Strategic planning for resources

In the field or purchasing and supply, 1973 was a year to be remembered. A world-wide boom in industrialised countries produced record prices in markets for food, raw materials and manufactured goods. Rates of inflation in the U.S.A., Western Europe and Japan began to approach South American levels. The value of the dollar, the pound and other major currencies fluctuated dramatically, and the stock market experienced falls comparable to those which occurred during the slump in the thirties. Finally, 1973 was the year of the oil embargo, when oil prices were almost doubled and oil supplies to the West were cut by 15–20%, resulting in the rationing of oil and other commodities in Western Europe.By any standards, this was a momentous year. It is conceivable that supply markets will never be quite the same again. The traditional form of multi-national business, integrated from supply to consumer markets, is fast disappearing as the companies formed in developing countries to secure the supply of oil, food and raw materials are being taken over by the host governments. Indeed it may be that after the traumatic experiences of this year, negotiations for food and key raw materials will be increasingly carried out by governments rather than by private companies.To cope with shortages and higher prices in food, fuels and essential raw materials, government bodies and public and private enterprises will have to develop new capabilities. Western governments have responded quickly by setting up Ministers and Ministries for Energy and by establishing huge budgets for research into the exploration and exploitation of alternative fuels. The large oil companies have declared that they are in the “energy business” and have bought interests in nuclear power and coal.But what does the energy and resource crisis mean for the average firm? It seems that in the 1970s we are experiencing a level of competition for supplies similar to the competition for consumer markets which first produced “Marketing” in the late fifties and early sixties.