the rise and rise of the purchasing director
Tony ScoullerRPM Ltd
When I joined a marketing department as a trainee in the 1960s, there was a very polite gentleman on the executive committee who had the title of buying director.
I was told that he had been 'kicked upstairs' and that the job had been 'made for him'. I soon discovered that he had a modest department, which consisted of an eclectic clutch of buyers ranging from the extremely correct Mr Truelove to the barrowboy Ron. They were responsible for buying all commodities from blackcurrants to sugar to packaging...