Supply Chain Management Thesis Plan
IB- Supply Chain Management
1. Practical phenomenon
Purchasing function is getting more and more important and this position is more or less cross-function job. For big organization, however, the trend of purchasing function is centralized or central-led, which means headquarter performs as central purchaser. In this business cycle, agencies perform as important entities. For example, Macintosh (www.macintosh.nl) group is facing the problem of changing the organization. During a few years development, its subsidiaries purchase products from different channels as directly from Great China, from European agency (economical scale and designing advantage), from EU countries, and from Eastern European Union. The process is time consuming and very expensive, and more seriously, all the subsidiaries perform different purchasing standard and process.
To deal with the problems, organizations have to face a lot of problems: • How and when to purchase • Warehousing • Subsidiary job definition • Bargaining power • Cost reduction • And so on
Moreover, the risks change during the purchasing organization transform from decentralized one to centralized one. The risks lead the purchasing organizations to extremely uncertainty.
2. Literature review
Through a review of former literatures, it is hard to find previous researchers achievements in the field of risks in purchasing organization change. During the research of other related areas, the author found that some articles mentioned risks, change management, purchasing organizational structure and case studies in the shoe business. Villers Raymond mentioned some risks and control method in the structures of decentralized structure and centralized system. Juha et al 2008 and Leopoulos et al gave us some information of managing risks in organizational purchasing and buying processes. To control the transforming process, Mclvor et al 2000 provided how to measure and perform purchasing organizational change.
1. Practical phenomenon
Purchasing function is getting more and more important and this position is more or less cross-function job. For big organization, however, the trend of purchasing function is centralized or central-led, which means headquarter performs as central purchaser. In this business cycle, agencies perform as important entities. For example, Macintosh (www.macintosh.nl) group is facing the problem of changing the organization. During a few years development, its subsidiaries purchase products from different channels as directly from Great China, from European agency (economical scale and designing advantage), from EU countries, and from Eastern European Union. The process is time consuming and very expensive, and more seriously, all the subsidiaries perform different purchasing standard and process.
To deal with the problems, organizations have to face a lot of problems: • How and when to purchase • Warehousing • Subsidiary job definition • Bargaining power • Cost reduction • And so on
Moreover, the risks change during the purchasing organization transform from decentralized one to centralized one. The risks lead the purchasing organizations to extremely uncertainty.
2. Literature review
Through a review of former literatures, it is hard to find previous researchers achievements in the field of risks in purchasing organization change. During the research of other related areas, the author found that some articles mentioned risks, change management, purchasing organizational structure and case studies in the shoe business. Villers Raymond mentioned some risks and control method in the structures of decentralized structure and centralized system. Juha et al 2008 and Leopoulos et al gave us some information of managing risks in organizational purchasing and buying processes. To control the transforming process, Mclvor et al 2000 provided how to measure and perform purchasing organizational change.
References: Franco Caron et al (JOURNALOF BUSINESS LOGISTICS. Vol.17. No.l. 1996) Chandrasekhar Das and Rajesh Tyagi (JOURNALOF BUSINESS LOGISTICS, Vol.20,No Lisa M. Ellram (International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 25 No. 8, 1995, pp. 4-23.) Roger Mansfield (Bureaucracy and Centralization: An Examination of Organizational Structure)