Which of the following are most likely to be direct costs of a steel manufacturer? Select THREE that apply.
Direct costs are those costs of a product/service directly attributable/traceable to its production. Examples of direct costs including the following:
Materials and services bought-in: In steel manufacturer, raw materials are iron ores, scrap metal, coals, etc
Labour or wages: money paid to staff for the work involved in producing the product.
Other expenses: other charges incurred that can be specifically attributed to a particular product, batch or service
During a negotiation, the supplier requests for payment term shortened to 45 days from 60 days. Seeing that this proposal lies within the concession plan, the procurement manager asks for 5% discount in return. Is that right thing to do?
When preparing for a negotiation, negotiator should establish a list of tradeables and a concession plan. Good negotiators never give anything away that has not already been planned as part of the bargaining mix in the concession planning stage.
In the above scenario, the procurement manager has planned his own concession, so he can trade with supplier. The answer should be 'Yes, since procurement manager has his own cost savings target to achieve and he should make use of supplier's financial status'
LO 2, AC 2.3
Which of the following are most likely to be the potential cultural differences that can make transactions with an international supplier more problematic that with local suppliers? Select TWO that apply.
The question requires student to detect factors of cultural differences. Problems may occur on the international scene with such things as the importance of extending courtesy between cultures, the importance of timescales, the use of negotiating ploys, the sense of 'fair play', the use and interpretation of body language, the role of women in negotiations (or indeed, in business in general), the importance of status, the role of conflict, standards of dress and deportment and the readiness to ignore or uphold contract terms and conditions.
LO 3, AC 3.3
Stalemate is more likely to happen if both parties trade more variables in a commercial negotiation. Is this assumption true?
Negotiation variables such as price or contract length, etc are that can be traded with TOP in a negotiation. The more variables you can identify, the better. The more variables you can identify and articulate, the lower the chances of the negotiation reaching deadlock as more possibilities are facilitated regarding more creative solutions.
Below are examples of negotiation tradeables in buying professional services:
LO 2, AC 2.3
What is the most likely outcome when two organisations with adversarial relationship negotiate with each other?
An adversarial relationship in purchasing and supply arises when identical or equivalent good or services are available from competing suppliers and buyers/sellers are trying to gain an advantage over each other. Low levels of trust are characteristic of adversarial relationships. The outcome when two organisations with adversarial negotiate is most likely to be win-lose.
Adversarial purchasing - Wikipedia
CIPS study guide page 32-35
