跨国企业采购中心业务研究——以A公司为例

跨国企业面对不断变化的经济环境,一直在探讨如何深入优化供应链以应对市场变化。研究的目的是希望通过调研的方法,对跨国企业的采购中心的产生历程和现状发展进行深入分析,识别出采购中心业务模型存在的问题,并给出如何实施相适应的战略采购策略来实现优化供应链的战略目标。通过A跨国企业采购中心的案例分析,得到结论:对于跨国企业实现优化供应链的目标,核心任务是采购部门一方面要投资正确的技术和资源来实现战略采购,另一方面需要从业务角度和商业模型角度寻求降低成本、提高企业价值的方法。     

Notes and debate paper: Should merchandising and sourcing be worlds apart? The opportunity for more integrated strategic sourcing research

Whereas retailers are some of the biggest buyers that have some of the highest percentages of external spend as a share of revenue, they are not typically included in strategic sourcing research. Strategic sourcing research originated with a focus on supplies for manufacturing. But the strategic sourcing of merchandise by retailers is not as commonly studied. Merchandise sourcing is often approached very differently from manufacturing sourcing and often different teams of buyers with different roles and responsibilities are involved. Leveraging author industry experience and interviews with strategic sourcing executives in manufacturing and merchandise sourcing this notes and debate paper compares strategic sourcing across these domains and identifies fruitful research opportunities for developing a more comprehensive supply chain approach to strategic sourcing research.     

Analyzing the sourcing literature: Over two decades of research

Sourcing is an essential component of purchasing and supply chain management and has been extensively studied by academic researchers. A comprehensive scholarly literature review of sourcing was undertaken to provide guidance for future scholars through an in-depth review of past research. A total of twenty journals were selected, and 520 articles addressing sourcing topics were identified from 1995 to the present. The review process identified seven major sourcing categories within the literature. These included: strategic and relational, transactional/tactical, sourcing tools, global, sustainability, services, and new product development. Each of the seven sourcing categories is separately discussed by focusing on main themes, theories and methods. Findings indicated that strategic and transactional categories received the most attention from researchers. The area of sustainable sourcing has increased the most dramatically, while sourcing tools proved the most stable over the four time periods studied. Over 120 different theories were used to explain sourcing actions, with transaction cost economics being the most prominent. Surveys and quantitative modeling were the two most widely utilized research methods. Finally, conclusions to our findings are presented.     

基于供应商合作的采购总拥有成本控制研究

随着经济全球化的发展和竞争的加剧,战略采购和企业间的合作成为了企业采购和运作的重要策略。总拥有成本（TCO）是有效分析和选择供应商的重要方法,通过降低TCO,能够更好的降低企业的综合运作成本,提升企业的收入和竞争力,有利于企业找到TCO更低的供应商,这些供应商和企业形成战略合作伙伴关系,促进双方成本的降低和利润的增加。     

军地应急物流一体化的构建及信息化采购的思考

军地应急物流一体化是军地在应急状况下有效实施救急措施的保证,而物资的信息化采购是实现物流一体化的基础,文中对军地应急物流一体化构建的对策进行了阐述,并从军地应急物资采购的模式和建立多元一体的军地应急物资信息化联合采购机制两个方面对军地信息化采购进行了介绍。     

Design for procurement: What procurement driven design initiatives result in environmental and economic performance improvement?

This study examines the role of procurement professionals in new product design. Specifically, it evaluates which factors play an important role in driving design for procurement (DFP) environmental and economic results. The factors early supplier involvement, standardization, lead time reduction, environmental sourcing, supply base maintenance, and core competence focused sourcing are regressed on diverse DFP performance outcomes. Data were collected via survey for a series of procurement focused items capturing the activities and characteristics for new product design and performance. Several major findings were supported through the analysis that enhance academic and managerial knowledge. Standardization positively impacted economic performance measures that focused on new product development and operational outcomes. Supply based maintenance was the strongest DFP initiative driving operational performance. Environmental sourcing positively affected all environmental performance measures, but was not related to economic performance.     

完善我国军事采购制度的几点思考

军事采购是一项军事经济活动,相比政府采购而言具有特殊性。军事采购在发展过程中凸显出一些问题,本文认为应该从走出认识误区、加强教育培训、完善管理体制和提高采购绩效四方面入手来完善我国军事采购制度。     

Low cost country sourcing and its effects on the total cost of ownership structure for a medical devices manufacturer

In this paper, we describe a total cost of ownership (TCO) method as an activity-based costing (ABC) application along the value chain to measure and analyse the costs of international sourcing activities. We further describe the method's implementation for a manufacturer of high-tech medical devices. For this case study, we analyse the effects of shifting purchasing volume from traditional procurement market suppliers to low cost country suppliers on the cost structure of purchasing projects. We find that particularly costs at component and supplier level gain importance over traditionally dominating unit level costs. Furthermore, we identify low cost country sourcing as a decision with extensive impact on value chain entities other than purchasing. Finally, a considerable part of costs in low cost country sourcing accrue at the beginning of a purchasing project due to problems stemming from unsatisfactory initial quality, language barriers and intercultural communication.     

Supporting decision-making process in facilities management services procurement: A methodological approach

The aim of this paper is to make a contribution to the decision-making process related to procurement of facilities management services in the public sector, particularly with reference to local authorities. Adopting a contingency approach, a model for selecting sourcing strategies is presented. Some empirical evidence resulting from the analysis of various managers’ experiences is reported and, based on the results of the testing of the model, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Robotic Process Automation in purchasing and supply management: A multiple case study on potentials,barriers, and implementation

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has received growing attention within the digital transformation as this cutting-edge technology automates human behavior and promises high potentials. However, the adoption in purchasing and supply management (PSM) is still in its infancy and has hardly been explored, particularly in the public sector. Based on a multiple case study including 19 organizations of the public and private sector, this paper narrows that gap and presents comprehensive insights into potentials, barriers, suitable processes, and best practices and components for RPA implementation. The findings indicate that adoption depends on the organizations’ digital procurement readiness and maturity. Application areas of RPA enlarge with increasing experience and range from transactional and operative tasks within the procure-to-pay process to more strategic use cases in sourcing and supply relationship management. Potentials mainly comprise employee reliefs, cost savings, and increased operational efficiency and quality. We uncover multiple technical, organizational, and environmental barriers related to IT infrastructure and human resources, internal communication, financial resources, top management support, organizational structures, supplier-related issues, and government regulations. Furthermore, our study indicates several differences between the private and public sectors for RPA implementation. We outline implications for the emerging research on RPA and pivotal directions for organizational practice.     

基于DEA交叉—FCA的军队物资区域联合采购绩效评价

随着军队物资采购的深化改革,军队物资区域联合采购作为一种新型集中采购模式,已进入实施阶段。基于平衡计分卡提出了军队物资区域联合采购绩效评价指标体系,并尝试应用DEA交叉评价与模糊综合评判相结合的方法,从财务、用户、内部管理及学习与成长等4个角度对我国军队物资区域联合采购绩效进行评价,从而为科学评价军队物资区域联合采购绩效提供指导。     

An empirical examination of strategic sourcing dominant logic: Strategic sourcing centricity

Recently, much of the thought in strategic sourcing, i.e., dominant logic, has shifted away from the exchange of tangible goods and toward the exchange of intangibles, specialized skills and knowledge, and processes. This study refers to strategic sourcing dominant logic as strategic sourcing centricity (SSC) and describes it as a sourcing management′s mindset based on learning, performance, planning, and relational orientations and manifests itself in the implementation of SS to meet supply management objectives and satisfy stakeholder requirements. Building on insights on intangibility derived from resource-based theory (RBV), the study proposes and empirically tests strategic sourcing centricity (SSC). The authors test the operational measures of SSC dimensions and its impact on performance on a sample of 174 supply management executives. The results indicate strong support for the theorized framework. Managerial implications and future research agenda are provided.     

Strategic sourcing and corporate social responsibility: Aligning a healthcare organization's strategic objectives

Strategic sourcing has long been utilized by organizations to maximize budget efficiency. The process includes a spend analysis, which historically has been performed by identifying the commodities and services purchased that resulted in the greatest spend, and establishing contracts with suppliers for these items in an effort to decrease the overall price through quantity discounts. This process restricts the data used in the spend analysis process to basic transactional information, and has not considered corporate social responsibility objectives as part of the strategic sourcing process. This paper modifies an existing spend analysis process framework, and applies the framework in a case study that uses additional data points to identify opportunities that allow an organization to simultaneously achieve both strategic purchasing and social responsibility objectives. The case study uses healthcare purchasing data from eight Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. The goal of the model generated using regression analysis in the case study is to determine the buy characteristics that are most likely to generate mandated savings within the medical centers, in conjunction with achieving sustainability goals. The extensions of the regression model were examined to determine how collaborative buyer/supplier relationships can achieve organizational strategic objectives.     

How is service procurement different from goods procurement? Exploring ex ante costs and ex post problems in IT procurement

Several studies suggest that, in practice, service procurement is more challenging than goods procurement. The underlying but largely implicit argument is that the procurement process for services involves higher buyer uncertainty and therefore requires extra efforts to mitigate this uncertainty. Drawing on Transaction Cost Economics, we use a database of information technology transactions to investigate the relationship between transaction characteristics and social embeddedness, and ex ante cost and ex post problems. We explore whether the same relationships hold across transactions that involve only goods versus transactions that also involve services. Our findings support conventional wisdom that managing the procurement process for transactions involving services is more challenging than for transactions involving goods. However, when controlling for typical transaction characteristics, there is no difference between transactions involving goods and transactions that also involve services.     

A pragmatic decision model for inventory management with heterogeneous suppliers

For enterprises, it is imperative that the trade-off between the cost of inventory and risk implications is managed in the most efficient manner. To explore this, we use the common example of a wholesaler operating in an environment where suppliers demonstrate heterogeneous reliability. The wholesaler has partial orders with dual suppliers and uses lateral transshipments. While supplier reliability is a key concern in inventory management, reliable suppliers are more expensive and investment in strategic approaches that improve supplier performance carries a high cost. Here we consider the operational strategy of dual sourcing with reliable and unreliable suppliers and model the total inventory cost where the likely scenario lead-time of the unreliable suppliers extends beyond the scheduling period. We then develop a Customized Integer Programming Optimization Model to determine the optimum size of partial orders with multiple suppliers. In addition to the objective of total cost optimization, this study takes into account the volatility of the cost associated with the uncertainty of an inventory system.     

Information systems and technology sourcing strategies of e-Retailers for value chain enablement

In the e-Retail industry, a well-designed IT infrastructure is essential in creating a tightly integrated value chain and delivering high quality service. With intense competition for market share and profits, information systems and technology (IST) sourcing decisions are becoming increasingly important to e-Retail firms to support continued growth and market responsiveness. Drawing on the contingency theory, we examine organizational and environmental factors that influence an e-Retailer's IST sourcing strategy of make versus buy in enabling its value chain activities, and we also look at firm-level performance impacts of IST sourcing decisions that involve bundling across value chain activities. We test the proposed model and hypotheses using a panel data set of 307 firms over the period of 2006–2010. The results show that firms that make transformative IT investments tend to source a smaller portion of IST for their e-Retail value chain activities than firms that pursue automate or informate as their strategic role for IT investment. Capabilities are positively associated with IST sourcing. Firms experienced in e-Retail are more likely to build rather than buy their IST. In addition, we find mimicking behavior for IST sourcing among firms in the same merchandizer category. We find that IT strategic role is strongly associated with growth metric, whereas sourcing decisions predominantly impact operational performance measures. There is partial evidence that alignment between IT strategic role and IST sourcing decisions results in better performance effects. Moreover, complementary IST sourcing of synergistic marketing and sales activities positively impacts Web sales and conversion rate, but the sourcing combination of logistics, operations, and sales activities is associated with lower Web sales and conversion rate.     

Antecedents and relative performance of sourcing choices for new product development projects

Given the complexity of sourcing choices in R&D, driven by conflicting points of difference, scholars have struggled to formulate clear theoretical predictions about which sourcing choices lead to superior performance. Our study contributes to the elucidation of this question by studying both the antecedents and performance consequences (project cost and duration) of alternative sourcing choices in the context of new product development, thus bridging two rarely intersecting streams of research to discover unique insights. We draw from the transaction cost economics (TCE) and organizational learning theory to account for the interdependence of cost- and non-cost related factors in firms’ sourcing choices. Results from our empirical analysis, using data on clinical trials in the global biopharmaceutical industry, show that greater project complexity, project stage uncertainty, and prior sourcing experience determine the sourcing choices a firm makes. We also establish that alternative sourcing choices vary in their ability to minimize project cost versus project duration, and show that prior experience with a sourcing choice is an important moderator of project performance, in addition to being one of the determinants of sourcing choice.     

加强物资采购管理 降低综合采购成本

当前,现代物流业飞速发展,在新的形势下如何加强物资采购全过程管理,最大限度地降低综合采购成本,已成为煤炭物资流通企业关心的工作重点。文章从采购计划管理、供应商管理、采购方式和采购渠道管理等方面阐述了降低煤炭企业物资采购综合成本的方式方法,并对降低采购成本的具体措施进行了分析。     

Improving sourcing decisions in NPD projects: Monetary quantification of points of difference

During new product development (NPD), firms make critical design and sourcing decisions that determine the new product's cost, performance, competitive position, and profitability. The purchase price of materials and components for the new product provides only part of the picture for design and sourcing decisions. All-encompassing analyses of cost and performance, such as total cost of ownership, are extraordinarily difficult to implement because they are demanding in terms of time, data and cooperation. We study monetary quantification of points of difference, which enables an NPD team to base its decisions instead on more focused, strategically-pertinent analyses of costs and performance. We propose a substantive model of its antecedents and consequences. We then test this model with data from matched samples of 144 project leaders and 144 cost analysts who participated in the same NPD projects. Using structural equation modeling, we also test hypothesized differences in perspectives between project leaders and cost analysts. Results demonstrate the pivotal role of monetary quantification of points of difference among the sourcing alternatives being considered, especially for cost analysts. Results also demonstrate that Decision Justification to senior management drives the NPD team's decision-making process. Finally, monetary quantification of points of difference leads to Uncertainty Reduction, which is found to be the primary antecedent of the judged success of applying analysis of cost and performance.     

Unlocking the business outsourcing process model

Outsourcing has emerged as a prevalent business practice that is having a transformational impact on how many organizations manage their global supply chains. Despite this prominence, anecdotal reports from multiple reputable organizations suggest that many businesses fail to realize the benefits anticipated from their outsourcing initiatives. Motivated by these observations, this study investigates those management practices during the outsourcing process that are key drivers of outsourcing performance. Specifically, detailed data from 198 sourcing executives and managers responsible for outsourcing initiatives are used to investigate the influence that strategic evaluation, contractual completeness, and relationship management practices have on achieving projected outsourcing results. The results offer strong empirical evidence that outsourcing performance is significantly influenced by extensive strategic evaluation and proactive relationship management practices. Moreover, the impact strategic evaluation has on outsourcing performance is not direct, but rather is partially mediated by the relationship between the parties. Finally, the results show that contractual completeness does not distinguish between successful and unsuccessful outsourcing efforts, and can be considered qualifying activity.