Are your major services contracts strangling your business?

Market Changed & Supply Contract Strangling Business - CartoonWish to use this image? It is free to share as long as a link back to acquireprocure.com is included wherever it is published.

Our experience has been that businesses are great at understanding where they have been but not always good at considering the future. Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to be a fortune teller but instead, readjust your gaze and ask “what if the past is not an indicator of the future?” Read more

Is your service contract not getting the results you want? Contract theory may help!

Have you ever wondered why your services contract is just not working properly?  Why the incentives you put in the contract are not delivering the desired outcome? The reason is most likely due to an area of study called contract theory and this year, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was awarded to the economists Hart and Holmström for the development of contract theory.

These prize-winning economists have provided valuable theoretical tools for understanding real-life contracts as well as potential pitfalls in contract design.

Is there something we can learn from this as contract owners and apply to services contracts? At Acquire, we think so.

Read more

Can Safety be bought in Mining Services Contracts? Beware the Cobra Effect

Mining safety has come a long way in Australia and now is at a point where the safety cultures of some of the Australian miners are considered leading practice in the world. As mining operators continue to improve productivity and reduce their bottom line, mining services providers remain paramount for delivering business outcomes.

One common question we get from our operator clients is What should be done to ensure Safety is paramount in a Mining Service relationship? What are the roles of the supplier and the operator and what’s the best way to promote a safety culture when designing the mining services contract?

Read more

World Bank report a concern for many supply contracts

These days, supply contracts include price escalation mechanisms to better manage risk between the supplier and the business.   Just the name of these mechanisms indicates that they are often geared to only increase. This hasn’t been a problem in a booming economy but as the latest Commodity Markets Outlook report by the World Bank illustrates, prices are likely to come off instead of increase. This is bad news for poorly constructed supply contracts. Read more