Profile of SGB for the 2005–2007 period
The Secretariat for Wholesale Building Materials (SGB) is a secretariat for Dutch trade organisations of producers, importers and wholesalers of bulk materials for the building trade (gravel, industrial sand, rubble, filler sand, shells, etc.)
SGB provides the management and secretariat for these trade organisations.
Mission
SGB aims to be a forward-looking agency serving as a basis to ensure the effective functioning of member organisations in the building materials trade.
Goal
The primary goal of SGB is to coordinate and support the secretariats of Dutch trade organisations serving producers, importers and wholesalers of bulk materials for construction. At the behest of member organisations, SGB prepares decision-making by trade organisations and implements the decisions made, if required. SGB was founded on 15 December 1993 and is headquartered in Haarlem.
Need
Because a trade organisation can exist only if it can provide for the needs of its members, member satisfaction is an important measure of their work and therefore for SGB as well. The needs of a trade organisation are implementation of trade activities and fulfilment of formal obligations.
The members’ most important needs are active representation of their interests and access to information on trade issues, technical and economic market developments, the changing role of the national government and European building material policy.
SGB’s goal is therefore both an appropriate supply of information to members and support for its representatives, so that they can represent the members’ interests most effectively.
Information supply
The basis of the information supply is a simple communication structure, in which the heads of the member organisations, in consultation with the SGB director, determine the work to be carried out by SGB. The basic information for this consultation is a summary of incoming and outgoing documents, provided to management and organisation representatives every two weeks. The heads determine the actions required and positions to be adopted, in consultation with the other management members of their organisations. SGB maintains an extensive network of contacts to gather information. For these contacts, the focus is on the intersection between business and national and international governments. Preference is given to providing information digitally via a restricted area of the secretariat’s website.
Advocacy
SGB supports advocacy by coordinating with other trade organisations of wholesalers, producers and consumers of bulk materials for the building trade. Advocacy is generally carried out by management members and representatives of the trade organisations themselves. If required, SGB will perform some of these duties. Open reporting to members is an essential condition for recognition by the members of this work.
Trade sector activity
SGB supports trade sector activity in terms of quality assurance, regulations, standards, trade sector research and training. Trade sector activity is performed under the leadership and responsibility of a member of the management or board. If required, SGB will act as a project leader for trade sector activities. To discuss the activities of the trade organisations, SGB organises management, member, board and work group meetings. SGB arranges invitations, reservations and reporting for these meetings.
Formal obligations
SGB takes care of the formal and financial obligations of the trade organisations, such as registration in the commercial register, the bylaws and regulations, budget monitoring, contribution collection, quarterly reports and annual reports. SGB thereby makes a significant contribution to the effective functioning of the trade organisations.
SGB Organisation
The running of SGB is coordinated by the management, consisting of leaders of some of the member organisations. SGB’s organisational structure is such that employees are able to perform their duties independently. Work is carried out under the responsibility of the director of SGB. This requires an alignment of authority and responsibility between SGB and leaders of the trade organisations. SGB’s authority is set out in a mandate.
SGB Staff
To carry out its support and coordinating duties, SGB has a small, professional team of permanent employees. Expertise is maintained and increased as necessary by means of training and education. Since the work varies in terms of size and completion time, the team is supplemented by temporary staff as needed.
An important principle for the optimal functioning of the SGB team is to aim for a high degree of independence among members in the sector in terms of content-based activities.
Mr. C. van Putten | managing director/secretary |
Mr. J. Harder | management-secretary |
SGB costs
The cost of SGB is charged at market rates based on the time required to support and coordinate trade sector activity. The trade organisations receive an estimate of SGB costs in advance for each year. These depend greatly on the scope of the association’s activities and the members’ own activities. Efficient methods and a high degree of automation are used to keep the cost of services offered low. SGB keeps up to date with quarterly financial reports and indicates additional or unforeseen charges in a timely manner, presenting solutions if required.