Which of the following factors would you use to analyse the macro-environment? Select THREE.
Answer(s): A,C,E
STEEPLE is what is used to analyse the macro-environment; the factors are; social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legislative and ethical. Details of this can be found on p.43-44
Gabriel is a procurement manager who wishes to explore a new avenue to procure products for his company. His manager has told him that he should invite internal stakeholders to a meeting to get their feedback. Who should Gabriel invite? Select THREE.
Answer(s): A,B,E
Internal stakeholders are those who work within the business so include the legal department, employees and end-users. End-users mean those people and departments who will be using the product or service. For example if Gabriel is procuring new software- an end-user would be anyone who would be using that software (whether they're employees, volunteers or agencies). CIPS outlines types of stakeholders on p.64
Value for money is often described at the `three Es'; economy, efficiency and effectiveness. However some people consider a 4th E which refers to the public sector. What is the fourth E?
Answer(s): C
Equity is the fourth E- this means the extent to which the service is available. See p.65 for details on the 4 Es
A garden centre has recently purchased some lollypop sticks to use as plant labels. The staff have written the name of the plant on the lollypop stick and put it next to the plant. This helps them identify which plant is which. However, after a couple of weeks, the lollypop sticks have become mouldy and the writing has faded. Staff are now struggling to identity their plants. The Manager of the garden centre is considering returning the lollypop sticks and asking for a full refund as they were not fit for purpose. Can the Manager do this?
The correct answer is `no- as this was not the lollypop sticks intended purpose'. When deciding if something is fit for purpose, you must consider its intended and common purpose. In this case it would be for making lollypops. As the garden centre is using them for something other than their intended purpose, they can't complain if it doesn't work. Fit for purpose is discussed on p.65 p.s. there's a QUESTIO N N O : like this in the real exam it's just not lollypop sticks ; )
Fred is a new procurement manager at a large engineering firm. They procure 100s of components and use these to make kitchen appliances such as kettles and toasters. He has been asked by his manager to look into procuring a new component which will go into a new environmentally friendly kettle and has been asked to ensure that the firm receives value for money. What should Fred do?
Answer(s): A
Fred should hold a competition as this is a `key way of achieving value for money' p.67. Fred shouldn't put a business case together to make the product in-house without doing a make vs buy analysis, and that analysis showing make is the way to go. As the firm buy in 100s of components, it's very unlikely that making the component in-house would bring `value for money'. He should also be careful of only looking at current suppliers or known suppliers- the best supplier of this new component might be unknown to the engineering firm at present.
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