Ep. 3 - Transforming Procurement: Roche’s blueprint for enabling next-generation procurement with Marielle Beyer

How is one of the world's leading healthcare companies reshaping the procurement landscape? By leading with innovation and focusing on what truly matters: the patient.

In this episode, Marielle Beyer, Head of Global Procurement at Roche, explains how leadership, innovation, and a steadfast commitment to people-centric outcomes are the keys to driving success in today's complex corporate environment. She elaborates on Roche's holistic approach to procurement, emphasizing the importance of viewing the procurement function not merely as a series of transactions, but as a strategic partner capable of influencing positive outcomes for both patients and business units alike.


You'll learn:

1. How to cultivate a leadership culture in procurement.
2. Strategies for fostering innovation and agility.
3. The importance of a patient-centric approach in healthcare procurement.
4. Best practices for talent development in a transformative era.

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Get in touch with Marielle Beyer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marielle-beyer-1896102/

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Details about Roche:
Website: https://www.roche.com/
Industry: Biotechnology Research
Size: 10,001+ employees
Year: 1896

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About the host Martina:
Martina Buchhauser is a global leader with a profound knowledge of the automotive industry and its shift towards new and sustainable technologies and the imperative for a responsible and low-carbon business. Her leadership journey has encompassed executive roles in Global Procurement and Supply Chain Networks at General Motors, MAN, BMW, and Volvo Cars, where she until recently served as the Chief Procurement Officer and on the management board. She is a senior advisor of H&Z Management Consulting and is a non-executive director on several company boards. Martina very much enjoys being outside in nature – that’s why she loves hiking, golfing, and skiing. Her family and her friends from all over the world play an important role to her, and experiencing life together with them is the greatest joy. Martina is passionate about leadership and has been very engaged in developing and promoting talent.

Get in touch with Martina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martina-buchhauser/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

But if you keep that patient at the center all the time, I think you're gonna think much bolder. You're gonna see how can you drive acceleration, how can you enhance your performance, shorten lead times, be more efficient, more effective, because you do this for patients.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome to the Procurement Initiative Leaders Podcast, the ultimate resource for top-level procurement professionals looking to stay ahead of the curve and drive meaningful change within their organizations. I'm your host, Martina Buchhauser, founder of the Procurement Initiative Think Tank and senior advisor at HSET, Europe's leading management consultancy. Join me as I sit down with global leaders in procurement and other relevant areas to uncover the latest trends, strategies, and insights that are shaping the future of procurement. We tackle crucial topics like leadership, technology, value creation, cost management, resilient supply chains, innovation, and many more. Ready to up your game as a leader in procurement? Let's jump into this episode of the Procurement Initiative Leaders Podcast with me, Martina Buchhauser. Hi Marielle, I'm very happy to have you here today. My guest today is Marielle Bayer, Head of Global Procurement at Roche. Hey Martina. Hi there. Thank you again for taking the time for our exciting podcast today. And you are supporting the procurement initiative. And in all the talks we had and in the workshops, I was very impressed. You know, with your take on leadership, first of all, but also with your take on, you call it business outcomes and thinking a bit broader than, or let's say beyond a category strategy, as so many of us know. So uh so those are the two topics I'm very curious about because I think that is something where our uh audience can can learn a lot. So um, if you allow me to, uh I would actually want to start with the most important part, I think, and that is everything around talent, leadership, culture, because that builds the basis. I had a full podcast uh with Liz Ryder on leadership, and I'm sure you've heard about it. So um, but you've also launched uh probably a couple of programs within Roche um understanding and and kind of uh supporting this this whole topic. So it's called well, you say it's a career accelerator, a springboard, it's especially talking to young talents. Um, you know, why is this so important for you specifically?

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Yeah. Yeah, first of all, uh Martina, again, thanks for having me. And uh yeah, let's do it. Have a let's have a real good conversation. Uh and yes, those are topics that kind of keep me busy at night, if you want to say so. I think a lot about them and maybe specifically to uh the question you um asked me just now: culture, people, talent. I've been reflecting a lot lately about culture. Um, and that is more so what kind of culture enables an operating model, and or vice versa, what's the right operating model that enables a company culture? Um and um I think we neglect that sometimes. We're guided by vision, by inspiration. Uh we aim high, we we we we go after uh uh we reach for the stars, right? Um, but if you don't have that enabling uh culture, I think it can be an absolute uphill battle. So I'm starting to reflect that, you know, maybe there's certain successful archetypes of the way you operate, the way a company uh uh or a business or a function operates in um um in such a culture that really leads to success. So that's just something that I've been reflecting about. And then, you know, in every culture, it's it's it's the people uh um uh the unique people that make up the culture. Uh and Roche has a very unique culture, but I don't want to kind of uh now um uh say we claim this for us, this uniqueness. I think every company has a unique company culture. Um and uh within that, the people are our assets. So we've been focusing a lot on, you know, first of all taking an inventory of what is it we have. We have a lot of talented people, and in fact, we've through the transformation or transformations that we've done, we've actually seen a lot of turn, right? Um, as we uh let go of certain folks in certain areas, and we then hired in other areas. Um, and we've been very lucky to attract uh um very good talent into the organization. Um, but then you know, at the same time, we have an agile operating model uh with flatter hierarchies, right? And and people and young talents and young ambitious people, they ask themselves, right, how do I grow in such an organization? It's certainly not the traditional path anymore. I lead a small team and then I lead a bigger team, and then I become a people leader, right? It's different, right? And so we say these things, you have to lead from every seat, but what does that actually mean, right? And so um, yes, we've we're we're we're looking at career and people development and talent development along many uh different areas, and um, a couple of them are targeted programs. So we have a perspectives program, which is a rotational program where the idea is to attract outside talent. Yeah, we want the outside perspective, we want a fresh perspective, we bring uh these talents in and we send them through rotations and we give them a lot of exposure in different areas, but also expect uh quite some high standards. Uh, we also uh um across finance and and procurement within Roche, we have uh established a women leadership program, you know, that allows our female leaders to really grow, right? And and what I like about this program, it's built on research and it's also built on the principle of sponsorship. So if you have good sponsors in an organization, you can and you will grow and you will seize those opportunities. Um and and a number of other programs, a so-called acceleration program that you referred to earlier, where people get exposure and actually work on a real life problem that we have. It can be a simple thing, it can be a troubling process, or it can be a challenge that we have received in one of the areas in the business, but it's actually immersion. So people work together with us and and and and and they get coaching and advice, and it's uh it's quite interactive and collaborative. Uh, and it's also fact that that's how people grow the most. Yeah. So um, you know, I think when you have a structure in place uh and in today's age uh where growth is not linear anymore, but you expect people to grow differently, you need to pursue very, very different paths and different and and and and offer different options for people to get exposure, to get visibility, to get growth. And that's what we're testing and experimenting with. And we like it.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah, that sounds really interesting. Um, because I think in this world now, nothing, it feels like nothing is kind of linear anymore, nothing is predictable anymore. It's it's so many things coming in from left and right that you have to be faster, and your organization has to be flexible enough to. And I don't want to even use the word react, but in some cases, of course, that's what's necessary. But even, you know, kind of build and anticipate a lot more what can happen and be prepared than always only reacting to something. I uh I also quite, you know, like the idea of, well, in a in an organization, and especially when you bring in new people, it's kind of a competence shift, I think, that needs to happen in many areas uh when all these companies transform now. So kind of the way we've done business up until now is very different to you know what we should consider now. And especially if you think that everything was kind of handled in a pyramid and the the guy or the the guy up in the pyramid or the girl, um they they kind of were the ones knowing it all, right? And that's absolutely you know, not you can't handle it that way, right? Because information sits and perspectives sit in so many different places of this whole organization, and and that's the key to bring that together, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:00

And you will not be able to benefit right from the diversity of your workforce, the different views and opinions, and and um um in this kind of old hierarchical way of working, right? That you don't extract the full value of that.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

No, and you don't engage people really if you know if they have to go through a hierarchy to be able to say something, you know, a thought they have that might be so valuable at a certain point in time. And uh yeah, great. That's very interesting to hear. I also like your view of you know, sponsorship of women in leadership positions, because I it's it's it's really easier to do it, you know, kind of on the job, in the situation, to make sure that you promote people who really do a great job.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Absolutely. And I mean, you know, that's not to say that you know having good mentors and coaches is not as important, right? Uh, but but active sponsorship is a very different concept, and and I think it can really help uh both female and male leaders really to you know pursue um a path.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yeah. Absolutely. And it's fun to see people develop, right, and thrive in an in an organization. You um, Marielle, you specifically always, as I said in the beginning, you talk a lot about customers, you know. All right, I mean, customer, a customer of a life science company. So I'm asking myself a little bit how do you consider the customer and who is the is the customer the patient, or you know, it's so important, and you talked about this red chair. You can you can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, I think that that view of putting the customer and you want to tell us who that is, putting the customer in the in the center of this the decisions you take every day, I think is uh it's an interesting concept.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Yeah, yeah, I'm happy to, Martin. Yeah. I had the luck um in my career thus far to work in three um international global organizations in different industries. So I started in the kind of airline-related industry, then moved into financial services before joining Roche. And in both of those companies, you know, I had an enormous sense of uh loyalty. Yeah, I really enjoyed my time in those companies. I was able to grow, I loved the people. Uh um, you know, I I really felt kind of a deep satisfaction in the work uh that I did and and and was able to pursue opportunities and and and develop. So uh overall great times had in both of those companies. What I then um really realized uh when I joined Roche uh several years ago, it's almost 12 now, actually, um, is what it means to uh work uh more purposeful. So for a company with a purpose uh like the one Roche has. Now it may also be uh attributed to the fact that we get older, and when as we get older, right, we uh start to reflect on um illness, right, uh and how finite uh life can be, right? And and how illnesses affect families and friends, and uh but regardless of what the driver is, I really truly understand what it means to um uh work for purpose. And so it kind of gives what we do a heightened sense of urgency. And I definitely see at the end of everything we do in procurement, the patient at the center. Um, and and that's also how I want to condition my organization to think. Yes, we are an enabling organization, and we enable RD to be a better RD organization and we enable manufacturing to do, you know, uh uh to be a better, become a better manufacturing organization, and the same with the commercial organization covering the entire life cycle. That's all true. But if you uh you know keep that patient at the center all the time, I think you're gonna think much bolder. You're gonna see how can you drive acceleration, how can you enhance your performance, shorten lead times, be more efficient, more effective, because you do this for patients. And uh um, and I think we we take pride in some of the uh success stories uh that we have, but they're also very touching and moving. And what we want to make sure is that our suppliers also understand that, because you get the farther away you are from the direct impact on the patient, the more disconnected you are, you know. So so we really try to bring the patient into the conversation. And so the chair you were referring to is that in actually in some uh locations, uh uh in some roche locations, you will find a red chair in the room that really represents the patient in the room. And I think it's a wonderful constant reminder, quite frankly, for me, that uh chair is uh uh omnipresent. Uh so it's it's it's always easy to think patient first. Um and and and so I just want to give conclude with a realistic view, right? Um no, we don't deal directly with patients, right? My teams or our teams, they uh uh they you know make sure that the the clinical studies, you know, uh um that that the partners we engage with for our clinical studies are the right partners of choice, that we have the right conditions in place for them to perform well in service to patients, the same in manufacturing uh and in the commercial space, you name it, right? So I want to be realistic at the end, those are our everyday stakeholders, right? But I just don't want us to lose sight of the patient.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

No, and I think uh you you just bring in the relevance of what you do. And um I find it really interesting um to give your daily, even going to work the purpose, a purpose. Um thinking what, you know, and always talking about why are we doing this? If we come here together every day, what are we moving forward? You know, what are how do we help make things just a bit better every day? And that is that is so so much relevant. And I've I always found this, you know, sitting together with the teams and going through that question, which might be a bit philosophical in the beginning, but then it turns out that you know you really find your purpose. And um, I quite like that. It's not an easy um uh exercise, but uh, but I I would recommend everyone uh in in procurement teams to do so. Yeah. Because it it really helps and it connects you more with the company and what's the company purpose, why are we doing this, and how do we contribute to make sure that this overall purpose uh can actually be handled. And uh yeah, it's super super exciting. And uh and and I want to get to this point that I think is also very uh interesting for our audience here. Um is this point about so not only putting a purpose on it, but also talking about what are we doing daily, what do we need to consider, what are the kind of what is the importance, what are the the business outcomes you're always talking about. And it took me a while to understand what you meant. I got it now. Um, but I think it's very helpful for uh people listening in here. Um, how do you make sure that you do you do decide the right things?

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Yeah, and um, you know, I think why is it difficult to think this way? Um, because it's kind of a change in mindset, right? We've been kind of in our function and in our discipline, we've been trained for many years to react to a demand and fulfill it with perfection. I think we're really good at that in procurement overall, right? We do great sourcing and negotiations, and you name it, right? But in in the majority of the cases, we react to a demand that has been kind of uh stated in the business. And I think what we're trying to do with this, you know, approach of co-creation and and kind of getting ahead of the game, which is also not a new concept. A lot of people have talked of early uh involvement, etc. But maybe, maybe let me take it a little bit further. Uh uh, what what we really want to do is understand what's the opportunity statement or what is the business challenge first. And actually, you know, it's not always easy to get that uh um, you know, out in the open because often enough the business doesn't really know what the opportunity is at hand or what the business challenge is, right? And to scope that out and to really dive into it and and put it all in the open, all the risks and ideas and and and thoughts in itself is already quite a bit of beefy work, right? Um, but you know, if you think about having it out in the open and then designing or co-creating a solution uh uh around that to drive that to drive a certain outcome that you both agreed was gonna be what good looks like. Yeah, and and I would and and I will um and and clearly it's never just one thing that looks good, right? It's multifaceted, and uh um and you really, really, really have to think what outcome is it you want to generate. It's not a deliverable, it's not a milestone you want to achieve. What's the sensation thereafter? Yeah and and and even thinking how you articulate an outcome, yeah, in the long run, in the mid uh run, in the short term, I think takes a lot of practice. And so, you know, we've been uh definitely uh working in our organization, not just uh on the methodology of um how do you define outcomes and how do you work towards those, um, but but really how do you engage the business differently? And then those solutions now become broad, right? They might have a notion of a category approach, uh, right, but they also might have a strong process component. Uh, they might have a cultural or a people or an engagement component. Uh, you might look to engage externally, uh, but also. Also, potentially differently, right? And so it becomes very broad. And I think this is how we're kind of thinking in broad solutions and outcomes across the entire spectrum of the capabilities we have. And that's why we also look to our leaders as orchestrators. They have to understand what the capabilities are that we have in our organization. And that they have to all bring it together in this kind of, let's say, creative process. Now, again, just a realistic kind of spin on it. We don't always operate like that. We still need to get stuff done. And often enough, we need to get stuff done that, you know, is thrown our way. And we do it and we do it proudly, right? But it's just the transformational aspect of how we want to show up stronger that we're aiming for as part of our kind of constant transformation.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

I like that because it's actually taking the bigger picture of things. And it's not only, you know, within your narrow function, which I also see a bit as an as an issue within procurement, or have seen a lot, that some procurement leaders really kind of look into their own area. And that limits you so much. So I think what you describe is really taking a step back, taking the bigger picture, working a lot with your colleagues from other areas, like this cross-functional and, as you said, early phase collaboration. And of course, at one point in time, you have to take decisions. But I mean, decisions you take, usually you can even adjust on the way, because our external world isn't set in stone, and we we get all these surprises and these crises, and things just happen even more often than that used to be the case, right? So you have to be kind of flexible anyway, but it doesn't hurt, as you say and describe as I understand it, to take the bigger picture and connect the dots a bit more than, you know, because I've seen category strategies being made. And the, you know, the more net the narrower a category is being defined, the more the risk there is that you go off one way and your colleague, you know, goes off another way and it doesn't fit together anymore. So especially when you talk about markets, when you talk about suppliers, relevance at suppliers, and uh and it just goes south. So I like this, and I I hope that uh some of the people listening in here, you know, can maybe take this on even as something they could use uh and try. Because it's it's trying new things too, right? Um and it it nothing is gonna happen. Nothing is gonna happen if you widen the approach a bit and invite your stakeholders to be part of that, which which is the only way to do it anyway, because you you will not come to better outcomes if you're not doing this uh kind of together, right?

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Yeah, and uh absolutely it's worthwhile trying and it may work in your business context or it may not work, but then you know, just don't cease to try, right? We do so much experimentation on some of the things we have to kill after some time because it's just not uh delivering the desired outcomes. But I but I think there's a really big opportunity to engage the business differently.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Uh, and that's a good point, Marielle, but that can only happen if people kind of are like you in that case, who allows the organization to, you know, dare trying things. Of course, we cannot send everyone off and everyone tries something else. That's not what we mean, right? But uh, but but from a modern leadership approach, I like this really because people can bring in their ideas, and sometimes there are so many great ideas that you would not be able to see if you don't open up to uh a more you know daring environment and inviting people to to be part of something and engage. And it drives a lot of we you know, letting go is not uh easy, but you definitely have to. That's a very good point. Yeah. Um so maybe then talking a little bit about technology in a in a way, yeah, we would like to try new things, and but today, if we're honest, the the amount of data is just so massive. And the amount of data unfortunately sits in so many different uh parts of the of the of the company that it is hard to be more transparent in your supply chain. And and really, I mean, if you want to do this, um which I have also experienced, it is you can't work in an Excel chart, right? So, but then on the other hand, you know, there are so many technologies out there. I think it's like a big forest of technologies. And how do you find your way? What are the experiences you have made um to get your data? Because that's what we want, right? We don't care so much about the tool, but we want transparency in the supply chain for various reasons.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Yeah, yeah. I mean, uh there, Martina, I I kind of share your disappointment, right? We have so much uh pressure and regulation coming our way, and it's hard to believe that in 2024 we still have the same exact issues that we had 20 years ago of not being able to see beyond the tier one uh uh without a significant effort. And even then not being sure, you know, uh uh that the uh data quality is uh is where it should be. So there's I definitely share that frustration and and and in data, that's not the only disappointment. I'm you know, I'm still mind-blown that we we haven't advanced um significantly when it comes to uh how we onboard our suppliers when we all share to a large degree the same hundreds of thousands of suppliers, right? Um and how to integrate them to make things more low-touch, no-touch, the whole vendor master uh mess that we deal with, the same one. You still try to do to make a requisition in whatever purchasing system you have, and you're still confronted with having to select a commodity code, and you have no clue what commodity codes even are, represent, or do for you when you're in the business. And and and in my mind, we have to reimagine this whole thing, and it it hasn't been done yet. Although, I will say, to your point, there's a lot of exciting stuff out there, a lot of practitioners or are techie guys who've who've tried to tackle aspects of the problem. Um, but the problem is end-to-end. And the problem is, you know, uh a company's desire to have a deep integration, right? And and and and and to have this seamless experience from end to end. And of course, uh when you then have you know uh 35 different standalone solutions, right? And and you need to integrate them and and and create that ecosystem, that's also not easy. So, I mean, how do you select? Uh, how do you navigate? Um, there's a couple of things I would say. First of all, you need to have uh funds available to make investments, right? And we've also in I've never taken the approach, oh, let me ask the CFO if I can have some funds, right, to support something. So we've taken the hard approach of creating that financial flexibility within our budget to do that targeted investment. That's one thing. The second thing is, I mean, a lot of those investments into technology, novel solutions has to go hand in hand with your operating model. I mean, if you have a kind of a bespoke uh interest in advancing your customer relationship management, then it might make sense to underpin that with a sensible technology or performance management or category management or sourcing, whatever it is, right? Where you feel the need to make the investment. Um, and so I think you know, never ever go off and design something that's not kind of linked to your operating model and the way you want to um advance your functions. So these things have to come uh together. Uh the third thing is focus, right? There's a lot of promises out there, but I think you need to focus, identify uh for your organization where's the biggest bang for the buck. For us, it's right now in usability. So we're uh testing Gen AI, for example, uh uh for those one-off uh requisitioners that not often play around with our uh play with our uh um uh buying system, right? Um and that they ask the most simple questions and they, you know, instead of guiding them to 15 training manuals that have three pages or four pages of text, or letting them watch a YouTube video or this or that, you know, um, if they can just add a simple question into like the chat GBT type function, and they like that, get the guidance of the three, four steps they need to do, that's usability, that's proper guidance that drives the adoption to the right buying channels. And so this for us is is a is a proper use case that we're evaluating, or maybe um we're we're uh we've looked at you know the the search capabilities, you know, uh we all love catalogs uh because of the low touch, no touch. Uh but the reality is, you know, punch out catalogs are so outdated uh and they're still click-heavy, and uh they're just not in par with the experience that we have every day. Um so we have a marketplace solution on the research side uh uh for you know our scientists that has a lovely search capability. It's it's really exciting. And now we're thinking about how do we take that same solution and bring back to other catalogs, right? So so it's all about the experience, but that's just us because we've narrowed it down to where we think we can have good impact right now with these uh technologies. So um just those recommendations for me. Make the funds available, link it to the operating model, and make sure you narrow the focus for where you believe the biggest value lies and experiment with it.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Yeah, seems to make so much sense to see that some of the tools are really running well and give you the freedom you're looking for. Um, and then trying to apply that to other uh applications, other use cases, for example. So yeah, that that makes a lot of sense because you you need to try, you need to get a feel for it, and that takes quite a while. Plus, it takes quite a while to you know conceptualize first what is it you want, uh, how do you want to have it, and once you've been through that process, it it makes so much sense to duplicate it, right? Um yeah, so um the other thing, and you mentioned it, is the budget, right? It it's it to me, it's it's still so astonishing that we've seen how how risky it is, how you know supply chains can tremble so quickly, right? And still, and and fixing that uh you know, just the transparency of where do we buy what, who is it you know, further down in the chain. And yes, I I would believe I would say that many people have gone through this process, but I don't believe that everyone has, and I don't believe that everyone has really mapped their whole supply chain. So there's still a lot to do, and there you are dependent on money, you know, to healthy and sustainable, and you know, it absolutely has to make sense, but uh but there has to be digital support, otherwise this isn't going to fly.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Yeah, yeah, yes, because the depth of the data. I mean, if you go down to the tier eight, I mean that becomes you know massive amounts of uh of data. Um you have to be right. I mean, this is where you have to partner with other functions, you have to build a robust business case, you have to uh um just uh pursue this with conviction. Uh yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Because the other thing is it's not only good for, I mean it's not for only the sake of transparency, right? It's for the sake of knowing what's going on, you know, from a let's say CO2 emissions perspective. It's good to know from uh geographically where do my suppliers sit, and is there a geopolitical issue or is there something cooking up? Plenty of advantages.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

Yeah, totally agree. And and uh we have to kind of crack that nut together, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:04

We will, Marielle. It's uh it's a pleasure to crack to crack that nut with you, and we're gonna continue that. Um uh we're coming to an end here. Um I thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart for taking the time for our podcast of the procurement initiative, and um we'll see you soon again. I hope our listeners uh like uh like all the uh the hints we've given in this podcast, and um I'm looking forward to continue collaborating with you. Thanks a lot, Marielle. Bye everyone. Bye-bye. Thank you for joining us on the Procurement Initiative Leaders podcast. I really hope you enjoyed it. Looking for more procurement insights, tips, and developments from leading procurement professionals? Join our procurement initiative community on LinkedIn. Just open LinkedIn and search for the Procurement Initiative community. And be sure to hit that subscribe button to never miss another episode.