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Training poses problem


A lack of adequate training is holding back the development of e-procurement, according to Theresa Rynard, senior category manager at building materials firm Caradon. Often, only key purchasing staff are trained in new technology, leaving occasional users to fumble in the dark, or revert to old methods and maverick buying, she said.
Intelligent Leadership
Alan Hooper and John Potter Random House Business Books, £18.99 Rating: 3/5
Welsh post poor report
Few of Wales’s further education institutions have a procurement strategy or a purchasing officer, and the colleges are not doing enough to assess supplier performance, the National Audit Office has found.

In its report Further Education in Wales, the NAO comes down hard on the way institutions buy goods and services - in particular, energy and water.
Small firms ignore Y2K

Local Gershon on cards
A local government version of the Treasury’s long-awaited review of procurement reform in central government, headed by Marconi boss Peter Gershon, could be a natural progression from the work done by Geoffrey Filkin.
Rolls-Royce opens door
Aero-engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is to hold another of its select suppliers’ conferences in September as part of the company’s New Deal and Supplier Charter.
UK could be net centre


The UK could become the Internet capital of Europe, according to the boss of semiconductor giant Intel. Craig Barrett, the firm’s chief executive, told a conference in London that strong telecommunications links with the US could entitle Britain to act as the European gateway for transatlantic electronic trade.
Quality hurdle remains
British suppliers should tread carefully when dealing with Japanese customers, warned Neill Irwin, an ICL purchasing board member and director of the DTI/CBI initiative Partnership Sourcing, which recently visited Japan.
The Invisible Continent
Kenichi Ohmae Nicholas Brealey, £18.99
Suppliers hit PS2 sales


Supplier problems are partly to blame for a fall in sales of Sony’s PlayStation 2 games console. The Japanese electronics giant cut its sales forecast by 1 million to 9 million units by March, after a 15 per cent fall in shipments from software developers, and problems with the console’s graphics synthesiser chip.
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