Purchasing

Richard G. Weissman

Standards of Conduct
April 17, 2007

The pressures on cost savings, coupled with the decentralization of the purchasing process, calls for a refresher lesson on ethical conduct.

I recently had a business associate contact me with a problem that concerned the sharing of supplier pricing within her company. One supplier had submitted a price quotation and that quotation was shared with another supplier. Needless to say that the first supplier was angry and upset. My concern was that the offending party did not think they were doing anything wrong in sharing the pricing in order to generate a bidding war.

Unfortunately this ethical lapse occurs far too often, and I fear that it happens more and more in a requisitioner driven environment where some may not be aware of the ethical dilemma, or think it is the right thing to do. I've also see it happen in organizations where cost savings are so important that crossing the ethics line is better than losing a job

Once a company begins to get the rap of sharing prices, it actually reduces the positive effect of competition. And, it gets easy. Once you cross the ethical line a few times you can get immune to the damage that can be done. A slippery slope to say the least.

The Institute for Supply Management maintains the Principles and Standards of Ethical Supply Management Conduct. It might be a good time to review these standards within your department and across your company.

Posted by Richard G. Weissman on April 17, 2007 | Comments (1)