Development of Indirect Sourcing and Procurement: Case Studies from Finnish Industry
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School of Science |
Master's thesis
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Instructions for the author
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Date
2013
Department
Major/Subject
Teollisuustalous
Mcode
TU-22
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
97 + [2]
Series
Abstract
The main focus of this thesis paper is to study management activities related to indirect sourcing and procurement (INS) in manufacturing companies. Through combining literature review with in-depth interviews conducted in Finnish companies, we were able to provide answers to the following focal research questions:. 1. What are reasons to manage INS as an independent function?. 2. How are the results of INS projects being measured?. 3. How should INS manage the relationship with internal stakeholders?. 4. What are the opportunities and challenges of INS management?. 5. How can sourcing and procurement functions support innovation?. Results of this study indicate that companies are able to achieve cost savings through successful indirect spend management. INS projects can contribute to internal processes optimization, and with the support of INS, the additional workload of managing indirect items can be released from non-purchasing internal departments. Finding innovative ways of managing S&P categories and working with internal stakeholders can push process improvement. In addition, systematically designed events with suppliers can bring resource to innovation projects from external resources. The overall focus of this study is not to provide generalized models of INS, but to build profound understanding on the relevant fields through an explorative path of information collection and analysis.Description
Supervisor
Eloranta, EeroThesis advisor
Takala, Minna-LiisaKeywords
indirect sourcing, purchasing, centralization, sourcing and innovation