4
THE STAR
www.thestar.co.uk Wednesday, May 28, 2014
BUSINESS
ROUND TABLE: FORWARD PLANNING TO IMPROVE THE LOCAL ECONOMY
Highlighting
the financial
benefits of
buying local
Debate looks at need for commitment, effort and thought
By David Walsh
[email protected]
@TheStarBiz
Perhaps if we looked after
ourselves better and invested in the local economy, we’d all be better off.
That’s the potential of ‘buy local’, a round table heard.
But Sheffield City Region
compares poorly with Newcastle - where loyalty is much
more ingrained - and it was
vulnerable to raiders from
out of town, especially Leeds.
As the business leaders debated, it emerged there was
much more to it than buying
apples at the local greengrocer - it can require commitment, effort and thought.
The Star, in partnership
with insurers AJ Gallagher,
organised a discussion to discover the advantages of Sheffield City Region businesses
having a ‘buy local’ policy or
goal, how much it already
happens and how much more
could be done.
It was hosted by Barclays
Bank at its offices at 1 St Pauls
in Sheffield city centre and
was attended by nine business people from sectors
including construction, man-
‘Our Newcastle office
is the largest outside
of London for income.
In the North East
there’s a great sense
of civic pride and they
are very into keeping
business there’
ufacturing, insurance and finance.
A key problem, said the
manufacturers, was finding
people locally with the skills
they required - since few of
them advertised and some
didn’t even have websites.
Others revealed that when
buying services they took the
‘path of least resistance’ online - usually choosing between the top few results on
page one of Google and ignoring their location.
The debate also heard that
national and multi-national
companies had a central buying function - goods and services were purchased for the
whole group by head office
in another city. In response,
Sheffield offices had joined
organisations like the Chamber of Commerce, Company
of Cutlers or Made in Sheffield as a way to support the
local economy.
Local authorities had a
role to play by creating a database of firms, the discussion heard. Birmingham City
Council had set up ‘Find It Birmingham’ for that reason.
Sheffield City Council
came in for criticism for not
buying local enough or, where
it did, not promoting it. It was
also accused of wanting to
sign up well known, but nonlocal, names for big projects
for the supposed prestige.
Personal recommendation was also key. Builders
and professionals do it well
but other sectors don’t have
the same tradition.
Steve Lunn, of Arthur J
Gallagher, said: “Our Newcastle office is the largest outside
of London for income.
“ In the North East there’s a
great sense of civic pride and
they are very into keeping
business there.
“In Leeds, they are on their
second and third shopping
centre but Sheffield has not
had its first.
“Perhaps if we looked after
ourselves better and invested in the local economy that
would be different.”
n “Mark Ellis, of Sheffield City
Council’s assistant commercial director, said: “We lead
on the Buy4Sheffield initiative which involves the collaboration of eight Sheffield
public sector organisations to
make it easier for local suppliers to do business. In 2013-14
the council spent nearly £400
million, the equivalent of 59
per cent of total spend, with
local suppliers.”
The Star round table, back row, Tan Khan, David Walsh, Steve Lunn, James Ashford,
How the major
players discussed
points of view
Steve Lunn: “I used to do a lot
of work in Newcastle. When
I started talking with a Yorkshire accent they looked at
me gone out. It definitely
disturbed them that I wasn’t
a Geordie. I think we would
have a much healthier business community if we worked
like that. I was looking at the
Top 100 list of the region’s biggest companies, published by
The Star, and I was horrified
to see how many companies
go to Leeds and Manchester
for their insurance. In Sheffield, Arthur J Gallagher is the
largest insurer for the steel industry. As part of a large group
there’s a centralised policy for
obtaining services, which I
find quite annoying. But we
support the city where we can
– we are a friend of the Company of Cutlers.
Jane Robinson: “We are an
engineering SME and there
must be hundreds of laser
companies between here
and London but they come to
us because of our marketing.
But we neglect our own back
yard. We are in Leeds and
Sheffield city regions and we
get overlooked by both. If we
ever hear of an event it’s from
Leeds. We were made freemen of the Company of Cutlers and I sit on the regional
advisory board for the EEF
but I never get invited to any-
Wednesday, May 28, 2014 www.thestar.co.uk
THE STAR
5
BUSINESS
AROUND THE TABLE WITH STAR BUSINESS EDITOR DAVID WALSH
Steve
Lunn, head
of office
UK retail,
at commercial
insurance
company
Arthur J
Gallagher. In April AJG bought The
Oval Group to cement its position
as a major force in retail broking.
Andrew
Marsh,
corporate
director South
Yorkshire
at Barclays Corporate. It
works with a fifth of businesses in
South Yorkshire.
The bank hosted the event.
Amar
Tembe,
Head of HR
and Legal
North at
the EEF,
which
works
with
manufacturing, engineering and
technology-based businesses in
the UK.
James
Ashford,
co-founder
and marketing
director of
the Trades
Hub - the
rapidly
expanding builders’ networking
group
Paige
Hudson,
events and
marketing
manager
at the
Trades
Hub
Jane
Robinson,
co-founder and
director
of Cutting
Technologies in
Barnsley
which offers laser cutting and laser engraving services to the engineering and creative industries.
Tan Khan,
regional
director
responsible for
business
development of
the Sheffield office of Monaghans, a building consultancy.
Marie
Cooper,
financial
director of
Sheffieldbased
President
Engineering Group.
Young financial director of the
Year 2013
Keith Williams,
regional
manager
for UK
Steel Enterprise,
part of
Tata Steel,
which supports small and medium
enterprises with finance and
premises.
ers and how I can take advantage of what they’re offering.
tention. There has never been
a more level playing field for
companies to promote themselves. There are all the tools
for anyone to operate a world
class business.”
Andrew Marsh: “There
have never been so many
resources or organisations
available to help these businesses. We back 20 per cent
of businesses in Sheffield
City Region. We are being
asked for local services all
the time. When you engage
with a bank you expect them
to be informed about the
professional sector, tax, insurance, corporate finance.
It’s about how we put some
of those other businesses together.”
, second row Marie Cooper, Jane Robinson, Keith Williams, front Amar Tembe, Andrew Marsh, Paige Hudson.
thing in Sheffield.”
Tan Khan: “Most of our business is national or international, but we have tried to
maintain contact with our local community. Leadership
needs to come from Sheffield
City Council. They do have
initiatives which give the impression that they are supporting ‘buy local’ but when it
comes to prestigious projects
like the retail quarter and
The Crucible it was felt they
should have a big name. The
big boys have the ability to go
for big bids, they are very good
at the front end but delivery is
from a small office with three
or four people in it - we have
nearly 100 staff in Sheffield.
You have to be competent but
there should be some kind of
weighting towards local companies.”
Marie Cooper: “It’s knowing the companies available
locally. How do we find them
and how do we know we can
rely on them? We discovered
there was a foundry only a
mile away from us only after
we went to a trade show in Birmingham.”
Jane Robinson: “Some companies simply aren’t marketing themselves.”
Marie Cooper: “Some don’t
have websites.”
Keith Williams: “How do you
make those connections?
There are some clear benefits, no doubt about that. It
probably does need support.”
Paige Hudson: “We are working with Sheffield Council on
meet-the-buyer events so it’s
not so hard to get work locally.
The council said they were determined to get local business
but can’t find it. They want
the contacts but aren’t willing to go out and get them.”
Andrew Marsh: “Barclays
has a central buying function but I have a buy local
policy wherever I can. We are
members of the Company of
Cutlers, we supported the
Yorkshire International Business Convention and Made in
Sheffield. I’m not sure if the
way forward is a formalised
process because there’s a
great professional informal
network in South Yorkshire.
Clients expect my team to
know who is good at what in
the legal and accounting sector.”
Keith Williams: “We don’t
have a formal policy but we
make sure we buy from local suppliers in the areas in
which we work.”
Amar Tembe: “Unless you
get big players like the PCTs
and local authorities to buy
local it’s going to be very difficult for others to follow that
down the supply chain.”
Tan Khan: “Leadership
should come from a central
source. Leeds and Manchester have created an atmosphere were you want to invest
in them. As for Creative Sheffield - I don’t know who heads
that and who are the key play-
James Ashford: ‘There’s no
excuse for any business to not
get attention. From Twitter to
Youtube. A lot of clients are
blown around with the wind.
We get them to re-focus on
what they want.”
Marie Cooper: “We have gone
from 75 per cent to 90 per cent
export in the last three years.
But 20 per cent of our suppliers are based in Sheffield City
Region, millers and turners.
They don’t have the skills to
go out and get it. You are talking about middle-aged people who have been doing the
same job for years. I can find
an accountant and a lawyer,
but it’s much harder if I want
to sub-contract a milling machinist.”
James Ashford: “There’s
still no excuse these days.
You can get on an iPhone and
train yourself in these skills,
there are so many free tools
that train you in how to get at-
Andrew Marsh: “Some people are very good. Hugh Facey
at Gripple is outward facing
and uses the tools available.”
Marie Cooper: “Our insurance company is in Leeds,
that’s historical.”
Jane Robinson: “It’s the
Leeds and London companies
that come up on page one of
Google – it requires education.”
Marie Cooper: “I can think of
two occasions when we went
outside of Sheffield. A database
would help certain fields.”
Tan Khan: “There are gaps, I
would like to see local authorities play a bigger role.”
James Ashford: “We use
Google to buy services.”
Paige Hudson: “It’s intriguing
to see that everyone wants to
see the same thing. I’m quite
proud that the Trades Hub is
helping.”
Keith Williams: “I think
there are some clear benefits
for the recycling of money locally and also perhaps creating some new jobs. There are
a lot of very good business networks but if we can get companies in general to think
more about it everyone could
benefit more.”