Purchasing Management Essay Example

Purchasing has become a vital performance of business

The buying team should perceive goals and business strategy of the organization. Buying and inventory management can have a huge brunt on the company’s bottom line. A component of the buying method is addressing overseas suppliers and e-procurement. The buying personal area unit needed to meet several functions inside the organization. The buying personal area unit is chargeable for some level of approving the attainment of products and services utilized by the organization. The business setting has seen a rise attributable to e-business, outsourcing, and globalization.

Main objective of purchasing and supply chain management relies on the essential feature of supply value chain. It contains methods to develop how organization seeks the materials and services required to manufacture a product or deliver a service to its customers. Supply chain management involves the process of sourcing, procurement, logistics, and customer relations. It additionally comprises decisive parts of synchronization and teamwork with channel partners, which may be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service suppliers, and customers (Pooler & Pooler, 1997).

Why to spend days and nights on research if QualityCustomEssays.com is eager to assist you?
If academic research is too complex for you, do not hesitate to contact us at QualityCustomEssays.com and buy a research paper according to your expectations.

The following are some of the changes occurred in purchasing in the recent years.

Flourish of Technology:

Two major helpful activities in purchasing in today are eProcurement and eSourcing. Ten years ago such terms were unprecedented.

Center-Led procurement:

In the past purchasing departments are responsible for carrying out purchase orders. Now, purchasing departments aim to centralize the provider choice method, not transactions and then hand over to final users or outsourcing. Purchasing grabbed additional pay. After delivering the result by purchasing departments, the responsible managers look for high spending that buying will positively affect. Now purchasing is the resourced fleet management, benefits and travel services after being resourced by other departments.

Social responsibility:

Social responsibility has high priority in the recent years. Management focuses on the environmentally conscious decision and ethical business activity.
Purchasing metrics: Now the management focuses more on the purchasing department accountable for results, because of the widely accepted smart purchasing. Purchasing metrics and dashboards are common.

Strategic Sourcing:

In the past companies, hire consulting firms for strategic sourcing to deduct spending. Now the situation changes; most of the companies have their own in-house strategic sourcing process.
Expanded roles of suppliers: Purchasing department enlarges its suppliers rather than talks with them. They seek for supply base for ideas, better performance, and innovation.

Global Sourcing:

Ten years ago only developed companies were looking for suppliers around the world. However, now situation has changed, and it is very difficult to find the companies that manufacture the products domestically.

Adoption of CPO position:

Now many companies have the position of Chief Procurement Officer.

Recognition of supply chain:

Now firms closely analyze the approach when the material flows into, through, and out of the organization. This ‘supply chain’ focus has people who once simply placed orders currently chargeable for inventory, deposition, outward provision, and distribution (Pooler, & Pooler, 1997).

Leading Changes in the Management of Supply Chain

The development in supply chain is that the results of revolution within the method we tend to read the client and organize ourselves to satisfy demand. The journey of supply chain management over the last twenty years has been exceptional in several respects. Its impact on the method, by which companies and organizations perform business, interface with suppliers and customers, and manage the complete method of satisfying demand – from procurement through to the shelf – has had a profound influence on a company’s ability to vie and generate profit. However, it is the method, which has affected all our lives directly, from our expectations of client servicing, inexpensive quality merchandise, and instant convenience that is, maybe, the foremost putting side of this transformational management observed (Fung, 1999).

Need to buy essay writing? We want to make it all easier for you!

Role of Purchase Department in Organizations

The purchasing personnel is being required to execute many tasks within the firm. The purchasing personnel is responsible for some level of appreciating the attainment of goods and services used by the firm. The purchasing process entails the ability to bargain. Companies do not just seem to be for the lowest price merchandising, but also for suppliers that invest in new technology. The purchasing department must be informed on the purchased goods and finished products. The goal is to find suppliers that help the organization work towards its goal. Procurement software is necessary for medium and large organizations. Software must be integrated throughout the organization.

Today, getting is recognized as having an amazing impact on the lowest line of the organization. It is an immediate impact on the two forces that drive the lowest line: sales and prices. Getting is changing into a core ability of the firm, finding and developing suppliers and transfer in experience that is extremely valued by the organization (Fung, 1999). Getting is usually liable for defrayment over 50 % of all the revenues the firm receives as financial gain from sales. Extra money is commonly spent for purchasing materials and services than for other expenses, and therefore the pay in services is increasing apace. Often, the value of materials is worth the half of all the labor and payroll costs and nearly half the value of labor and all different expenses of running the business. Within the space of services, various sums of money are spent on selling and advertising, legitimacy, data technology, logistics, temporary labor, and different classes. Though the involvement of buying within the service space is very different from the very typical purchase of materials, there is a vital chance for many organizations to avoid wasting cash by involving getting during this space of pay.

Role of Purchase Department in Starbucks

As part of its daily operations, Starbucks has a purchase department. This department acts as the backbone of manufacturing goods and providing services. The following section explains the role of purchase department in Starbucks.

Procuring Materials

The main role of the purchase department in Starbucks is to get all necessary materials mandatory for production or daily operation of the company. For Starbucks, this may embody raw materials like coffee beans, milk, sugar, and paper products. However, it additionally may embody tools, equipment, delivery trucks, or maybe the place of work provides the required tools for the secretaries and sales team (Brown, 2011). In an exceedingly favorable retail atmosphere, the business department is confident as there is continuously an ample quantity of products on the shelves or within the warehouses to have the customers happy and keep the store well-stocked. With a little business, it is particularly necessary to keep the inventory ordering at an inexpensive level; investment, giant amounts of capital in excess stock might end in storage issues and in an exceedingly shortage of capital for alternative expenditures like advertising or analysis and development. Getting additional goods should be overseen by vendors that offer a corporation the things it must operate properly.

Price Evaluation

Purchasing department is responsible for keen evaluation of whether the materials get at a reasonable price in order to maximize the returns for Starbucks. In case of small companies, they do not get discount in bulk because they will purchase lesser quantity of materials. Professionals in the purchasing department of Starbucks communicate with vendors, negotiate superior pricing for huge offers, and do investigations to obtain materials for cheaper price from other sources along with their daily activities (Brown, 2011).

Paperwork and Accounting in Starbucks

Purchasing department within Starbucks is responsible for all the paperwork related to purchasing and delivery of supplies and materials. The purchasing department in the company makes sure that materials from vendors are delivered timely; they create and monitor the orders of purchase and work along with the accounts department and receiving department. To work with these departments, the purchasing professionals can make sure that materials are received and paid for on time (Brown, 2011).

Policy Compliance

The purchasing professionals in the company are responsible for making sure that they fulfill the policies of Starbucks. For example, if staff of any other department places a requirement for office supplies, the purchasing department should ensure that this purchase agrees with the policies and budget approval. Moreover, before purchasing, the department makes sure whether the purchase is according to the overall policies of Starbucks.

Skills Required For a Purchasing Management Professional

Purchasing management having efficient purchasing skills helps to contribute competitiveness of the firm. The major function of purchasing manager is to buy higher quality equipments, goods, and services for the company at highest competitive price. If a person has capabilities, such as better negotiating capability, networking, and dealing with figures, this job could be a better choice to adapt with their capabilities. The person looking for a job in the purchasing area should have a thorough knowledge in data analyzing and must possess better sense in business.

Moreover, professional qualification is vital for this job.

The following are some of the important skills needed for a purchasing professional:

• A thorough knowledge in supply chain, applicable laws and regulations, and relevant tools and technology;
• A capability to contentedly talk about price;
• Have skills and knowledge in negotiation, persuasion, supervisory, active listening, and learning;
• Better understanding about suppliers, capacity, situation of the organization, and influence of economy;
• Have the abilities, such as speech clarity and recognition, problem sensitivity and oral expression and comprehension;
• Deliberate and functioning the details in order to get value for the money spent;
• Confidential data should be understood (Watts, & Hahn, 1992).

Future Trends in Purchasing

Future trends in getting square measure are varied. Among the long run getting trends mentioned are performance benchmarking, long-term agreements, provider managed inventory, and procurement cards. Performance benchmark is the trend that buying will have an effect. By subscribing to a service, reports from the information gathered from questionnaires assist organizations if business departments meet trade standards on price, quality, timeliness, and other factors. Utilization of benchmarking assists organizations in guiding enhancements of processes to attain final goals and objectives (Swan, 2000). Getting particularly in single supply relationships occurs once long agreements square measure created and thereby usually turn into long relationships. With long relationships, a cooperative relationship develops that involves sharing goals, objectives, and vision of every organization one by one also as a collective cluster. Usually long relationships have predetermined costs with the minimum or most quantities purchased with purchase orders.

Conclusion

In this globalized world, e-purchasing is considered the most common trend. Now firms create buying networks. These networks take away the prices of non-competitive processes by connecting alternative organizations and mixing buying power. The networks permit the patrons to contour the buying method and cut back value. E-purchasing is turning into additional fashion within the business world. E-purchasing reduces the time required to issue a manual buying order. The long method of inserting an order and follow-up with the provider is replaced with some straightforward clicks.