By Paul Snell Following on from Delwyn’s blog on ethical trade yesterday, a study published this week shows the damage that can be done if you don’t pay attention to what is happening to workers in your supply chain. This survey in The Times, revealed that Primark is now thought of as the least ethical [...]
By Delwyn Cummack At last week's Ethical Trading Initiative tenth anniversary conference, speakers from the garment and food sectors discussed the importance of finding out about workers' rights in supplier factories: Do they have the right to join unions and bargain collectively? Are they being paid a decent "living wage" rather than just the minimum wage? [...]
By Jake Kanter Many reports recently have suggested that the super-rich have not felt the effects of the financial crisis. Take Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovic for example. The Russian tycoon is said to be embarking on a new project to build a £200 million super yacht, complete with radar and weaponry to ward [...]
By Paul Snell According to a survey carried out in advance the World of Learning conference, young managers need to improve their communications skills. The firm quizzed 267 learning and development experts asking which skills young managers need to improve – based on watching episodes of The Apprentice. Respondents ranked skills as follows – 1) [...]
By Delwyn Cummack The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), a group of retailers, brands, trade unions, charities and campaign organisations working to promote and improve ethical trade, had its 10th anniversary conference last week. ETI chairman Alan Roberts has previously said: “Chief executives need to start talking about ethical trade in the same breath as profits, [...]
By Jake Kanter It has been a week of political revelations. First the details of shadow chancellor George Osborne's now infamous trip to Corfu were debated very publicly. Later came the sobering sight of Republican senator Sarah Palin's wardrobe bill. I want to focus on the latter. Palin is estimated to have spent $150,000 (£92,000) [...]
By Jake Kanter We’ve had the following question from a reader: “I need to develop a five-year procurement strategy for a local authority in the UK. I have some ideas based on national strategies and the organisation’s corporate strategies, but are there any established templates, or methodologies I could use for drafting the strategy?” Do [...]
By Jake Kanter Of the five events I have been to over the last two weeks, two themes have dominated discussions. The first issue, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the economy, but the second was sustainable procurement. This may come as a bit of a shock, given that many people believe business packs away the sustainability soap [...]
By Rebecca Ellinor Technological advances mean it’s becoming commonplace for all of us to pick up our email anywhere, anytime (worst luck). So while this means you can check messages on your commute or interrupt your weekend with a quick look online – it also means you can make the mistake of firing off a [...]
By Rebecca Ellinor Who can believe that this month marks 25 years since the publication of Peter Kraljic’s Harvard Business Review article in which he revealed his four-box ‘portfolio analysis’ matrix? This model has been used in many a boardroom presentation to the bosses and to determine strategic priorities for procurement going forward. Has there [...]
