Autopsy of a Zombie Category Strategy
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Category management was designed to be strategic. Yet in many organizations, what passes for strategy has flatlined — or worse, lingers on as a “zombie strategy” : technically alive and in use, but lifeless, valueless in practice. Procurement aspires to drive innovation, resilience, and sustainability while unlocking measurable business value. But the reality is that too many strategies: are built once, in isolation, then shelved, obsess over cost while sidelining broader value levers, rely on outdated frameworks and siloed manual tools, and fail to evolve as business and market conditions change.
The result? Strategies that look good on paper but deliver little impact — disconnected from the enterprise agenda, ignored by business partners, and abandoned when disruption strikes. This session conducts the autopsy.
We’ll examine:
The brain → outdated thinking rooted in 1980s cost-power models.
The heart → diseased by a fixation on savings at the expense of real business goals.
The lungs → suffocating under PowerPoint, Excel, and disconnected processes.
But this is not just about what died. It’s about what survives. Category management can, and must, evolve into a living and Next Gen discipline: continuously refreshed, digitally enabled, co-created with the business, and aligned to enterprise value drivers. Join Sabrina, Michael, and Robert as they dissect the past, expose the warning signs of “dead” category strategies, and prescribe the practices that will bring category management back to life, but as a true driver of growth, resilience, and competitive advantage.
Zombie Strategy: A Zombie Strategy is a procurement or category strategy that continues to exist in name, documentation or actual practice but lacks real vitality, alignment, or impact. Like its namesake, it is outdated, mechanical, and mindlessly repeated —appearing active in use by procurement while delivering little to no business value. Zombie Strategies are typically cost-obsessed, siloed, and reactive, leaving organizations vulnerable to disruption, value leakage, and strategic irrelevance.
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Sabrina Hueren is a dynamic procurement and sustainability consultant with a blend of technology and industry expertise shaped by an international career. As a manager and strategy consultant at Sourcing Champions, she helps leading organizations turn procurement into a driver of business transformation, value creation, and climate leadership. Sabrina began her career as a consultant at IBM, specializing in cognitive procurement transformation for global clients, and has contributed expertise in sustainability, net zero strategy, category management, and digital processes to Fortune 500 firms. Passionate about the critical intersection of procurement, technology, and sustainability, she is recognized for her thought leadership on supply chain decarbonization and her drive to embed impactful, pragmatic procurement strategies in organizations across Europe.
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Michael Pleuger is a pioneering procurement executive and digital transformation leader with over 25 years of international experience across industry, management consulting, and technology startups. As Co-Founder and CEO of akirolabs, he is driving the future of strategic procurement through AI-enabled solutions, helping organizations to unlock the next level of value and collaboration. Previously, Michael served as Senior Partner at Roland Berger and KPMG, leading global supply chain and procurement transformations for Fortune 500 clients and managing large multi-disciplinary teams. He began his career as a senior manager at Vodafone, playing a key role in designing and launching the Vodafone Procurement Company—laying the foundation for world-class digital procurement. Michael is widely recognized for his innovative thinking, his role as a keynote speaker, and his passion for positioning procurement as a value chain orchestrator and engine of business innovation.
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Robert Waalder is a seasoned procurement executive and transformation leader with more than 25 years’ cross-functional experience spanning high-tech, industrial, and international environments. As Founder and Managing Director of Sourcing Champions, Robert spearheads procurement strategy and value creation for organizations seeking competitive advantage through sourcing excellence. Prior to founding Sourcing Champions, he held senior roles including Vice President of Procurement at Philips—leading global teams and overseeing portfolios exceeding €2.5 billion in spend. His career also includes business leadership as COO at Bitfury and general management within Philips, giving him profound expertise in operational transformation, strategic sourcing, and digital procurement. Robert is passionate about driving innovation, cost reduction, and sustainability in procurement, leveraging AI-driven solutions to deliver lasting impact for clients and teams worldwide.
What metrics does akirolabs impact?
akirolabs positively impacts several key metrics including time-to-strategy (reduced by streamlined workflows), stakeholder satisfaction (improved through collaborative processes), strategy execution success rates (enhanced by better alignment), and procurement influence (expanded through strategic positioning).
What technology integrations are available with akirolabs?
akirolabs integrates with various procurement and enterprise systems. We use API connections to AI market intelligence providers to curate content on categories from the web, and our platform is designed to complement existing sourcing, supplier management, and spend analytics tools.
What results have customers achieved with akirolabs?
Customers have reported significant improvements in strategy development speed, stakeholder alignment, and value delivery beyond savings. The platform has helped teams digitalize strategic procurement workflows, accelerate strategy development and execution, enhance compliance and traceability, and boost category manager productivity.
What specific challenges does akirolabs solve for procurement teams?
akirolabs addresses key challenges including fragmented strategy development processes, limited stakeholder engagement, inconsistent approaches across teams, difficulty scaling strategic capability, and the struggle to demonstrate procurement's strategic value beyond savings.
Can akirolabs grow with us globally?
Absolutely. akirolabs is multi-lingual, multi-region, and built to scale across business units and geographies without additional configuration or pricing penalties.
Does akirolabs replace our existing tools?
No, akirolabs doesn't replace your existing tools. It acts as a strategic layer that sits upstream - seamlessly integrating with and complimenting your sourcing, supplier, analytics, or intake-to-pay systems among others to unlock greater value across the procurement lifecycle.
Is akirolabs for specific industries and categories?
No - akirolabs is category- and industry-agnostic. Whether you're managing direct materials, logistics, IT, marketing, or complex cross-functional spend, our platform adapts to your taxonomy and workflows.
How does akirolabs ensure alignment with corporate strategy?
Every strategy in akirolabs is developed with business input through structured workflows and stakeholder engagement tools. Our Strategy One-Pager and governance features ensure strategies directly support overarching company goals like cost leadership, innovation, ESG, or risk mitigation.
Does akirolabs integrate with our existing procurement systems?
Yes. akirolabs is designed to complement—not replace—your existing systems. We integrate via APIs or iFrames with tools such as spend analytics, supplier management, and intake-to-pay platforms to ensure seamless data flow and strategic alignment.
What is the Strategy One-Pager feature?
The Strategy One-Pager simplifies communication between procurement teams and cross-functional stakeholders by translating complex strategies into clear, concise narratives aligned with business objectives. Using visual elements like charts and summaries, it ensures stakeholders from various departments can easily understand and engage with procurement strategies, fostering alignment and collaboration.
What is akiroAssist, and how is it different from generic AI tools?
akiroAssist is our proprietary AI engine designed specifically for procurement strategy. Unlike general-purpose AI, it’s trained on procurement logic, equipped with a prompt library, value levers, risk signals, and always-on strategy context. It enhances—not replaces—category managers by helping them move faster, spot risks, and surface smarter options without losing control.
What makes akirolabs different from other procurement solutions?
Unlike tools based on traditional frameworks like the Kraljic Matrix, akirolabs offers a transformative, business-driven methodology that repositions procurement as a strategic enabler. Our approach integrates holistic value dimensions into category strategies, prioritizing long-term impact over short-term savings to deliver 4.4x higher value through our industry-recognized Category Strategy Workbench.
What is Strategic Scenario Modeling in akirolabs?
Strategic Scenario Modeling in akirolabs allows procurement teams to visualize and evaluate the outcomes of various strategic options. This capability enables category managers to simulate multiple scenarios based on different value dimensions of business importance, facilitating informed trade-offs that align category strategies with overarching business objectives.
How does akiroAssist work?
akiroAssist is our proprietary AI engine built on a specialized large language model (LLM) designed specifically for procurement. Rather than attempting to fully automate strategic decisions, akiroAssist augments human intelligence by providing tailored recommendations and strategic guidance throughout the strategy creation process, helping procurement professionals make better, more informed decisions.
What is the akirolabs Category Strategy Workbench?
The Category Strategy Workbench is the core engine of akirolabs — a guided, modular workspace that enables teams to analyze data, develop collaborative strategies, and ensure execution with measurable impact.The three phases — Analyze, Strategize, and Realize — reflect the complete strategy lifecycle: from insight generation, through structured planning, to execution and value tracking. This ensures continuity, governance, and business alignment throughout the strategic process.
Ready to Transform Your Procurement Strategy?
There’s a better way to do procurement. This is IT.
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