Influences on member commitment to group purchasing organizations

Group purchasing organization (GPOs) have become an important part of some sectors of our economy, such as health care. To be successful at obtaining favorable purchase terms, a GPO must be able to foster and maintain the commitment of its members. Four positive influences on member commitment are hypothesized: (1) satisfaction with the GPO; (2) the perceived commitment of other GPO members; (3) the degree of information exchange between member and GPO; and (4) trust in the GPO. The suitability of alternatives to membership in the GPO was predicted to negatively influence member commitment. These hypotheses were tested with data from a mail survey returned by 249 (49.8%) retail pharmacies. A multiple regression analysis identified significant positive associations between member commitment and commitment of other members, information exchange, and trust. Also, the suitability of alternatives showed a significant negative relationship with commitment. Implications of the findings for managers and researcher are discussed.     

论华电集团招标采购网在我公司物资采购中应用

网络招标采购是应用当代网络信息技术对传统招授标采购方式优化升级的有益探索,是阳光采购招标工作在信息化时代高速发展的积极实践;本文介绍了华电集团招标采购网的基本功能结构和在广安电厂物资采购中的实际应用情况,对网络招标采购的优越性和所遇到的问题作了总结并提出了相应的措施.     

A research framework for group support systems

Over the last decade, many methodologies and techniques have been devised to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of cooperative working. The efficacy of many of these approaches has not been rigorously assessed, causing doubt about their applicability and helping restrict their use. Additionally, research effort has been dissipated. The need is for a generally agreed framework within which research can be conducted and results determined. This article proposes such a framework, involving the identification of the context, process, and outcome variables which, a priori, are deemed important to understanding, and subsequently predicting, the appropriate forms of intervention in the workings of groups. Six major components have been identified: the organizational environment, the group context, the process context, the group process, the substantive outcomes, and process performance indicators. Within these six components, 16 macrovariables have been identified. Within these macrovariables, 90 variables have been selected that characterize an issue-handling situation and its outcomes. The framework is applicable to a very wide range of group support systems used in many contexts.     

An object-oriented architecture for group decision support systems

An object-oriented GDSS can produce a rich environment for easily accessing software tools or applications running under a Graphical User Interface and can provide communication among meeting participants. This requires definition of (1) objects to manage the meeting and participant sessions, (2) applications that can run under these sessions, and (3) data storage and data communications capability that handle both private and shared data. This article suggests that a GDSS system can operate under three layers of software: an application-layer, a GDSS environment, and an operating system environment. It defines the structure and behavior of the GDSS environment layer in terms of (1) objects and messages used to communicate among these objects and (2) a message passing protocol between the GDSS environment and the other two layers. These specifications result in an architecture that is sufficiently modular to enable addition of various GDSS software. This article also discusses a prototype implementation of the architecture that is developed in Smalltalk and runs under Microsoft's Windows 3.0.     

A support to consensus reaching in group decision

This paper outlines an interactive aid that facilitates consensus in cooperative decision making or policy recommendation. The approach draws on a previous result which shows that a multiple ranking can be derived from a single relational preference system. In other words, the preferences expressed individually by each member of a group may lead to either unanimous or a majority consensus, with or without concession from individual members.     

Cooperation support through the use of group decision systems

This article considers the development of the group decision support system (GDSS) field both from organizational and technological perspectives. The growing importance of teamwork, lateral coordination, and activities integration inside modern business organizations is emphasized. Technological and knowledge specialization, quick transformation of business environments, reduction of response time, and so on, are some of the reasons that can explain the renewed relevance of teamwork. Also, the development of information technology (IT) is analyzed in relation to the role it is assuming in supporting group activities. Research in the GDSS field is then introduced. A proposal concerning the identification of three different phases in GDSS studies is developed, ranging from decision rooms to distributed systems. Each phase shows distinctive research topics and application fields, together with different organizational goals. Results of these developments are the growth of potential application areas of GDSS tools. These theoretical considerations, together with empirical experiences coming from the study of a real manufacturing environment (an IBM plant where group cooperation plays a fundamental role for production efficiency), constitute the basis for a research GDSS prototype (GROUPS). Prototype features are designed to support executives in facing production‐planning problems through an improvement in communications and in knowledge representation.     

A framework for interactive multiple criteria group decision support

An interactive framework is developed for multiple criteria group decision support. Decision makers are asked to specify aspiration and reservation levels to establish a preferred range for the value of each objective for each decision maker. Group and individual solutions are generated as a function of these levels. Decision makers are asked to react to current solutions by revising their aspiration and reservation levels and additional solutions are generated. The framework is both simpler and more flexible than previous approaches.     

Distributed group support: The effects of voting Tools on group perceptions of media richness

Decision groups distributed both temporally and geographically encounter a multitude of coordination problems. This experiment used a set of GDSS Tools called List and Vote, and alternative interaction management procedures, as mechanisms for coordinating distributed groups using a computer conferencing system and for structuring group processes. The study examined media richness using a modification of the adjective-pairs developed by Zmud, Lind, and Young (1990). The Tools significantly improved subjective perceptions of media richness. The attempted manipulation of the presence or absence of sequential procedures for the most part was not effective in creating significant differences in group perception of media richness.     

Distributed group support systems: Social dynamics and design dilemmas

A “distributed group support system”; includes decision support tools and structures embedded within a computer‐mediated communication system rather than installed in a “decision room.”; It should support groups who are distributed in space but not time ("synchronous”; groups), as well as “asynchronous”; groups whose members participate at different times. Pilot studies conducted in preparation for a series of controlled experiments are reviewed in order to identify some of the problems of implementing such a system. Many of the means used by groups meeting in the same place at the same time to coordinate their activities are missing. Embedding decision support tools within a different communications medium and environment changes the way they “work.”; Speculations are presented about software tools and structuring or facilitation procedures that might replace the “missing”; coordination channels.     

On-line group decision support by preference programming in traffic planning

Preference programming is a decision support technique which allows decision makers to give preference statements of weight ratios in terms of intervals instead of single numbers in a value tree. Individual preferences, based on single number statements, can be combined into an interval model, and the negotiation proceeds by focusing on decreasing the width of the intervals. The preference programming approach was evaluated with a realistic traffic planning problem by using the HIPRE 3+ Group Link software. The results from nine test groups indicate that preference programming is an operational group decision support technique which initiates negotiations and efficiently directs the discussion towards issues which are relevant in reaching a consensus.     

MINI CLUBMAN亮相中国

MINI汽车以其经典可爱的外形,在中国一直受到女性消费者青睐,借由MINI CLUBMAN的推出,希望能够加大男性消费者的比例,增强男性消费者的偏好度,并且推动中国市场的销售,对于MINI来说,这无疑是一个巨大的挑战。     

Patterns of inter-organizational purchasing: Evolution of consortia-based purchasing amongst GP fundholders

In the last few years there have been considerable changes in the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. Arguably the most significant of these has been the introduction of competition into health care with the split of the health service into purchasers and providers of care. Central to this development has been the introduction of General Practice fundholding, whereby practices purchase health care for their patients directly from competing suppliers. Those practices that have become fundholders have faced considerable challenges in developing their purchasing function given the complexities of contracting within the context of the NHS internal market. Although one of the original aims of GP fundholding was to facilitate locally responsive purchasing, such have been the complexities of contracting that many fundholding practices have attempted to reduce the managerial demands of purchasing through membership of purchasing consortia. Based on an in-depth study of GP fundholders across Scotland, this paper explores the development of consortia-based purchasing in terms of the managerial implications for the participant practices of purchasing through such inter-organizational networks.     

Re-engineering the purchasing function

Purchasing is increasingly being viewed as a key strategic function with numerous articles describing programmes or technologies that can be implemented to help a firm achieve competitive advantage. However, what is lacking is research that focuses on the individuals who will be responsible for implementing these initiatives. This article considers the development of the purchasing function within a multinational aerospace company and applies Maister's Professional Service Firm model in an operational manner to outline the changing roles and responsibilities of the procurement function. This framework not only illustrates how planning and organising issues can be addressed using the concepts developed by Maister, but also provides an illustration of how one model propounded by management educators can provide a foundation for enhancing organisational performance.     

A different perspective on consumer engagement: exploring the experience of using health apps to support healthier food purchasing

ABSTRACT

Healthy food purchasing behaviour may be facilitated through the use of health apps if used for the necessary time period. However, little is known on the factors that influence the user experience and facilitate or impede their continued use. The purpose of the present research is to explore the lived experience of using a health app to support healthier food purchasing behaviour. Findings identify the presence of behaviour change motivation and anticipated effort levels as drivers of app engagement. It appeared that behavioural, cognitive and emotional dimensions of engagement may influence one another, driven by contextual influences, to simultaneously contribute to the intrinsic experience of engagement. The research makes practical and theoretical contributions to the consumer engagement literature and highlights the need to focus on understanding and capturing the specific engagement context to better understand engagement.