract terms and conditions in spades: you may think you are properly protecting an outsourcing arrangement and insulating it from risk, but the flip side is that numerous T&Cs mean more costs that eat away at profits. Copious, onerous and (often) unnecessary T&Cs [...]
I’ve talked recently about the need for outsource contracting in a transparent and flexible Vested environment, but what about the actual cost of establishing a business contract? While there is obviously no standard cost template for contract negotiation services—contracts can vary from the exceedingly short and simple to the immensely long and complex and you [...]
It may seem counter-intuitive – or even counter-productive! — to invite an economist to negotiate your next 3PL contract, as recommended by Adrian Gonzales in a Logistics Viewpoints blog entry earlier this month. But would you rather have a lawyer do it? Really? Gonzalez does make a point, and in entertaining style, featuring background music [...]
The recent International Association of Contracting and Commercial Management report on contract terms has got me thinking of the terminology we use to describe how an outsourcing contract should operate over time. As we move to the Vested Outsourcing world of cooperative, mutually-beneficial, performance- and outcomes-based contracts based on the transforming power of the Five [...]
If you’re in outsourcing then you know about the importance of the contract. The contract is the essential foundation, but it’s not a document that exists in vacuum. Equally essential is the art, attitudes and techniques that go into achieving the best contract possible, and then proactively managing it over its term. That is where [...]
