Over the years we have had the pleasure of concluding many global spousal support contracts. As a result, we have seen first-hand how this field has benefited from specialisation. Here are some of our observations in this field.
Purchasing department
Nowadays, the actual contracting is generally performed by Purchasing departments in close cooperation with Global Mobility or HR departments, especially when the anticipated expenditure is large. Even larger contracts (e.g. over €500,000) are, however, ‘small’ for most Purchasing departments. The total expenditure of our corporate clients’ Purchasing departments often amounts to billions of euros on an annual basis.
Professional services
Previously, many manufacturing companies left the sourcing of professional services to purchasers responsible for production related materials. Once they started with a separate department for professional services and, for example, travel, they often referred to the activity as non-product-related purchasing. However, nowadays most corporate clients have a special department for sourcing professional services, ideally even with purchasers who are specialised in HR-related purchasing.
Partnership approach
Professional services, especially expat partner support, require quite a different approach than production related materials. The latter are often commodities and often fungible. Lowest price is typically the main decisive factor in the purchasing choice. In the case of partner support, pricing is important but not as important as the total cost of ownership. Numerous qualitative arguments in combination with implementing a proper global coverage are often the overriding factors. Ultimately, it’s a partnership approach. Often we become an extension of the Global Mobility department.
Code of Conduct
However, the expat partner has no contractual agreement with the assigning organisation. Consequently, in general the Code of Conduct of the organisation is not applicable for the expat partner. This has been an incentive for us to introduce our own Code of Conduct (based on the Codes of Conduct of our clients).
Advantages of professional contracting
Thanks to the increased specialisation of contracting expat partner support, we are all experiencing a better, more professional, contracting process compared with the past when it was often still a ‘product related’ exercise.
