Search results

This paper explores the strategies adopted by purchasing firms to streamline relationships with suppliers amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

This study employed a multiple case study method and conducted 42 semi-structured interviews with procurement managers from six firms in the United Arab Emirates.

This study reveals six helpful strategies that purchasing firms can undertake to streamline supplier relationship management (SRM) in the wake of COVID-19. Precisely, purchasing firms are revising supply chain costs, planning orders in advance, sharing critical information with suppliers, planning major contingencies, developing a robust relationship with suppliers (e.g. partnership) and finally, improving the supplier's visibility.

This study comes with certain limitations. First, the results are based on a limited number of 42 interviewees. Hence, the study’s results cannot be generalized to a broader population. Second, the data were collected based on the cause and effect relationship.

The findings of this study can help purchasing firms learn and use new appropriate strategies to manage the relationship with their suppliers in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

This study contributes to SRM literature by unveiling six distinct strategies (such as revising supply chain costs, planning orders in advance, sharing critical information, etc.) that purchasing firms have employed to develop a robust and healthy working relationship with the suppliers in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Power plant projects are very complex and encounter serious cost overruns worldwide. Their cost overrun risks are not independent but interrelated in many cases, having structural relationships among each other. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to establish the complex structural relationships of risks involved.

In total, 76 published articles from the previous literature are reviewed using the content analysis method. Three risk networks in different phases of power plant projects are depicted based on literature review and case studies. The possible methods of solving these risk networks are also discussed.

The study finds critical cost overrun risks and develops risk networks for the procurement, civil and mechanical works of power plant projects. It identifies potential models to assess cost overrun risks based on the developed risk networks. The literature review also revealed some research gaps in the cost overrun risk management of power plants and similar infrastructure projects.

This study will assist project risk managers to understand the potential risks and their relationships to prevent and mitigate cost overruns for future power plant projects. It will also facilitate decision-makers developing a risk management framework and controlling projects’ cost overruns.

The study presents conceptual risk networks in different phases of power plant projects for comprehending the root causes of cost overruns. A comparative discussion of the relevant models available in the literature is presented, where their potential applications, limitations and further improvement areas are discussed to solve the developed risk networks for modeling cost overrun risks.

The ecosystem concept has attracted attention in information system research to explain business competition, innovation and many other emerging phenomena. Existing studies focus more on a single ecosystem type or a single ecosystem goal and pay little attention to the ecosystem’s evolution. The objective of the study is to investigate the factors that impact the evolution of the information ecosystem (IE) to gain a better understanding of strategic thinking.

The IE involves many actors, so the multi-case study approach is conducted with purposeful sampling to recruit all the significant ecosystem actors. The collected qualitative data are analyzed by coding data, exploring data relationships and structuring pattern steps; institutional theory is used as a theoretical framework.

The results demonstrate that industry practices, laws and regulations, new actors and the mimetic pressure of outsourcers drive the growth of the ecosystem. Strategy intention, cost pressure and normative pressure all contribute to the IE’s evolution.

The concept of ecosystems has attracted attention in information system research. The study investigates the factors contributing to the evolution of the IE from an institutional theory perspective. Our suggestion is that new players can find a niche in offering information technology (IT)/ information services (IS)-related solutions to survive in the ecosystem; however, they need to pay attention to the normative pressure.

As digital procurement continues to transform heavily as a value center and create new business models by linking businesses with a web of external partners, the full path to achieving such an all-encompassing thing is unknown. Thus, the study aims to explore the research gap through an exhaustive bibliometric and systematic literature review on the Digital procurement theme in the supply chain domain.

This study is a qualitative and quantitative analysis of this field, using performance analysis and science mapping to examine 583 articles published from 2002 to 2021.

A systematic literature review indicated core topics on “sustainable or green procurement” and “emerging landscape of technology” in the field of study.

Though the Scopus database used for the analysis is the largest, it may not have complete coverage of all published articles in the field of study; thus, this study is a representation of only a sample rather than its entire population.

Outcome is based on the review of the past 20 years’ contribution on the topic starting from 2002 to 2021.

Construction material management plays a significant role in achieving successful project delivery of a construction project. However, ineffective material management is a critical issue in the construction industry, especially in developing economies, of which Sri Lanka is not an exception. Therefore, this study aims to focus on exploring the causes of ineffective material management practices in civil engineering construction projects in Sri Lanka and their impact on successful project delivery.

Furthermore, the literature findings were validated through the preliminary survey. Subsequently, a quantitative research approach was adopted to pursue the research aim. Questionnaire responses were obtained from 215 construction professionals in civil engineering projects who were selected using the judgemental and snowball sampling techniques. Collected data were analysed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) V26 and Microsoft Excel 2016.

Moreover, the study revealed that material price fluctuation, shortage of material in the market, delay in material procurement, inadequate planning and delays in material delivery are the most frequent causes of ineffective material management in civil engineering projects. In addition, it was evidenced that most ineffective material management practices cause both time and cost overruns in civil engineering construction projects. Most respondents emphasized inadequate planning, inadequate qualified and experienced staff, lack of supervision and lack of leadership as the causes for both time and cost overruns.

The study was concluded by proposing strategies for effective material management. Education/training/enlightenment of staff in charge of materials management, use of software like Microsoft Project, Primavera and similar software to eliminate manual errors in material management, and providing clear specifications to suppliers were the most agreed strategies for effective material management in civil engineering construction projects.

This study aims to build on the dynamic capability view by examining dynamic capabilities associated with public value in public procurement.

A qualitative case study approach is used in this study. The interview and secondary data consist of eight cases of value-creating procurement from four public organizations.

The findings connect dynamic capabilities and public value in terms of innovation generation and promotion, well-functioning supplier markets, public procurement process effectiveness, environmental and social sustainability and quality and availability of products or services.

Dynamic capabilities in public procurement are necessary to improve public procurement.

This study extends understanding of how sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities contribute to public value creation in both innovative and less innovative (i.e. ordinary) procurement scenarios.

The purpose of the study is to elicit risk factors that are peculiar to public-private partnership (PPP)-procured mass housing in Nigeria from the expert perspectives in ensuring the success of the scheme thereby reducing housing deficit in the country.

The risk inherent in construction projects had been established through literature in general. The risk in PPP projects is emerging because of the recent acceptance of the procurement option by governments all over the globe. The Nigerian Government has also adopted the procurement option in bridging the housing deficit in the country. This study, therefore, conducts a Delphi survey on the probability of risk occurrence peculiar to PPP mass housing projects (MHPs) in Nigeria. Pragmatic research approach through the mixed method of both quantitative and qualitative methods was adopted for this study. The quantitative method adopts the administration of questionnaires through the Delphi survey, whereas the qualitative method used interviews with the respondents. A two-stage Delphi questionnaire was administered to construction practitioners that cut across academics, the public and the private sectors by adopting convenient sampling techniques and following the Delphi principles and procedures. A total of 63 risk factors were submitted to the expert to rank on a Likert scale of 7 and any risk factors that the mean item score (MIS) falls below the grading scale of the five-point benchmark is deemed not necessary a risk factor associated with PPP MHPs and thereby expunged from the second round of the Delphi Survey. The interview was subsequently applied to the respondents to substantiate the risk factors that are peculiar to PPP-procured mass housing in the study area.

The findings show that risk factors such as maintenance frequent than expected, life of facility shorter than anticipated and maintenance cost higher than expected fall below 5.0 benchmark with MIS of 4.64 and 4.55 indicating that the risk factors are not peculiar to PPP mass housing in Nigeria.

The implication for practise of this research is that these risk factors provide the PPP stakeholders with the comprehensive checklists that can aid in developing PPP risk assessment guidelines in the sector though both partners should be aware of the dynamic nature of risk because new ones might be emerging.

The authors hereby declare that the research findings are a product of a thorough research conducted in the study area and have not to be submitted or published by another person or publisher and due acknowledgement was made where necessary.

The paper aims to propose an innovative two-stage decision model to address the sustainable-resilient supplier selection and order allocation (SSOA) problem in the single-valued neutrosophic (SVN) environment.

First, the sustainable and resilient performances of suppliers are evaluated by the proposed integrated SVN-base-criterion method (BCM)-an acronym in Portuguese of interactive and multi-criteria decision-making (TODIM) method, with consideration of the uncertainty in the decision-making process. Then, a novel multi-objective optimization model is formulated, and the best sustainable-resilient order allocation solution is found using the U-NSGA-III algorithm and TOPSIS method. Finally, based on a real-life case in the automotive manufacturing industry, experiments are conducted to demonstrate the application of the proposed two-stage decision model.

The paper provides an effective decision tool for the SSOA process in an uncertain environment. The proposed SVN-BCM-TODIM approach can effectively handle the uncertainties from the decision-maker’s confidence degree and incomplete decision information and evaluate suppliers’ performance in different dimensions while avoiding the compensatory effect between criteria. Moreover, the proposed order allocation model proposes an original way to improve sustainable-resilient procurement values.

The paper provides a supplier selection process that can effectively integrate sustainability and resilience evaluation in an uncertain environment and develops a sustainable-resilient procurement optimization model.

This study aims to address the current gap in knowledge of indirect procurement performance management. It attempts to argue the need for a specific and tailored performance management approach for the indirect procurement function that incorporates a balanced approach, beyond financial measures.

The case study approach evaluated key performance indicators from a balanced scorecard (BSC) perspective in the development of a performance measurement system (PMS) for a Middle Eastern university’s indirect procurement division. It initially reviewed the literature to assess potential indicators for this context. It used vision and mission statement analysis alongside expert interviews to augment the literature. The candidate indicators were then evaluated and ranked by an expert panel through applying a four-round Delphi technique.

Twenty-nine procurement-specific indicators are suggested in a BSC framework. The five highest-ranked indicators were not in the financial perspective unlike other BSC studies in the broader field of supply chain management (SCM).

The study suggests a framework and indicators for a procurement PMS for practitioners to consider. It also highlights there is no one-size-fits-all and that organisations need to tailor PM to the organisation and divisional strategy and operational needs. This study aids the development of guidelines for executives and procurement management that wish to develop indicators and a PMS.

This study contributes to knowledge by partly addressing the under-researched field of indirect procurement PM. The literature suggested that various roles in SCM require specific PM indicators. This study puts forward a BSC framework with 29 indicators specifically for indirect procurement. Fourteen of these indicators were derived from non-literature sources. This study enhances knowledge and contributes to the limited debate and evidence on indirect procurement PM and the broader PM literature.

Efforts to implement supplier selection and order allocation (SSOA) approaches in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are quite restricted due to the lack of affordable and simple-to-use strategies. Although there is a huge amount of literature on SSOA techniques, very few studies have attempted to address the issues faced by SMEs and develop strategies from their point of view. The purpose of this study is to provide an effective, practical, and time-tested integrated SSOA framework for evaluating the performance of suppliers and allocating orders to them that can improve the efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs.

This study was conducted in two stages. First, an integrated supplier selection approach was designed, which consists of the analytic hierarchy process and newly developed measurement alternatives and ranking using compromise solution to evaluate supplier performance and rank them. Second, the Wagner-Whitin algorithm is used to determine optimal order quantities and optimize inventory carrying and ordering costs. The joint impact of quantity discounts is also evaluated at the end.

Insights derived from the case study proved that the proposed approach is capable of assisting purchase managers in the SSOA decision-making process. In addition, this case study resulted in 10.89% total cost savings and fewer stock-out situations.

Criteria selected in this study are based on the advice of the managers in the selected manufacturing organizations. So the methods applied are limited to manufacturing SMEs. There were some aspects of the supplier selection process that this study could not explore. The development of an effective, reliable supplier selection procedure is a continuous process and it is indeed certainly possible that there are other aspects of supplier selection that are more crucial but are not considered in the proposed approach.

Purchase managers working in SMEs will be the primary beneficiaries of the developed approach. The suggested integrated approach can make a strategic difference in the working of SMEs.

A practical SSOA framework is developed for professionals working in SMEs. This approach will help SMEs to manage their operations effectively.