17 January 2012 | Naouel Zenaidi
Vietnam seeks CIPS support
CIPS has presented a
proposal to the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Department for Public Procurement (DPP), to contribute to the government’s aim to raise the standards of procurement practice across the country’s purchasing communities.
“As economies like China become more expensive, there is particular interest in countries from the South-East Asian trading bloc,” explained CIPS director of strategic development Chris Gallagher. “Vietnam, with its fast economic growth, is set to lead the way by developing adequate infrastructure through capacity and capability building, and the government is keen to ensure standards of ethics and integrity are respected in all areas of procurement.”
David Noble and Gallagher visited Vietnam at the end of last year, where
they met with the DPP to identify
areas in which CIPS could provide support. Discussions were held about compliance training and access to CIPS qualification programmes.
They also met representatives from
key organisations to discuss opportunities
for support. The visit concluded with a networking event held at the residence
of the British Ambassador to Vietnam,
Dr Antony Stokes.
Recruitment service offers boost for job seekers
The new CIPS Recruitment service will be “a huge boost for candidates seeking career opportunities in the procurement and supply chain profession”, said David Noble.
The members-only service, which was launched in collaboration with Hays Procurement, Langley
Search and Selection, Barclay Meade and Supply Management, is designed to give job seekers a competitive advantage in the jobs marketplace.
Through CIPS Recruitment, the four partners will
provide candidates and organisations in the private, public and third sectors with specialist procurement and supply management careers support.
Members will be able to register with any or all of the recruitment partners and benefit from access to a variety of UK and international jobs,
ranging from entry-level
roles to senior positions, including interim appointments.
In line with David Smith’s new CIPS presidential theme, the service aims to help attract the best talent into the profession.
“We must support the next generation of professionals and make [procurement] a career of choice for younger audiences and those in mid-career all over the world,” said Noble.
Additional support features will be rolled out this year after the service’s initial launch phase.
For more information
on CIPS Recruitment,
log on to MyCIPS.
CIPS branch network is the ‘heartland’ of the profession
CIPS President David Smith
told the audience at the South of England AGM he believes branches are instrumental in helping secure the future of the profession.
Smith, himself a member of the Surrey branch, was in Eastleigh to unveil his presidential theme following his interview in SM (November issue).
“The CIPS branch network is hugely important and can make a real difference in promoting the profession at local level,” he said. “As purchasing professionals, the responsibility lies in our hands to be the advocates for what we do.”
Smith’s plea touched a chord with
South of England branch chair Mike Maliphant, who further added: “There is a tremendous amount of skill and a wealth
of experience to be shared by branch members. The challenge for branches is now to find the best way to connect with members and establish local links with
the community.”
Within CIPS’ wide local network, some branches are already responding to Smith’s challenge. Among them is the 10-strong committee of the Birmingham branch,
which recently organised a talk on procurement and supply management to a group of 16-18 year old business studies students.
In Ghana, the local CIPS branch introduced CIPS to 187 purchasing and supply students of Accra-Polytechnic.
Other initiatives by international
branches include talks conducted by
the Hong Kong branch to secondary
school students at the Institute of Vocational Education, Kwai Chung (see Q&A below).
How did you establish links with local schools?
We sent letters to principals of the 500 secondary schools in Hong Kong. We introduced CIPS as an organisation and highlighted purchasing and supply professionals’ crucial role in helping businesses remain competitive in the current economic climate.
What motivated your branch to organise
school talks?
Carrie Lau (branch chair) leads our branch committee members, including Cora Keung (career development), Raymond Goh (events) and myself. We are all very enthusiastic about nurturing the ‘new blood’ of the purchasing community. It is particularly rewarding to see students and teachers gain a broader and deeper understanding of the profession.
What feedback have you received from events participants?
The feedback has been very positive and encouraging so far. After attending our talks, some students chose to study the ‘Purchasing and Merchandising’ module from the Applied Learning (ApL) course. Since September 2010, ApL
has been an integral part
of the new senior secondary curriculum.
How do you build on the success of past events?
We use Facebook to announce upcoming events and share photos of past events, which we think is proving popular with participants and the younger generation in general. We also invite students attending talks to complete an evaluation form so that we can
make improvements.
Annual branch conference
“Complacency is our biggest enemy”
David Noble told delegates at the 2011 CIPS Branch Conference in Windsor, and expressed his firm commitment to help CIPS grow further as a global organisation and become the world’s premier business institute, while safeguarding the interests of UK members. Talking about the institute’s recent achievements, Noble restated the need for passionate people to take the profession forward.
A valuable network
On day one of the two-day conference, delegates, including CIPS representatives, branch chairs and committee members, shared success stories and lessons learned from challenges in engaging local members in the past year. They exchanged tips on providing quality events and discussed ideas and strategies for developing the CIPS branch network further.
Profession of choice
On day two, CIPS president David Smith reaffirmed his intention to put branches at the heart of his “Profession of choice” theme by encouraging committee members to promote purchasing and engage the younger generation at local level. CIPS head of membership Malcolm Youngson and UK and Europe membership manager Carol Husband vowed to support branches to achieve this goal by providing committee members with a basic toolkit including promotional materials.
Honorary fellow shares knowledge
The sharing of purchasing knowledge and best practice is critical to the future success of UK companies, according to Unipart group chief executive John Neill, who was recently awarded honorary fellowship. The title recognises his strong leadership and forward-thinking approach to performance improvement and employee engagement.
Neill was keen to commend those at Unipart who have “gone the extra mile to
enable the company to be recognised as an exemplar
in the field of purchasing
and supply”.
Core to the group’s success is the Unipart Way, a set of tools, guidance and principles designed to reduce waste and eliminate activities that do not add value.
The system, which Neill describes as a “philosophy of working”, is improved continually through innovation and shared best practice.
The logistics, manufacturing and consulting business
also has a long-standing commitment to involvement in the community.
“We favour investing our experience and skills in local partnerships,” says Neill.
Initiatives include training job seekers and creating
work experience placements for school under-achievers
and homeless people.
Improvement and innovation bring success at Home Office
The CIPS certification programme has helped embed a culture of continuous improvement and innovation at the Home Office, where commercial and procurement professionals influence all procurement activity.
Since first achieving certification in 2008, the Home Office commercial function has undergone significant change. It recently underwent the renewal process to verify that
its commercial and purchasing policies
and procedures still measured up to industry best practice, as well as ensuring these worked effectively throughout the whole organisation.
A second successful CIPS certification
award has given the Home Office and its stakeholders assurance that the commercial function is operating at good practice levels alongside the best procurement functions in
the private or public sector.
The commercial team described CIPS certification, with its regular reviews, as a dynamic process that helps to deliver real cultural change.
Taking a more corporate approach has
helped streamline processes as well as enabling team members to work more efficiently and
cost effectively.
There is a strong focus on achieving internal customer satisfaction and the team says the certification process has helped it focus on risk management, rather than risk aversion.
Home Office group commercial director Bill Crothers said: “I am delighted the Home Office’s success in procuring goods, services and works has been recognised by such a distinguished professional body.
“In the current economic climate, it is essential that we deliver, and continue to deliver, big savings for the taxpayer to help
drive down the deficit. Our good working relationship with our key suppliers has
helped to deliver these savings.”
CIPS links with Lebanon to support reform strategy
The government of Lebanon is working with CIPS to devise a strategy for public procurement reform, as part of the wider public financial management reform now taking place there.
CIPS head of international development Sheila White was invited to Lebanon to discuss areas of the reform where CIPS could offer support, such as sustainable procurement.
Together with Alan Edwards, international director of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, White met with representatives from some key organisations involved in developing the reform. This included members of the Basil Fuleihan Institute of Finance, an autonomous public institution acting as a training hub in public financial management for the Lebanese Ministry of Finance’s staff
and civil servants in the
MENA region.
