Stop suffocating small businesses

We need to talk. Specifically, we need to talk about your demands to suppliers for substantial discounts during these tough times. Even more specifically, we need to talk about your motivation. Your endgame, to use corporate speak.

I’ll start. There are only two, as far as I can see.

The first is that decreased demand is making a mockery of your targets and you have to make up the numbers somewhere, so it might as well be the small businesses that are your suppliers. Who cares about small business? It’s kitchen-heat stuff. Right?

So, you put the squeeze on them for, say,