Three mistakes to avoid to ensure ethical procurement negotiations

procurement negotiations
September 29th, 2020
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Business ethics (covered by France's Sapin II law) and corporate social responsibility are hot topics in the world of procurement. The risks, whether financial or to your image, could be significant. That's why Buy Made Easy is reminding us of the importance of remaining ethical during any procurement negotiations. To give a clearer picture, the e-procurement solutions provider highlights three main examples not to follow.

1) The exaggerator

Without actually lying, someone's words or even their attitude can be deceiving. For example, a buyer may imply that they want to purchase large volumes of a product in order to get a discounted price. However, being honest and sticking to the facts is always going to be beneficial in procurement negotiations, because it creates a relationship of trust between the two parties.

2) The oversharer

In procurement negotiations, it is important to be transparent but also not to disclose certain information for confidentiality reasons. In short, suppliers must respect their customers' confidentiality in the same way that buyers cannot disclose information about competing offers in the hope of benefiting from better contractual terms.

3) The biased one

To ensure a level playing field for negotiations, it is important to avoid any preferential treatment. For example, a supplier cannot offer their buyer gifts, just as buyers must refuse such practices if they occur. Even if this does not influence the procurement negotiations, it conveys an image of favouritism to the entire network.

Do you have procurement negotiations coming up? Avoid these three harmful attitudes and focus instead on Harvard Law School's best practices

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