Confessions of a Corporate Shopaholic

In my earlier post Thou Shalt Not Covet, there is a cliffhanger about times when I thought my own security was at stake.  No I am not exaggerating, and I do not need to make this up to make myself look important.  Now that I am in a secure location and with critical names masked, it shall be presented in the spirit of how our decisions could alter people’s livelihoods – and vice versa. 

“Slumdog Millionaire”

First a case I wasn’t directly involved until the incident occurred.  The company was looking to entirely revamp the employee shuttle arrangements in New Delhi India.  There had been numerous incidents and complaints about the below-par performance of a few service providers and the company was determined to make some changes. Millions, if not billions had been invested in the Delhi operation with thousands of employees hired in the region.  Since the transportation infrastructure was far from developed, the company has an obligation to take care of its employees in terms of daily commute between their homes and our offices.

New service providers and management need to be brought in from abroad to break the local cartel.  A few of the incumbents are managed by the triads and they refuse to oblige to American ways of bidding and negotiations.  Of course, the dollar amount involved is in the millions so it is money not to be missed.  Any change from status quo is a permanent livelihood shift for anyone.

Next we heard that the head of procurement of India got personal life threats to him and his family.  The company was genuinely shocked because no one in their right minds had expected such barbaric acts to take place in this day and age.  The company also did not want to back down as a sign of weakness. 

Finally after consulting with security, legal and senior management, it was decided that the project would continue but the project leads had to be reassigned to ensure safety of the individual.  It was eventually assigned to my team in Hong Kong.  It was believed that moving the project offshore and leading it virtually would create the least amount of risks to everyone.  We were doing the negotiations via phone calls, and all e-mails exchanges were conducted via a generic, un-named, e-mail account and distribution list.

I didn’t see it coming: India outsourcing to Hong Kong.   Yet we were glad to be part of a team!

“Titanic”

My client buys quite a lot of marine fuel for  its passenger liner operation, a figure close to US$70M a year.  The supply market is extremely limited and to make matters worse, harbor regulations and tight scheduling makes it very difficult to switch suppliers due to the huge investment they have put in especially for us.  The supplier naturally needs a longer contract to make up with their return on investment. 

My client for all the right reasons wants to make sure our rates are the most competitive in the market.  I am asked to run extensive studies of market pricing as well as to see whether it can be derived from process improvements.  After a couple of months of meetings and conversations it was time to physically inspect the current operation.  From my line of work, we need to be very astute of the surroundings in order to negotiate well by adapting to our counterparts.  In this case, I immediately felt that there was a strong sense of hostility upon us.

Remember we are talking about US$70M and above.  They also have other tying deals with us.  Me and my colleague needed to ride the water taxis to the fueling berth in the middle of the harbor to inspect the fueling process, and we had no protective gear.  Oh, I forgot to add that this all took place after midnight.

My colleague and I decided to make a full report to our boss prior to the inspection.  I told my boss if I am found missing or in the water, it will be no accident.  We really thought there could be this possibility.  Of course, I am still here writing this blog, but it was the first time I felt my job could risk my very wellbeing – a bizarre concept to me.

“The Break-Up”

I participated in a business meeting with an incumbent service provider who was about to receive bad news of not getting the new business volumes that we put out for bid.  The head of the user department was there in the meeting and did most of the talking.  Being procurement lead for the project, I had to be there to witness the conversation from start to finish, and it was me who controlled the entire bidding process in the first place with key requirements downloaded from the user representatives.

The service provider came prepared and later I found out that they were actually worried about losing the current share of their business which was neither our intention nor within the scope of our bid.  They sat down and took out a mobile recorder asking to record the entire conversation.  There you could see that there was absolutely no trust between both sides, due to a range of incidents that took place for years between the two companies.  After a few candid exchanges, the service provider got less nervous (since they knew their current business stayed intact) and became a lot more outspoken.  They decided to point the fingers at me and put the blame on us bothering only on dollars and cents.  The business head explained to them that it was senior corporate management who had changed views.  The service provider continued to mock me saying that he wanted to throw up every time he sees me, and almost refused to shake my hands when we met that day.

The business team was actually apologetic to me and pulled me aside assuring me that it was only business and I should not take it personally.  I never did.  I knew perfectly the tactics we played and more often than not procurement is labeled as the bad guys anyway.  I actually think it is fine as I always use this as bait to look for new businesses and projects from first-time business partners, so that they can act as the good guys – which is welcoming to them since they are the ones who end up working with the supplier on a daily basis.

After the meeting ended out of professional courtesy I escorted the service provider to the parking lot.  I saw a long stretched black limo with an uniformed driver opening the limo door awaiting his master.  “Do you go to the gym?”, he asked.  “Hell I might not be able to beat you if I get into a fight with you!”

And the limo with the tinted windows sped away.

That evening, I worked out for a straight 3 hours at the gym.