Performance improvement of supplier-side e-tender-driven marketing process

Abstract

Purpose

Considerable amount of purchases in business-to-business (B2B) markets make through the tendering process. As technology keeps driving B2B procurement, both the supplier/contractor and buyer firms have settled down in their respective roles in the electronic-tendering environment. Researchers have ignored the supplier-side e-tender-driven marketing process that might lead to substantively successful financial performance. The purpose of this study is to improve the performance of an e-tender-driven marketing process of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) incorporating the stakeholder's inputs.

Design/methodology/approach

Discrete event simulation modelling (DESM) has been used as a methodology to model, analyse and improve the process with the involvement of stakeholders at every stage of the study. Different scenarios are analysed to identify the near-optimal scenario based on agreed-upon key performance indicators.

Findings

Scenario that incorporated man-power sharing and eliminating avoidable activities gives the near-optimal solution for implementation.

Research limitations/implications

This study highlights that better insights can be gained by adopting the process-oriented view of the marketing–operations interface. Embracing a stakeholder-based consultative approach gives research a more practical outlook and reduces the gap between theory and practice. Suggestions for further research are provided.

Practical implications

B2B organizations, where lines between marketing and operations are blurred, can improve their marketing processes by implementing operations research tools.

Originality/value

This study provides an attempt to improve the performance of a supplier-side e-tender-driven marketing process of an OEM using the DESM methodology incorporating stakeholder's inputs.

Citation

Gupta, P., Pranjal, P., Bera, S., Sarkar, S. and Sachan, A. (2021), "Performance improvement of supplier-side e-tender-driven marketing process", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 70 No. 8, pp. 2032-2051. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-11-2019-0534