Press releases - Article/Publication
Business Contact Magazine
THERE ARE two certainties – the first, that many organisations face the same problems within industry no matter where they are in the world, the second that every organization wants to add value to its business.
The difference however is this – compared to our overseas counterparts, UK businesses are not as adept at recognizing and dealing with inherent organizational problems. To make a significant difference to performance, we need to embrace an immediate culture change.
A good starting point is the empowerment of employees, something that we currently only pay lip service to. We give staff responsibilities but no authority and this manifests itself in many ways. We may entrust responsibility for a budget to a member of staff, but how many of us want to approve the documentation? This is a direct contradiction to empowerment.
In the UK we often talk about ‘blame culture’, where staff are hauled over the coals when something goes wrong. In these situations, employees procrastinate, refraining from making decisions for fear of reprisal or referring the decision up the chain. Deadlines - and with them opportunities - are allowed to pass.
Working in New Zealand as the manufacturing director for a major firm, I gave my employees full autonomy for their budgets with the view that their department was their business. The opportunity was for them to turn it from a cost centre into a profit centre, by generating profit through reducing expenses. As their manager my role was to keep an open mind so that if a manager made an error of judgement, rather than point the finger of blame, the experience could be used as a tool to learn from. It worked, staff had all the support they needed and the company went from strength to strength. In the UK, blame is what we are used to and indeed are comfortable with.
Nevertheless the companies that are excelling are those that are ‘pushing the envelope’ (the boundary limit), providing actions and ground rules for staff and allowing them to get on with their duties unhampered.
It’s inevitable that by pushing boundaries, organisations take a risk but it’s the role of the director to minimise any adverse affect this risk may have. Developing a culture of measured risk is all about controlling the situation carefully, supporting staff and creating a willingness to learn new things.
In Israel there is a lack of regard for upper management, not due to a lack of respect but due to a willingness to achieve and exceed the management requirement. It is evidence that in Israel the level of invention and innovation is amongst the highest in the world, with countries like Japan, the United States and the UK establishing research and development centres there.
At Bestpricepurchase we are using the internet as a vehicle for innovation and change. We believe that purchases of overhead items will in future be carried out on the internet, without annual contracts. This will provide freedom of choice and an opportunity to purchase at the most competitive price. The supplier isn’t penalised to lower this product cost through aggregation but able to choose the price of the product it is selling by managing its margins.
Operating in the field of stationery and computer consumables, Bestpricepurchase provides the customer with the freedom to buy at best value and provides a level playing field for suppliers to sell at, while reducing operating costs. This creates a win-win situation for clients and suppliers alike.
We often say that we want to develop a partnership with our suppliers but what we really mean is that we want the product at the lowest possible cost price and the service at maximum service level.
Over a period of time, a relationship is developed with the supplier, interfering with the price the company wishes to negotiate. It becomes increasingly difficult to push down costs when operating on friendly terms.
If we aren’t going the extra mile to achieve the best price, are we treating the company’s money as well as we would our own? The motivation behind the development of Bestpricepurchase was to provide a solution to this problem, saving time on price negotiation, ordering goods and processing through the supply chain and providing transparency through the purchasing process.
Deals for best value are often brought in at finance director level or above. The deal may be very good and will save the company a great deal of money however businesses often have two Achilles heels. The first is communication, when we fail to communicate how good a deal is and the effect it has on the business or to establish objectives and performance measures to ensure the deal negotiated is actually achieved. And if we have communicated the deal, we often fall down on following it up, to ensure that the message is understood and in line with the organisation’s core values. Carrying out these simple tasks can have a significant impact on a company’s performance and profit.
View original article - (PDF, 18.4kb)
business contact magazine of the north east chamber of commerce. www.ne-cc.com
