Our recent Focus on Procurement event, which was hosted in conjunction with Ernst & Young and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS), was a huge success. Feedback from both APSCo and CIPS attendees was overwhelmingly positive, and guest speaker Mike Lewis – Professor of Operations and Supply Management at Bath University’s School of Management – held the audience captive with his expertise and entertaining examples.
The professor explained that although there are distinct advantages to complex procurement models, the success of complex arrangement performance depends on the effective management of both contractual and relationship governance.
He detailed how complex procurement models can allow businesses to focus on core competencies, leverage external exposure, access new capability innovations and work with greater technological complexity. Outsourcing additional services can also enable organisations to take advantage of global trade liberalisation.
However despite these advantages, there are three fundamental dilemmas associated with complex procurement arrangements:
- Organisations must understand what they are buying. As a business’s design and make capability falls, its buying capability increases. There is a transitional challenge at the crossover point where we need retain enough expertise in-house to understand what we are buying.
- Resources and requirements shift and the idea of value changes over time. For example, during a five year contract technology will advance rapidly – a laptop which cost £1000 in 2007 will be worth £300 today. Functionality also develops swiftly, and expectations shift to accommodate this. Writing a contract that accommodates these changes can be challenging. Benchmarking protocols can be a real dilemma and there is no simple solution.
- Businesses also face the dilemma of complex co-ordination. In a complex environment, there are an infinite number of scenarios to allow for contractually. Situations inevitably change, move and shift, and procurement professionals must find the balance between using contractual and relationship leavers – the key is deciding which one to pull.
The procurement supply chain has matured exponentially in the last decade. Historically, buying professionals and recruiters have not worked together as closely as they could, but with APSCo and CIPS developing a programme of events to stimulate open dialogue, encourage learning and drive best practice we are well placed to ensure the relationship is beneficial to both parties.
Earlier this week I was asked to join both Nick Ferrari live on LBC and Vanessa Feltz live on BBC London Radio to discuss Boris Johnson’s opinion that migrants get jobs because British people are not prepared to work as hard.
APSCo Responds to Budget
Posted by APSCo on March 21, 2013
Businesses across the UK waited in anticipation yesterday for George Osborne’s 2013 Budget, with recruitment companies in particular hoping to see new proposals which will benefit the professional staffing sector.
The recruitment industry will be disappointed by the growth figures unveiled by the Chancellor today, but a fiscally neutral Budget with positive measures for business is good news. If the Chancellor is serious about finding a plan for growth, he needs to get behind the engine of growth in the UK – the flexible labour market. The recruitment sector drives the flexible labour market, so backing our members is the first step to put our economy back on the right track.
Posted in APSco News | Tagged: budget, comment, employment, recruitment, staffing | Leave a Comment »