We pay pretty much instantaneously too. There's a couple reasons why we're "good" at paying and F500s are "bad" at it (although in MBA terms, we're the ones who suck):
* We don't have a payments/procurements department, so "payment" usually means me, Dave, or our finance person just cutting a check.
* We derive no meaningful benefit from withholding payment (pennies of interest, versus hundreds of dollars of lost cycles).
At giant companies, carefully managing payables probably makes an enormous difference. When you say "operations excellence", stuff like how vendors are paid is one of the first things many people think of.
* We don't have a payments/procurements department, so "payment" usually means me, Dave, or our finance person just cutting a check.
* We derive no meaningful benefit from withholding payment (pennies of interest, versus hundreds of dollars of lost cycles).
At giant companies, carefully managing payables probably makes an enormous difference. When you say "operations excellence", stuff like how vendors are paid is one of the first things many people think of.