Development of Category Strategies

Strategic Purchasing Instead of Spontaneous Ordering

Your Personal Learning Coach: Dr. Stephan Hofstetter

Dr. Stephan Hofstetter brings over two decades of experience in procurement and strategic consulting. He spent nearly ten years at A.T. Kearney, most recently as Country Manager Switzerland, and previously served as CPO at HUBER+SUHNER for 7.5 years.

Since 2015, he has been a Partner and Managing Director at Kloepfel Consulting, responsible for operations in Switzerland. His focus: future-proofing procurement organizations, developing strategies, and promoting executional strength. He designs practical training programs, coaches procurement leaders one-on-one, and strengthens negotiation skills – always with clear focus, real-world relevance, and a keen sense for people and organizational dynamics.

From Demand to Plan: Category Strategies with Substance and Impact

Strategic procurement begins well before an actual need arises. If you only act once an order lands on your desk, you’ve already lost ground. In our Category Strategy Development training, procurement professionals learn how to turn reactive behavior into proactive strategy – solid, structured, and actionable. Because only those who understand their procurement landscape can fully tap into its potential.

At the core is transparency: Where are we buying today? What will we need tomorrow? What should our supplier portfolio look like in the future? Global or local sources? Single or dual sourcing? Direct procurement or intermediaries? These are decisions that must be made consciously. The right logistics setup, a streamlined ordering process, and a lifecycle view of supplier relationships are just as much part of the strategy as the key questions: Leverage or bottleneck? Tender or renegotiation?

Using methods like pilot categories, hands-on tasks, and a clearly structured one-page strategy (our “treasure map” approach), participants develop solutions that don’t end up gathering dust. Instead of abstract theories, we offer tangible tools: category profiles, implementation plans, clear responsibilities. This makes the strategy actionable – across sites, countries, and stakeholder groups. Who issues tenders, who negotiates, who coordinates? These questions are answered during the training – not later during the project.

Because at the end of the day, procurement leaders need one thing above all: a differentiated plan by procurement field – understandable, communicable, and executable. Not a paper tiger, but a tool with teeth. And that’s exactly what we build.

Procurement Strategy on One Page – Clear, Concise, Communicable

The category strategy treasure map clearly displays levers, actions, and objectives in a compact and implementation-ready format.

More about the KLOEPFEL Academy here!

More about the Category Strategy Module!

Telefon: +41 41 248 08 88
Mobil: +41 79 829 34 77
E-Mail: s.hofstetter@kloepfel-consulting.com