Supply Management blog

Up in the air

Since procurement departments have assumed responsibility for buying travel in the past few years the negatives have “outweighed the positives” according to Mike Platt.

 

Platt, who has been the public face of travel management company HRG for the past 20 years, divulged his views to SM as he retired from the job to take up a past-time position as an independent counsellor to buyers and suppliers.

 

He said poor buy-in and failure to comply were particular problems with “decisions taken by purchasing questioned or in many cases ignored”.

 

Do you agree that purchasing has done more harm than good in this area of buying?

 

 

 

The cards are on the table

In this issue's Adviser Q & A, our experts look at preventing misuse of purchasing cards. Their tips include:

• making policies available on the company intranet
• giving staff training to prevent potential mistakes 
• undertaking regular sample audits to ensure compliance   

Do you have any further advice on how to make sure purchasing cards are being used appropriately?

Any words of warning? 

Magazine preview - 17 July

In the next issue of Supply Management, out tomorrow -

Features

In full flight - British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh talks to SM about leadership, procurement and T5

Giving back to Africa - A round-up from the 2008 IPSA conference in Johannesburg

Up in the air - Mike Platt, group industry affairs director for HRG, reveals what he thinks is wrong with travel procurement

Stay four steps ahead - How procurement needs to evolve

News

- SRM needed for consultants
- Opec condemns oil price ‘hijack’
- Buying rules from A-Z
- New Tesco head to recruit purchasers
- EMI to expand buying function
- Food buyers must see long term to cut waste

And not forgetting

- The Egan report – 10 years on
- The latest guidance on competitive dialogue analysed

BBC taxis

In our story today ‘Big rise in BBC taxi bill’, we reveal how the cost of the BBC’s use of taxis has grown by £800,000 in the space of a year.

The taxi fees for transporting guests and contributors to the broadcaster’s programmes saw the biggest increase. It rose to £5.3 million, £2 million more than in the previous year.

It got us wondering how this compares with private corporations and how easy is it to control?

How do you keep a lid on minor travel expenses such as taxi fares?

Leadership

In the up coming issue of SM, British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh talks at length about his style of leadership.

He says it is important to be “open, honest and visible”. This means not only communicating the good news with your staff, but also the bad news. “It is all about standing up in front of people and telling them things as they are.”

What can be gained from this leadership style?

Why is it important to be open with your staff?

Leadership is the theme of this year’s CIPS Premier Conference.

Tax free crisps

According to this story on the BBC website, Procter & Gamble is set to reap the rewards of a tax break after a high court judge ruled its famous party snack Pringles was not actually a potato crisp.

Their packaging, “unnatural shape” and potato content of less than 50 per cent means they will avoid the VAT added to other potato crisps. It is thought Pringles are more like a cake or a biscuit, which are not taxed, because they are manufactured from dough.

Could you conceive similar tax breaks on any of the products you buy for?

Do you use buying strategies to help minimise the impact of tax?

"I fell into it..."

In this issue we look at buyers who came into purchasing via unusual routes including a postman, a chemist, and a chartered accountant. 

Did you have an interesting start to your career in purchasing?

Are there advantages/disadvantages to having had a 'life before buying'?

Soapbox: Something to chew on

In this issue’s soapbox, David Read, chief executive at Prestige Purchasing, gives buyers four tips on managing catering suppliers during this time of high food prices.

His advice is:

1. Manage your caterer well
2. Know the food market
3. Get your pricing right
4. Get involved in engineering

Are you taking a hands on approach to your catering suppliers to help mitigate rising food prices – or is it simply their problem to deal with?

Food wastage

Gordon Brown told us this week that we must reduce our food wastage. The government has estimated UK consumers spend an average of £420 per household each year on food that is then thrown away.
 
It said 5.9 million tonnes of waste is from packaging, and of that, 4.7 million tonnes is food packaging.

Have you seen examples of waste in the corporate environment? Do suppliers overload you with packaging that ends up being thrown away?
 

Know your imitations

In this issue's Knowledge Zone, Robin Evans says one way to reach the top is to model your behaviour on someone who is already where you want to be, paying attention to how they behave and present themselves.

Who do you most admire in the buying profession - or the business world in general - and why?