Purchasing Management Research Articles

Exploring the Potentials of Robotic Process Automation: A Review

We are living in a world where every person wants to speed up their work with minimal effort. Sometimes we have irksome and repetitive tasks that require a lot of labour and time, and the solution to our trouble is automation. In 1946, the term "Automation" was coined. Now we can see that it has immensely impacted our lives, not a single day goes by without making use of it. This review article explores the ideas, uses, advantages, and difficulties of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in an effort to give a thorough understanding of the field as it is today. This paper focuses on the revolution of automation in every field and the way it helps boost business, improve customer satisfaction, and relieve staff. It delves into the diverse applications of RPA in different industries. It will elucidate the area of implementation and the use cases, challenges, and benefits. It will also examine the sectors deploying RPA, such as banking and finance, healthcare, education, manufacturing, purchase and supply management, and digital forensics, and the outcomes observed by them. In conclusion, the review paper serves as a comprehensive analysis of the potential of RPA by examining its components, implementation, efficiency, and use cases in different industries. It focuses on understanding the idea behind RPA, its implementation, the features of RPA that can help them strengthen their business growth, such as affordability, reliability, scalability, consistency, compliance, and accuracy, and the significant opportunities for streamlining business processes.

A contingency-configurational view of purchasing operations: The mediating role between supplier relationship and firm performance

The literature has considered purchasing and supply management activities from a strategic perspective, but the tactical role of purchasing operations has yet to be explored. Purchasing operations represent the internal modus operandi for transactions with suppliers, comprising three main activities – purchasing transactions, purchasing document management, and purchasing assessment – and supportive activities like purchasing knowledge management. Following the contingency theory, we hypothesize that these internal activities mediate between external supplier relationship management and firm performance (financial, customer and delivery performance). Complementarily, we adopt the configurational theory to hypothesize that this link between external and internal activities can be combined to increase firm performance. To test this contingency-configurational view of purchasing operations, we conducted a quantitative survey with 234 companies. The regression results of the contingency analysis show that purchasing operations activities have a full mediation role in most relationships between supplier relationship management and firm performance, while knowledge management positively moderates the association between purchasing assessment and customer performance. Moreover, the cluster analysis for the configurational analysis shows that supplier relationship management and purchasing operations follow maturity levels of joint implementation of internal and external activities. Our findings shed light on the purchasing operations by defining the activities representing this concept and showing their role in supply management. We also contribute to practice by proposing an integrative system that helps managers organize the firm's purchasing and supply management activities.

Sustainable Performance of Green Garment Organizations in Bangladesh: Effect of Green Supply Chain Management.

This study aims to investigate how the three aspects of business sustainability performance—economic, environmental, and social performance—are impacted by the five components of green supply chain management (GSCM). Eco-design, green purchasing, green manufacturing, green marketing and internal environment management are the five areas of GSCM that this study addresses. Using cross-sectional survey data gathered from green ready- made garment (RMG) firms in Bangladesh, a research model was developed and tested by applying structural equation modeling. GSCM is positively related to three components of sustainable performance. The outcomes are critical in demonstrating the value of GSCM in enhancing the sustainable performance of green manufacturing businesses like RMG in Bangladesh.

Optimization of the home energy system in presence of price fluctuation and intermittent renewable energy sources in grid-connected and islanded modes

The home energy management (HEM) system is a critical tool for managing energy consumption and minimizing the related costs in a building. A smart renewable-based HEM system that participates in the demand response program is modeled in this work and its operations in both grid-connected and islanded modes are studied. This HEM receives its energy from wind turbines in islanded mode and upstream grid in grid-connected mode. This system also includes a diesel generator in the case of wind generation insufficiency. In the connected mode, electricity price is uncertain and in islanded mode, wind generation is uncertain, which are taken into account in modeling. The goal of this paper is the minimization of the electricity bill cost for the households. The studied system also contains a controllable appliance to simulate participation in the demand response program. Moreover, the electric vehicles (EVs) in this system operate in vehicle-to-home (V2H) mode which means the battery in the EV can supply some of the needed energy if needed. Also, the kernel search optimization algorithm is utilized to improve system operation in presence of some uncertainties. The impact of applying the optimization is assessed to validate this approach. The optimization is also done in the grid-connected because the price fluctuates throughout the day and proper management of power purchase from the grid can greatly reduce the cost of energy. The system behavior is studied separately in four seasons with both operation modes, and with and without the optimization. The results indicate that using the optimization has decreased the energy costs in connected mode by 13.18 % and islanded mode by 9.55 %, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed modeling and optimization algorithm.

A social network theory perspective on the potentials of enterprise social media for purchasing and supply management

ABSTRACT The use of enterprise social media (ESM) within purchasing and supply management has not been studied extensively so far. Therefore, based on the social network theory for an internal individual and cross-department consideration, five in-depth cases consisting of 22 expert interviews were conducted with European manufacturing companies. The results reveal numerous benefits of ESM that improve the flow of information and organisational exchange through higher information transparency, which leads to enhanced knowledge generation and company-wide dissemination. Besides, the strategic orientation of the purchasing and supply management department can be enhanced, while reducing information exchange and coordination efforts. In doing so, the paper extends the current understanding of the potentials of ESM for purchasing and supply management and provides a conceptual framework. Likewise, several negative aspects of ESM, such as information overflow, misbalanced information, or cultural and personal differences in content generation and consumption are elaborated.

Guest Editorial: A purchasing and supply management view of supply resilience for better crisis response

Purchasing and supply management (PSM) has been under great pressure since the COVID-19 pandemic first shook the world. Companies and public organizations faced new kinds of supply disruptions, and at a scale never seen before. New response abilities were required from PSM to address these challenges and disruptions. This Editorial introduces four articles in the Special Issue on “PSM learning from the pandemic: transforming for better crisis management.” These empirical contributions show how companies could build resilience to survive and be competitive during the COVID-19 pandemic. This Editorial discusses how supply resilience should be conceptualized in post-pandemic supply chains adopting a PSM perspective. We suggest that supply resilience practices should be developed and planned according to whether they strengthen existing supply chain relationships (bridging) or establish new ones (buffering) and whether they are short-term (temporary) or long-term (permanent) orientated. Furthermore, three supply resilience capabilities, absorbing, responding and capitalizing, should be prioritized in supply chains for responding to and recovering from global crises and disruptions. Supply resilience is key to crisis response and recovery, and PSM has an essential role in building and sustaining that resilience.

PELATIHAN MANAJEMEN UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN PELAKU USAHA MIKRO DAN KECIL (UMK) BIDANG KULINER DI KOTA BANDUNG

The target of this training is to increase the ability of micro and small entrepreneurs in the culinary field with the knowledge of finance, marketing, and production so that they can improve their business strategies and business management, increase sales and profits of their companies in a sustainable manner, develop and increase the size of their companies especially during COVID-19 pandemic. The training method is carried out online and offline. There are 3 stages carried out, namely: before, during, and after the training. Prior to the training, prospective participants are selected based on the criteria for the type of business and domicile that have been determined, namely in the city of Bandung. After that, training was carried out for 12 meeting sessions with varied topics covering management functions that are often applied in a company. The materials provided are Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (SWOT) Analysis and Business Model Canvas (BMC), Product Development Strategy and Digital Marketing, Brand and Copyright, Calculating Cost of Production, Making Financial Reports, Making Product Photos, Workplace Management: 5S Program, Health and Work Safety Program, Raw Material Purchase Management, Credit Management, Product Promotion Through Social Media, Product Quality Management. After the training had been completed, the trainers continued to provide regular assistance regarding the application of the knowledge that had been given during the training, as well as providing input on what Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) had implemented in their business.

Cake-Hut: A Novel E-Commerce Platform for Booking and Purchasing Cakes Online

This research paper proposes an e-commerce cake shopping system: ‘Cake-Hut’ which will enable customers and cake bakery owners to handle their regular online selling and buying activities. Cake Hut is a Web Application where people can purchase customized cakes online from their favorite cake bakery according to their preferred designs or else, they can choose pre-defined cake designs from set of designs which were uploaded by sellers. The system is developed to replace the existing cake purchasing and order management methods, making it more effective and efficient while also addressing user needs. Agile software development methodology approach has been used to develop and test the system in a systematic manner, which includes the development phases of planning, design, and testing and implementation. This system is developed using React JS for frontend development and Express JS for backend development, MongoDB database, and runs on Node JS runtime environment.

Determinants of dry bulk shipping freight rates: Considering Chinese manufacturing industry and economic policy uncertainty

The past decades have witnessed the rapid development of China's manufacturing industry, which has established China's status as a manufacturing and trading power. Along with the impressive transportation volume of global trade, Chinese and global shipping markets have been further developed. Both trade volumes and freight rates will be impacted by the import-export market as well as price fluctuation. The freight rates of the dry bulk shipping market are our main concern, whether they are influenced by Chinese manufacturing industry. Moreover, the relationships between the Chinese and global shipping freight rates of dry bulk in every sub-sector are discussed by employing Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operation (LASSO) regression. Besides, the effects of China's economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on freight rates are explored. Our data includes the monthly data from July 2012 to August 2021, where the development of the Chinese shipping market and manufacturing industry is represented by the Tianjin Bulk Freight Index (TBI) and China's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI). We find that Chinese PMI only influences freight rates of Panamax and Capesize sub-segments of the global shipping market. Surprisingly, Chinese EPU has no meaningful effect on the freight rates of the dry bulk shipping market due to the lack of shipping characteristics. Our investigation is helpful for shipowners and operators when engaging in dry bulk shipping services and investment decision-making.

Getting back into the swing of things: The adaptive path of purchasing and supply management in enhancing supply chain resilience

The COVID-19 crisis posed significant challenges to global supply chains (SCs) and exposed their vulnerability to disruption. As SCs have evolved into complex structures comprising a multitude of globally dispersed companies that collaborate closely with one another, purchasing and supply management (PSM) have played a key role in addressing the crisis. The existing PSM measures for increasing supply chain resilience (SCRES) were stress tested and it became evident that these methods are applicable only to a limited extent due to their static perspective and their lack of a network character. Thus, this paper examines the role of PSM by identifying implemented response measures. By conducting 40 semi-structured interviews with experts from original equipment manufacturers and first-tier suppliers in the German automotive industry, a comprehensive overview of the industry was obtained. To reflect the network nature of the industry and the adaptive path of PSM, the data analysis is framed by resource dependence theory and the adaptive cycle approach. The results of the study are 25 response measures of PSM to enhance SCRES, categorized into three waves of measures: initial measures upon the occurrence of the disruption, temporary measures during the disruption, and post-disruption measures. In this way, the study contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating that PSM takes on a major role in increasing resilience by implementing diverse response measures. In addition, the study shows that PSM follows the path of an adaptive cycle, and that after the disruption and the initial and temporary measures, PSM adapts, which is reflected in the post-disruption measures. For practitioners, the study provides a list of response measures to increase resilience that can be used to review existing measures or implement new ones.

Open innovation as a practice to enhance sustainable supply chain management in SMEs

ABSTRACT Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can take advantage of existing market limitations by offering new sustainable technologies and business models. The literature on open innovation examines the capabilities of firms to integrate external actors in order to create value. In this context, the research highlights the need to understand practices, the processes implemented and the interfaces between certain internal functions and suppliers of SMEs. Our study is based on SMEs in the textile industry and allows us to observe the practices of sustainable purchasing and supply management in a type of organisation and an industry that are not often addressed in the literature. Our results highlight open innovation as a practice within a sustainable supply chain that offers opportunities for mutual gain and learning without creating imbalance between customer and supplier and by developing sustainable purchasing.

지역협회 단위 판유리 공동구매 및 수·배송 물류운영

Purpose This study aims to propose ways to reduce the cost of purchasing negative plate glass through the group purchase of required amounts under the leadership of local associations of processed plate glass and plans to improve the profit structure of local processed plate glass manufacturers through logistics management base on joint transportation and delivery. Methods A model was developed for the costs of purchasing negative plate glass, regular transportation and delivery cost, costs of returning vehicles to the starting point after regular transportation and delivery. Results A reduction in purchase price and logistics costs through the application and analysis of numbers in cases of group purchase and joint logistics for negative plate glass under the leadership of local association by zones proposed in the study compared with old cases in which the member companies of a local association purchased negative plate glass, transported and delivered and had vehicles returned after transportation and delivery separately. Conclusion Group purchase and logistics management based on joint transportation and delivery under the leadership of a local association of processed plate glass are expected to improve the profit structure through the reduction of purchase prices, transportation and delivery costs, and returning vehicle costs for the member firms.

Managing from a distance in international purchasing and supply

International purchasing and supply management (PSM) teams have long faced the visibility and understandability challenges of managing geographically dispersed and culturally distant suppliers. Problems arising from inadequate monitoring and control over suppliers can be attributed to geographical and cultural distance, capability gaps, weak institutions, and supply market dynamism. With transaction costs theory as our lens, we examine how international geographically and culturally distant purchasing and supply management (PSM) teams control emerging economy suppliers with formal management controls. We use interview survey data on 339 international customer-Chinese supplier relationships using supplier perceptions of the extent to which performance measurement and monitoring practices are used by their primary customer in the purchase reorder decision and control. The results demonstrate that the cultural and, to a lesser extent, geographical distance between the customer and the supplier is associated with more extensive use of formal management controls. Also, we find the relationship between geographical or cultural distance and the importance of performance measurement is strengthened for suppliers of complex components.

University Students’ Perceptions of Food Waste in the UAE

This study examines the relationship between food waste and gender, income, and where students live. The research aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2, 11, and 12; moreover, the massive global food shortage in 2022 due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine makes saving food a priority. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 201 students at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). A large proportion of the respondents were female (71.6%). The most common reasons cited by the respondents for food waste were over purchasing (31% of respondents), attitude (26.5%), and poor management (24%), while the most common reasons for having extra-cooked food were expecting guests (46%) and wanting to eat the food that had been prepared (35%). The majority of the respondents (57%) agreed that young people waste more food than older people. The methodology used in this study could be adopted by other researchers around the globe, and the output may help in developing policies and designing educational material for food waste intervention programs. Beneficiaries may therefore include food producers/consumers, environmental departments, and charitable organizations. The research contributes to the knowledge about food waste, perception, and intervention programs.

Edge intelligence enabled optimal scheduling with distributed price-responsive load for regenerative electric boilers

Heat supply accounts for a substantial amount of terminal energy usage. However, along with price rises in primary energy, there is an urgent need to reduce the average cost of energy consumption during the purchasing of thermal services. Electric heating, an electricity-fed heating production and delivery technology, has been suggested as a promising method for improving heating efficiency, due to the ease of scheduling. However, the traditional centralized operating methods of electricity purchasing rely on explicit physical modeling of every detail, and accurate future predictions, the implementation of which are rarely practical in reality. To facilitate model-free decisions in the field of electricity purchasing, heat storage, and supply management, aimed at cost saving in a real-time price environment, this study proposes a scheduling framework based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) and the existence of responsive users. First, the structure of a distributed heating system fed by regenerative electric boilers (REBs), which facilitate shiftable heat-load control, is introduced. A terminal heat demand response model based on thermal sensation vote (TSV), characterizing the consumption flexibility of responsive users, is also proposed. Second, due to thermal system inertia, the sequential decision problem of electric heating load scheduling is transformed into a specific Markov decision process (MDP). Finally, the edge intelligence (EI) deployed on the demand side uses a twin delayed deterministic policy gradient (TD-3) algorithm to address the action space continuity of electric heating devices. The combination of a DRL strategy and the computing power of EI enables real-time optimal scheduling. Unlike the traditional method, the trained intelligent agent makes adaptive control strategies according to the currently observed state space, thus avoiding prediction uncertainty. The simulation results validate that the intelligent agent responds positively to changes in electricity prices and weather conditions, reducing electricity consumption costs while maintaining user comfort. The adaptability and generalization of the proposed approach to different conditions is also demonstrated.

Exploring opportunism, conflict, noneconomic satisfaction and economic satisfaction in a B2B context – A buyer and seller perspective

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to test the relationships between the antecedents of noneconomic satisfaction and its influence on economic satisfaction from both a seller’s and a purchaser’s perspective.Design/methodology/approach: Purchase and sales managers working for Taiwanese companies were included in the sample. Snowball sampling was applied and a total of 218 purchase managers and 208 sales managers participated in the study. Structural equation modelling was applied to the study.Findings: Opportunism was determined as an antecedent to conflict, while opportunism did not have a negative relationship with noneconomic satisfaction. Conflict was established as having a negative relationship with noneconomic satisfaction, which related positively to economic satisfaction in B2B relationships.Practical implications: The findings give purchase and sales managers insights that enable them to understand how opportunism relates to conflict, how these two antecedents relate to noneconomic satisfaction and how noneconomic satisfaction relates to economic satisfaction in purchase and sales business relationships. The tested model validates the hypothesised relationships between opportunism and conflict, conflict and noneconomic satisfaction, and noneconomic satisfaction and economic satisfaction from both a purchaser’s and a seller’s perspective. However, the negative relationship between opportunism and noneconomic satisfaction in purchaser–seller relationships could not be confirmed.Originality/value: No existing study has focused on relationship marketing in business-to-business relationships from both a purchaser’s and a seller’s perspective to establish whether noneconomic satisfaction functions as a connector between economic satisfaction and opportunism and conflict.

Proposal of a methodology of management of the purchasing process and communication with other areas

In the current context of extreme competitiveness, companies should redirect their efforts to a good service capacity, with a high level of service and the lowest possible total cost. The entire logistics process represents a decisive factor in the company's activity, and the management of purchases in the acquisition of materials and services should be aligned with the strategic objectives of the company as a whole, acting in an integrated manner with the other sectors, in addition to exposing actions guarded by the compliance area to avoid ethical and moral deviations, protecting Corporate Governance. The adequacy of integrity models that meet the rules that comply with current laws has become fundamental in the management of organizations as a strategic way. Therefore, the objective of this study is the implementation of a process model of application of the compliance program and the security of information and data of the company that is of fundamental importance for the acceptance of products or services in the market where they operate, as well as business continuity. The study began with the problem that the failure of communication in the company during internal and external changes can negatively affect the company's results and the conduct of employees. For this, the Inductive Method was elected and thus used a strategic tool such as SWOT analysis, a 5W2H activity mapping tool and PDCA action plan. Thus, the present study can be considered exploratory, of an applied and qualitative nature, in two aspects, bibliographic research and case study. The Research will be by observation and comparison with bibliographic research through a sample of facts identified in the company and reports of employees from various departments, of facts already occurred. Data collection was through meeting and interviewing with the professionals of the companies, reporting on the importance of the theme. We sought to know how to improve communication between the purchasing department with the other departments of the company and with the companies that maintain relationships. The results showed the main tools and compliance mechanism, proposing actions that can be used in practice with the purpose of providing a broad view of the operation of the proposed model, with transparency and ethics, thus increasing the competitiveness of the business.

Implementation of supply management strategies by the pharmacy service in a general hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectiveGiven the global uncertainty faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, health services were forced to adjust inventory management and purchase projections. This publication aims to describe the strategies taken and their impact on the supply chain indicators by the pharmacy service in the management of drug purchases during the pandemic to expose the importance of pharmacist in charge of the supply chain. MethodsThis observational study describes the drug purchasing system in a general hospital and the strategies used to manage drug supply. The actions proposed by the pharmacy department are listed chronologically related to inventory issues and purchasing decisions. The accuracy of the purchase forecast was evaluated by calculating indicators such as the mean absolute standard deviation (MAD) and the variance of the forecast error (MSE). Inventory days and inventory turnover indicators were also compared in pre-pandemic and pre-pandemic periods. FindingsIn general, the forecast error given by MAD and MSE tended to decrease. Specifically, from the 82 drug categories, during the pandemic period, this indicator decreased in 72 (88%), increased in 9 (11%), and remained the same in only 1 (1%) of the categories. In financial terms, comparing the 2018–2019 and 2020–2021 periods, a favorable result was obtained when evaluating the inventory turnover indicators, which decreased by 0.01 points and the days of inventory increased on average by two days. ConclusionsThe implementation and use of these indicators prevented drug shortages, reducing inventory forecast errors. A pharmacist with knowledge in inventory management allows managing a process of continuous improvement and tactics for efficient inventory management without neglecting the benefit to patients or the economic profitability of the service. There were limitations since digital operating systems do not generate centralized or organized data for this type of analysis.

Food-Related Consumer Behavior Endorsing European Food Chain Sustainability—A Marketing Study on the Romanian Consumer

The efforts of regulators and food industry actors to achieve ambitious European sustainability objectives should not only be based on, but also supported by, consumers’ behavior, since customers’ demand has the ability to determine changes in the whole food system. This paper’s systemic approach to customers’ sustainable food-related habits and opinions during purchase, consumption and waste management offers a comprehensive view of their decision criteria, their motivations and their preferred incentives. Researching the Romanian consumer’s sustainable habits yields some results which confirm findings of previous studies, including customers’ distrust of sustainable labels and ecological products being considered too expensive. Meanwhile, other results offer novel insights on the matter, such as distrust in the European Union food policy and the high importance of proximity both for retailers and for recycling facilities. Four customer profiles with different interests and behaviors were identified: the Principled, adopting many sustainable behaviors out of principle, despite their low level of food expenditures; the Wannabes, adopting some fashionable sustainable habits; and the Privileged and the Sceptics, adopting very few sustainable habits, the first to ensure their social and economic status and the second to save some money.

Online Land Registration Using Blockchain

Abstract: If a person wishes to make purchases properties, an intermediary known as a dealer (as in India's old Land Administration system) would help facilitate the transaction by creating and compiling all the necessary physical papers to support a settlement as proof of ownership. A recognized federal department will document the property, and all its qualities will be recorded in a book by the broker before the contract is made. Files may be lost or tampered with in this situation since anybody who has access can access or edit the papers, and that in turn compromises this physical evidence of land ownership. Our suggested smart contract-based solution, on the other hand, is more efficient in terms of time and security, as well as synchronized and less susceptible to distortion or fraud over the course of completing a purchase or asset management process. As a result of a thorough examination of something like the traditional land application procedure, as well as an evaluation of Blockchain's leadership and integrity repair work, as well as the virtualization factor, we have proposed a solution using Blockchain technology.