The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, now in place, means change. It will require adapting to new trading arrangements, rules and regulations. This information provides a background to the sourcing decisions and options available to SMEs.

You may need to think about changing and assessing options within your business, such as the make-or-buy decision. This decision is between manufacturing an item internally (in-house) or buying it from an external supplier (outsourcing). We’ll help you explore these options and learn more about risks and opportunities.

Some reasons for the make decision include:

Take this ‘make’ example: 

Sarah owns a pizza business based in Cavan and she gets fresh tomato sauce from a supplier based in Bristol, Sarah is worried about delays and the impact they will have on the cost and quality of tomato sauce. Sarah already knows the nine ingredients for making the tomato sauce, has worked out the cost of producing and knows she can manage this new workload in-house. 

Outcome: Sarah can now take control of this process.

Some reasons for the buy decision include:

Take this ‘buy’ example:

Sarah owns a pizza business based in Cavan and employs two people, on a casual basis, to make pizza deliveries at the weekend. Sarah is concerned about the impact exchange rates has on her business and is aware this will add unpredictability to costs across her business. Sarah needs to move towards a fixed cost and this can be easily achieved in the deliveries. 

Outcome: Sarah decides to outsource the deliveries to a delivery platform.

By following a structured process, you can make an informed decision on making-or-buying.