Procurement? It’s all about relationships

Posted on 11. Mar, 2009 by in Blog

An earlier debate on this blog offers some evidence of how seriously procurement professionals take what their profession is called. The discussion about the differences between procurement and purchasing are long running and quite heated – with many in the procurement camp claiming that the word purchasing over simplifies what it is they do.

A recent conversation with Jonathan Peacock, the chief financial officer of the pharmaceutical division of Novartis, seemed to have added fuel to that fire. CPOs aren’t CPOs, he said, they are effectively “cross-functional project leaders”. I could see his point – afterall, what better name for someone who’s real responsibility is to make sure that large-scale projects are successfully completed regardless of whether its for operations, finance, facilities, property or the staff canteen.

However, a job posting in today’s Guardian newspaper takes things even further. Apparently, Harlow Council is searching for a “relationship and commissioning” manager “to help drive down the costs of providing services and activities”.

“The successful candidate will have responsibility for developing the council’s revised procurement framework and will need to show an entrepreneurial approach to service commissioning by outsourcing areas of operation and coming up with new models of service delivery,” it continues.

I have to admit, I quite like the term relationship and commissioning manager – maybe this is the anwer to the skills shortage…

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