“ WE ’ RE A BRAND WITH A LOT OF HERITAGE AND A LOT OF LEGACY . CULTURE — AND HOW WE LOOK AFTER OUR PEOPLE — IS IMPORTANT ”
When Marks & Spencer initially shut down , the company had tried to review contracts and , in line with many retailers , mitigate supplier costs . But Newnham and his team members discovered that they didn ’ t have clear immediate data to know which contracts could end easily and which couldn ’ t . This led to more revelations . “ Before COVID , we ’ d talked about supply chain risks , but not necessarily operational risk ”, Newnham said . “ Certain suppliers could shut down a store . So what plan did we have in place to ensure that didn ’ t happen ?”
“ WE ’ RE A BRAND WITH A LOT OF HERITAGE AND A LOT OF LEGACY . CULTURE — AND HOW WE LOOK AFTER OUR PEOPLE — IS IMPORTANT ”
ANDREW NEWNHAM DIRECTOR OF GROUP PROCUREMENT AT MARKS & SPENCER
To mitigate future operational risks , M & S Procurement spent significant time putting a new risk framework in place . Yet , the company decided not to spend large sums of money to buy pre-made solutions . “ If you do that , the team doesn ’ t own the problem ”, Newnham told us . “ We made a conscious decision to use tools that [ our team members ] could use … that had accessible information and data . They needed to have a stake in the solution .”
One of the biggest motivators for Procurement at Marks & Spencer , after all , is the direct link between what they
118 July 2021