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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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’?
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 well2. Know the food market3. Get your pricing right4. Get involved in engineering Are you taking a hands on approach to your [...]
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 [...]
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 – [...]
This story on the Guardian website reveals a list of 20 people who “decide how you live”. It includes a fashion guru, a Google director, the BBC News website manager and an operations manager for the National Grid. Most interestingly, the list features a purchaser. Coleman Cuff, chief coffee buyer at Starbucks, explains how he [...]
Now journalists are renowned for being a bit hard-nosed, and even some would say cynical bunch. Far be it for us to endorse without thoroughly scrubbing claims with an unforgiving brush of steel wool. But I think I’ve just discovered, or more to the point been told about something really, really good. Cheap(ish), innovative and [...]
And so to the grand-sounding European Procurement Summit in Switzerland. Montreux to be precise, where I am chairing the three-day event. Nice gig you may think and in many ways you would be right. Good conference, a wide range of senior speakers, not to mention a sumptuous hotel overlooking Lake Geneva. But business conferences can [...]
