Procurement and Sourcing: Contribution to Supply Chain Management

The supply chain management is considered as a management concept from past two decades as the customers are concerned about timely and safe delivery. The competitiveness has been increasing among the companies to deliver the products as quickly as possible to the customers all around the world. This has made the supply chain management as a vital tool for the management. This is also measured as a competitive parameter for the companies.

Reorders are placed at the time of review (T), and the safety stock that must be reordered is:

In this assignment I will be writing a formal report that will explain a typical procurement process, I will outline a variety of methods of supplier reimbursement and contract relationships; I will also outline the pros and cons of each contract type. As well as this, I will explain a typical supplier selection process through the use of Carters 10 C’s and a typical selection process model.

Organisations around the world are increasingly operating in very dynamic business environments. Among the areas that are being monitored is the way raw materials for production are procured and how the finished products reach the market and eventually the consumer. This paper will provide a review of published documents on strategic procurement in organizations by providing a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of their findings. The paper will present the impacts of the findings of the reviewed articles on the activities of an organisation that operates in a business to customer industry. And also a supermarket will be used in this case.

Supply chain management is a practice that involves the planning, supervision, and implementation of strategies and controls to direct the movement of goods and services provided to customers. The intent of this essay is to incorporate a synopsis of existing literature and to provide the reader with a general understanding of how supply chain management correlates with the organizational design and structure of modern firms. The essay comprehensively reviews the components of supply chain management and their integration with functional areas within an organization. The information presented in this essay

The topic selected is (Strategic Procurement & Supply Chain Management). For this study, we have selected Toyota Motor Corporations as our company of choice. Toyota is without doubt the best in the world, with its many philosophies and principles on how to make the best out of the least; JIT, lean production and elimination of waste and the desire for continuous improvement are just a few ways how Toyota has become the best in the auto industry. Toyota as a name, a company, and as a brand has become synonymous with Quality.

It is quite challenging to discuss about procurement management without stating the importance of its strategies. There are four main basic procurement strategies that serve different functions within a procurement management. To begin with, a “Partnership” strategy focuses mainly on constructing mutual commitment in long term relationship with suppliers. While a “Secure Supply” strategy aims to secure short and long term supply while reducing risk from suppliers. In addition, a “Category Management and E-Procurement solutions” serves as a tool to reduce logistic complexity, improve operational efficiency, and attempts to reduce the number of suppliers. Lastly, a “Competive Bidding” strategy emphasizes on obtaining the “Best Deal” for short term transactions with suppliers.(van weele) Each of these four strategies involves a unique purchasing methodology, which implies that the complexity is embedded in an individual strategic implication. Therefore, it requires different tools to accomplish the specific strategical characteristics. A business entity may need to support and execute procurement decisions with other strategic apparatus with analytical methods, including market analysis, uncertainty analysis, price forecasting, supplier relationship and along with others.(Harvard)

In a typical supply chain, raw materials are procured and items are produced at one

The procurement section of Target’s supply chain is an essential part of how it replicate costs to customer requirements. The overall affiliation between customer fulfillment and the supply chain are closely linked to products that are designated based on benchmarks that have been appropriately matched to target costing structured with market criticism and feedback provided. When focusing on purchasing products to sell to customers, the organization selects and processes the best option that best matches Target’s

The purpose of this case is to familiarize the student with the conflicts between price, service, time, and quality that occur when selecting a source.  Selecting satisfactory suppliers is one of procurement's major responsibilities, and when done correctly, can lead to optimal trade-offs between the four conflicting factors in a purchase decision.

Procurement is one of supply management’s most challenging responsibilities (Burt, 2010). Therefore relationship management is the key to procurement success (Zhang, 2011). The purchasing of services has the potential to turn into relationships with suppliers that tend to focus on trust instead of the transaction (Burt, 2010). With that in mind, procurement should focus on long-term supply sustainability rather than short-term cost-saving (Zhang, 2011). To nurture an organization’s supply base into a fully committed and fully supported external entity requires time, effort and a highly collaborated working relationship (Zhang, 2011). Effective communication within the relationship is indispensable for any procurement outsourcing strategy to prosper (Simchi, Kaminski, Simchi, 2008). Failing to establish and manage good relationships could cause irreversible and catastrophic damage to a procurement outsourcing strategy. One of the most common outsourcing relationship problems is that organizations tend to sit at opposite sides of the work-group table instead of next to each other (Vitasek, 2010). The application is that the two organizations are working against one another instead of work with each other to solve an

"The ability to learn faster than competitors may be the only true sustainable competitive advantage." – Arie P. De Geus

4. In a service supply chain, the (explicit) cost of information is higher than in a product

From the late Nineties, a raft of latest e-commerce technologies emerged that aimed to revolutionize operating practices, replace existing businesses and lead in the production of new business models (Sinha, I.2000; Barua et al.,2001). Following this growth in use of e-commerce in business-to-business markets, there has been important adoption of latest supply chain-related technology and applications by organizations globally. The procurement function has been notably stricken by this trend with a foretold growth in e-procurement applications covering each transactional shopping for and strategic sourcing activities (Croom S, 2000). A major contributor behind this development has been the evolution of the procurement function towards an additional strategic role in supporting both, company goals and supply chain objectives.

Procurement is the process by which organizations acquire goods, works and services. The procurement cycle involves planning, beginning with needs assessment through needs preparation, inviting offers, contractor selection, awarding contracts, executing and managing contracts, as well as final accounting and auditing. Procurement can therefore be viewed as a strategic component of supply chain management relating to satisfying customer or buyer needs.