Your personal learning coach: Dr. Stephan Hofstetter
Stephan Hofstetter has over 20 years of experience in strategy and procurement consulting. His career path includes 9.5 years at Kearney – most recently as Country Manager Switzerland – and 7.5 years as Chief Procurement Officer at HUBER+SUHNER.
Since 2015, he has been Partner and Managing Director at Kloepfel Consulting Switzerland. His focus: positioning procurement organizations for the future, evolving strategies, and strengthening operational implementation capabilities. With a clear perspective, deep practical experience, and a fine sense for people and dynamics, he develops hands-on training formats and supports procurement leaders on their path to excellence.
Strategic thinking, targeted action
The supplier list is growing – but not all suppliers are equally relevant. Some handle large volumes, others cause considerable effort with little benefit, and yet others pose strategic risks. The central question is: How can procurement allocate its limited resources to achieve the maximum impact?
Those who still treat all suppliers and product groups the same are acting on the surface. Portfolio management creates structure, clarity, and depth. It differentiates options for action, makes risks visible, and strengthens strategic control.
System over gut feeling
In our practical training “Portfolio Management in Procurement”, participants learn how to analyze their supplier portfolio in a differentiated way, segment it purposefully, and manage it strategically. Proven tools include:
- Pareto analysis for ABC classification of the supplier base
- Kraljic Matrix for positioning product groups and suppliers
- Kearney Purchasing Chessboard for reflecting on recommended actions
- Kloepfel Best-Fit Lever Methodology for practical strategic derivations
Whether strategic partner, leverage supplier, bottleneck supplier, or standard supplier – each profile requires its own approach, from tenders and renegotiations to a 360° workshop or shadow calculations.
From volume to distribution
The practical application of the Kraljic Matrix is at the heart of this training. Product groups and suppliers are categorized along the axes “impact on company results” and “supply risk” – with the goal of deriving clear norm strategies.
Examples from the training:
- Why is a tender worthwhile for leverage suppliers?
- How can bottleneck suppliers be addressed with shadow calculations?
- When does close cooperation with a strategic partner pay off?
- How can benchmark suppliers be leveraged effectively?
The matrix structures decision-making – and makes implicit knowledge explicit. Particularly in medium-sized procurement organizations with critical interfaces to business-oriented leadership, this is a central success factor.
Methods with depth – implemented in practice
The training is designed to be interactive and experience-based. In group work, case studies, and individual exercises, participants analyze their own portfolios, reflect on existing patterns, and develop new strategies.
The Purchasing Chessboard serves as a reflection tool for deriving specific tactics for negotiations and supplier development. Visualization tools and prioritization aids make the results tangible and directly transferable to practice.
Clear focus – targeted management
The goal of the training is to position procurement as an active driver – not as a reactive processing function. In concrete terms, this means:
- Focusing on suppliers with the greatest impact
- Deriving specific measures for each portfolio segment
- Professional implementation of strategies in project teams
- Transparent evaluation and optimization of the supplier landscape
- Increasing decision-making maturity with internal stakeholders
Especially in dynamic organizations with a fast pace, this brings focus, confidence, and strategic capability.
From tool to mindset shift
Portfolio management is far more than a methodological approach – it’s a shift in perspective. Those who master it gain oversight, create commitment, and elevate supplier management to a new level.
Participants leave the training with a clearly structured, visually prepared supplier portfolio – and the know-how to turn it into results. Not as administrators, but as architects of an effective, forward-looking procurement function.
Training at a glance:
- Positioning of supplier and product group portfolios
- Deriving concrete norm strategies and measures
- Using proven tools: Pareto, Kraljic Matrix, Kearney Purchasing Chessboard, Kloepfel Best-Fit Lever Methodology
- Case studies, tools & visualization for prioritization
Why it’s worth it:
- Focus on suppliers with the greatest leverage
- Clarity on risks and opportunities in the portfolio
- Greater impact in negotiations and supplier development
- More professional stakeholder management through well-founded arguments
- A structured, future-oriented procurement approach
Dr. Stephan Hofstetter, Your Learning Coach
Find out more about the KLOEPFEL Academy!
More about the Portfolio Management in Procurement module!
Phone: +41 41 248 08 88
Mobile: +41 79 829 34 77
E-mail: s.hofstetter@kloepfel-consulting.com