UAE buying challenge
26 April 2007 | Rebecca Ellinor
Dubai is an interesting and unusual place. In some ways it seems quite unreal – manmade islands off the coast, an indoor ski slope in a shopping centre, a hotel full of gold.
But when it comes to procurement the challenges are very real and not just in Dubai, but in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a whole.Among them are agency laws, which means most purchases are made through third parties, demand and supply difficulties with items such as food and construction materials and a shortage of experienced senior buyers.
The issue of Supply Management out today explores various aspects of procurement in the UAE, including some of these complexities – what do you think are the answers?
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Foreign countries tend to have too many funny ways for my liking, not to mention the massive carbon footprint we’re leaving behind when we trade with them. My answer is simple- buy British.
Yeah, right. Johnny Foreigner doesn’t have a clue. Tell you what: let’s take over all their countries and run them properly (if that’s OK with Mr Bush). What would we call such an idea, though? Hey, just thought – we could call it ‘The British Empire’.
Ian T, in no way did I express any desire for reforming the British Empire, quite the opposite. My argument is simple, keep trade local. A look at the UK trade defecit sheet clearly indicates we are importing more than we are exporting. As a consequence billions of pounds are being poured unecessarily out of the UK every year.
Unfortunatley Agency agreement and Sole Supplier situations are common in the Middle East. Contracts tend to be won on lowest prices regardless of quality and total acquisition costs – compound this with corruption and poorly trained procurement staff, need I go on?
I know, Paul. I was being a bit silly. But: there is no ‘UK’. It’s a figment of the government’s imagination. Look around you. There are few ‘British’ people; there are few ‘British’ goods. People come from all over the planet, and products sold in the UK are manufactured everywhere. So to think in terms of ‘Buying British’ no longer makes much sense…
I was working in DUBAI for two years. It is a rich country and trading business has wide world which including Middle East, East EU & Africa, more chances, more credit dangerous. The procuements are from whole of world and most cheap items from China. We can not say that’s not a good phenomena just according to the demanding market. Is it right? Of course the UAE markets are modifying to more perfecting.