Show Review: ABC 2014
North American wholesaler SP Richards (SPR)held its annual Advantage Business Conference (ABC) in mid-June at the impressive Gaylord Opryland complex just outside Nashville, Tennessee. The theme of the event was ‘Right Now’ and the opening...
No false dawns, says new Spicers CEO
Michael's appearance – less than three weeks into his role – was keenly anticipated given the wholesaler's recent and well-documented supply chain issues, and even more so given the tight strategic relationship that it...
Hot Topic: The kraken wakes
Some products and concepts start with a bang and are instant successes – the launch of the first iPhone in 2007 put Apple very firmly back on the business map – while others, including...
News Analysis: Going after Goliath
The rise of dealer services initiatives in the UK, such as nectere, Cadabra, Office Power and Pi has been well documented in the pages of OPI (See the Hot Topic from November 2013), but...
EPIC 2014 Preview
Modern working life time pressures and cost issues make it hard to attend the myriad industry events and conferences on the calendar, so anything that might ease that burden is something the industry should...
OPI European Forum 2014 Preview
We all know that the business supplies sector is a challenging arena.However, the best operators are doing well and there are still plenty of opportunities if you know where to look and have the...
Big Interview: Bob Geens, CEO, Advantia
When UK dealer group Advantia Business Solutions announced in 2011 that it was ending its wholesaling relationship with Spicers and moving to a new sourcing and delivery model run by office2office’s (o2o) Banner and...
Final Word from Jennifer Huckeba
As I reflect on the last 12 months, a few things about Your Business Source (YBS) dealers come to mind. First of all, YBS dealers are loyal, and our YBS programme membership continues to...
Editor’s Comment: Playing with fire
I’m not sure if my extended recovery time from SP Richards’ ABC show was due to excessive jet lag or the after effects of a close encounter with a Kentucky speciality called Fireball, but...
5 minutes with… Betsy Hughes
Your first full-time job.Working as a customer service representative at a local office supply dealer. I was looking for a teaching position after graduating college, but have stayed in this crazy industry for 30...
Big Read
Podcast: Part 3 – A deep dive into the new way...
In this final episode in the series, OPI CEO Steve Hilleard discusses the New Way of Working survey with leading expert and Fellowes’ Head of...