–Yassine Serhani: The 2022 barometer attempts to assess the purchasing practices implemented by several types of companies, in this case, multinationals, large Moroccan groups, national companies and family businesses. To this end, eight main themes have been identified.
For us, the results of the evaluation did not surprise us since they aroused a real echo among our community. Many companies are advanced on certain practices and are behind on others. The barometer confirms the gap between multinationals and Moroccan companies.
Another observation, in a company, there are not many buyers. For example, there are less than ten buyers in a company of 2000 people. These buyers sometimes feel isolated since there is not much internal or external benchmarking.
–Amr Mir : It should be noted that in our sample, we only targeted companies that have a purchasing function.
We observe that approximately 80% of companies, all profiles combined, set purchasing objectives. All multinationals commit to Purchasing objectives aligned with strategic objectives. In addition, regarding 20% of large groups, 25% of family businesses and 30% of national companies make purchases to meet specific needs without seeking to achieve previously established objectives.
Furthermore, very few companies fully decentralize purchasing to management level. About 25% of companies, all profiles combined, link purchases to a support department such as finance. Almost half of companies centralize purchases in a purchasing department and the others adopt hybrid organizations. We don’t see much variation between procurement organizational models for different company profiles.*
–To what extent has the health and economic crisis triggered by Covid-19 upset the purchasing function in companies?
–YS : With the advent of Covid-19, many concepts, in terms of skills within the AMCA and companies, have been called into question. As such, we learned regarding new approaches, including agility, situational awareness and resilience. Indeed, agility makes it possible to develop new reaction and anticipation skills. Situation intelligence, on the other hand, makes it possible to benefit from critical and problematic situations. These are new areas of expertise to be developed by buyers. Now we are faced with the problem of price volatility. From 2020 to today, we begin to face new situations for which we must develop new skills.
-A.M : In this post-Covid-19 period, trends, such as responsible purchasing, have shown their importance.
We were pleasantly surprised that companies of all types practice responsible purchasing, pay their suppliers, and have a feeling of solidarity with their stakeholders. But the problem that arises is that responsible purchasing must still be provided with the necessary means to carry out the process. So on certain levers, we are good. On others, it is necessary to develop skills, to initiate a whole change to raise purchasing performance in Moroccan companies because it is a strategic function.
Before the 1990s, the first objective was cost reduction. Today, we are in another paradigm. The purchasing function is a lever that will allow sustainability to strengthen the resilience of the company. To reinforce this sustainability, the skills aspect is very important. So purchasing is a tool for securing the continuity of the company’s business.
-Do the geopolitical risks and those induced by climate change impact the Purchasing function. How to react ?
-YS : Despite the rise in commodity prices since the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, there are business opportunities. We are talking regarding a possible food shortage in the future. It is necessary to prepare for it now by ensuring a stock or by finding other sources of supply.
Some companies anticipate these increases and have designed strategic stocks. For predictions, in Morocco, from the second half of 2023, stock prices will drop.
–A.M : To return to the barometer of purchases, we were interested in purchasing families in Moroccan companies. Virtually all buyers, including family businesses, segment their purchases. This segmentation allows control of what is purchased.
This is the beginning of the professionalization of the purchasing function. Thus, the supplier market will be controlled. Subsequently, we will combine the data from the supplier market with what we buy in order to be able to set up a purchasing strategy. The question that must be asked: what purchasing strategy should be put in place?
Propos recueilis par Safaa KSAANI
