مدیریت عرضه و تدارکات الکترونیکی: ایجاد ارزش افزوده در زنجیره تامین

The increasing emphasis on supply chain management is creating a greater focus on the supply management link in the supply chain. This focus will become even more intense as firms continue to adopt e-procurement strategies to leverage the competitive advantages of the Internet. Supply managers need to understand the impact of technology and gain competency in making a business case for e-procurement. The implications are profound for the industrial marketer.

“Supply chain management” has exploded onto the business scene as one of corporate management's major concerns over the past decade. The reasons are clear. Fully 70% of a firm's sales revenues are, on average, spent on supply chain-related activities from material purchases to the distribution and service of finished products to the final customer. As the world's economy becomes increasingly competitive, sustaining competitiveness and the resulting profitability depends less on the ability to raise prices. Instead, firms need to compete on the basis of product innovation, higher quality, and faster response times, all of which must be delivered, in most cases simultaneously and always at the lowest costs attainable. Those competitive dimensions cannot be delivered without an effectively managed supply chain. Firms with the most competitive supply chains are and will continue to be the big winners in contemporary business. The supply chain “encompasses all activities associated with the flow and transformation of goods from the raw materials stage through to the end user, as well as associated information flows… Supply Chain Management is the integration of these activities through improved supply chain relationships to achieve sustainable competitive advantage” [1]. The definition suggests that all of the links in the supply chain must be strong and well integrated. However, it is argued here that the key link, the one that sets the foundation for the others, is supply management1 on the input end of the chain [2]. It is the link in the supply chain that serves as the boundary-spanning activity on the input end of the business where the supplier base is built based on the suppliers' ability to help the firm deliver on the competitive dimensions. It is where industrial marketers come face to face with the demands of the buying firm's supply chain. The increasing emphasis on supply chain management has sharpened top management's focus on the valued-added potential of supply management. A recent survey suggests that 76% of CEOs expect supply management to contribute to shareholder value as firms continue to move toward more outsourcing [3]. The potential impact on competitiveness and profitability is enormous because the average manufacturing firm spends about 50% of its sales revenue on the purchases of goods and services needed to produce its final product. It is at the supply end of the supply chain where most of the expenditures on supply chain activities exist. This increasing emphasis on supply management, rather than on the more traditional “purchasing,” requires that the professional supply manager move beyond the typical transaction focus of purchasing where price and availability were the key factors to be considered in the purchase decision. The “new basics” of supply management require that supply managers take a more strategic view of what they do. Those new basics include a comprehensive understanding of target costing, value engineering, supplier development, and electronic procurement [3]. The first three are not really new, having existed as an implicit part of supply management for some time. It is more accurate to say they are being rediscovered. It is electronic procurement, the productive use of the Internet to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the supply end of the supply chain, that is new. Strategic supply management has the potential for significant value creation for the firm. Business professionals who have long been involved in supply management understand its power to create value. The emergence of e-procurement in the last few years is creating a higher profile for supply management, boosting its visibility to top management. The challenge to those operating on the supply end of the supply chain is to make a convincing business case for what they do. Although CEOs expect supply management to contribute to shareholder value, effective supply managers need to get comfortable with the language of top management to communicate how that value is created. The move to e-procurement provides a unique opportunity for supply managers for two reasons. First, the application of technology to boost competitiveness and profitability is on the agenda of any forward-thinking CEO. Second, the application of technology to supply management, where firms spend most operating dollars, is focusing more top-management attention on that issue. A recent study by Deloitte Consulting of 200 global firms indicates that 30% have begun implementing at least a basic e-procurement solution whereas 61% are either planning or are considering an implementation [4]. Making a business case for e-procurement requires that the supply manager understand the concept of economic value added (EVA), considered a comprehensive financial measure of value creation. In addition to using EVA to convince top management of the efficacy of an e-procurement strategy, the supply manager can make an important contribution to a missing ingredient in the overall supply chain management movement—a method to measure total economic value across the supply chain [3]. This article begins with an overview of the purchasing process. A definition of e-procurement is offered and its role in the purchasing process explained. Several approaches to e-procurement are included and the benefits of an e-procurement strategy identified. The discussion then turns to how e-procurement can have a positive effect on EVA. The article ends with a discussion of the implications for industrial marketers. As traditional purchasing evolves to the more comprehensive supply management, it is important that the industrial marketer—suppliers and potential suppliers of industrial buyers—understand the new demands on supply management. Those suppliers who can help the supply manager make a business case for e-procurement, one of the new basics of supply management, will be those who solidify their positions as part of a firm's valued supplier base.

Forward-looking top executives are anxious to leverage the power of technology to improve the competitive position of their firms. At the same time, they are becoming increasingly aware of the power of effective supply management because it is at the input end of the supply chain that 50% or more of the firm's sales revenue is spent to help support company operations. It is the coming together of those two forces that has brought e-procurement center stage as the most significant development in supply management in recent years. The impact of Internet technology on what has been traditionally called the purchasing process has been pervasive, starting with how suppliers and the internal members of the firm's buying team get involved with the specification development process to the systematic collection of data to completely and objectively evaluate supplier performance. Given the potential that e-procurement holds for making a significant contribution to overall corporate strategy, it is incumbent on the supply manager to be able to make a business case for its adoption. Supply managers need to be comfortable speaking the language of top management by using financial measures to make their case. Perhaps the most comprehensive measure they can use is EVA. The EVA components of revenue, costs, and assets may all be affected by an e-procurement strategy. Applying EVA will also allow the supply manager to contribute to a missing ingredient in the overall move to more effective supply chain management—a method to measure the value creation across the supply chain. Since industrial marketers interact with the buying firm's supply chain on the input end of the chain, the implications of the emergence of e-procurement are clear. Increasingly, supply managers will be looking for suppliers who can help them create value for their firms through effective e-procurement.