A.T. Kearney’s Assessment of Excellence in Procurement (AEP) is the preeminent and longest-standing global study of supply management best practices. For more than 20 years, it has helped chief procurement officers and the global procurement community to develop an understanding of current and emerging best practices, identify what separates leading supply management organizations from the rest, align more with corporate objectives, improve performance and metrics, and articulate procurement’s value.

A.T. Kearney’s 2014 Assessment of Excellence in Procurement (AEP) study is the eighth in the series since 1992. The objective of this latest study is threefold:
- Evaluate how procurement has progressed since 2011
- Determine how ready procurement is for the future
- Identify lessons learned from leading procurement organizations

Our 2011 study saw a doubling in the rate of benefits achieved by the procurement functions since the 2008 study, yielding the highest percentage gains seen in the more than two decades since we began conducting the AEP.

This year’s study finds that:
- Leading companies get twice as much measurable cost reduction as typical companies, while capitalizing on their supply base for competitive advantage through supplier-driven innovation, risk management, and other means.
- Since 2011, progress in the typical company has leveled off, leaving executives to ask: “What’s next for procurement?”
- Leaders use procurement as a catalyst to drive durable superior business performance through excellence in managing categories, suppliers, and teams.
- Companies that adopt the procurement practices that separate the best from the rest will have a much brighter future. The time is now for procurement to reassert its position as a critical value driver.