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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tis the Season for Giving
CAPS Research Benchmark Report on Business Gifts and Entertainment

(TEMPE, Arizona) November 29, 2011 — Gift-giving and entertainment have long been a customary way to strengthen business relationships, but do these gifts have the potential to influence buying decisions? Many organizations allow their employees to give and receive gifts and entertainment with some restrictions. CAPS Research conducted a Snapshots benchmarking survey "Business Gifts and Entertainment" asking participants if their organization has written policies that identify, eliminate, or reduce inappropriate influences on the supply process that are specific to the acceptance of gifts and/or entertainment.

Not surprisingly, 98 percent of the survey population (136 out of 140 responses) said "Yes", meaning that policies on accepting business gifts and/or entertainment are in place. But 38 percent of those who reported also said they do not place a dollar limit on the gifts or entertainment.

Companies reporting dollar limits for gifts ranged from a low of $10 to a high of $500, with $84 as the average limit. A low of $10 to a high of $2,000 was the reported range for entertainment with an average limit of $152. About 40 percent of the companies who allow their supply management employees to accept gifts do not require the employees to report the gifts or entertainment, and 32 percent of those who allow their supply management employees to accept entertainment require the supplier (or potential supplier) to attend the same event.

The complimentary Snapshots benchmark report "Business Gifts and Entertainment" is available on the CAPS Research public website www.capsresearch.org. First time visitors will be prompted to register to access the study. For more information about this benchmark report or other reports, contact CAPS Research research@capsresearch.org.

Celebrating twenty-five years of research excellence! CAPS Research is a nonprofit research organization founded in 1986 to provide leading research to our strategic-minded corporate sponsors and to the public. Our mission is to work in partnership with a global network of executives and academics for the discovery and dissemination of strategic supply management knowledge and best practices. CAPS Research is jointly sponsored by the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, the Institute for Supply Management™, and Global 1000/Fortune 500-size organizations.

Media Contact:
Debbie Maciejewski
Marketing Manager
CAPS Research
800-888-6276 extension 3046
Email: dmaciejewski@capsresearch.org

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