With the advent of Internet, On-line intermediaries have put tremendous pressures on traditional intermediaries which might be disintermediated without resort to information technology. The IDR model was thus to bring about the interpretation how traditional intermediaries could regain their competitive advantage by utilizing co-specialized assets and information technology. Office supply is the domain of this research. Through observation of on-line office stationary suppliers and interviews with domain experts, the factors for constructing reintermediation strategies of traditional channel are as follows: 1. The business model of office supply. 2. The characteristics of office stationery procurement. 3. The co-specialized assets of traditional office supplies. These three factors lead to development of questionnaire in the Delphi method implemented in this research. Based upon the expert opinions from the Delphi method and the review of business model implemented by the domestic on-line stationary suppliers, this research proposed a business model with feature of domestic industry characteristics. The reintermediation strategies proposed in this research have addressed the development of e-commerce solution and the support of customer service. The traditional office stationary distributors might team up with other suppliers and information technology companies to develop a B2B e-commerce solution. As for the customer service, they could provide inventory management for enterprise users based upon their distinctive co-specialized assets. Furthermore, a development of procurement software for office supplies is necessary because it automates the procurement process and facilitates the vender managed inventory service.

Tidigare forskning visar att inköpsprocessen på företag fått en allt större och mer strategisk betydelse, med en avgörande roll för dess lönsamhet och framtida konkurrenskraft. Samtidigt visar forskningen att det trots detta spenderas för lite tid på strategiskt inköpsarbete, där en av orsakerna förklaras bero på att operativa och administrativa inköpsuppgifter tar upp för mycket av arbetstiden. Med denna utgångspunkt undersöker uppsatsen kvalitativt, genom en fallstudie på en inköpsavdelning i kombination med en litteraturstudie, vilka motsvarande arbetsmoment i inköpsprocessen som kan effektiviseras för att förbättra situationen. Utöver ämnets relevans stärks uppsatsens betydelse av att det endast återfunnits begränsat med litteratur som undersöker ämnet i praktiken och i det material som hittats ges inga förslag på vilka specifika arbetsmoment som bör effektiviseras. I huvudsak fokuserar uppsatsen på tillverkande företag och från fallstudien och tillhörande litteraturstudie presenteras två förbättringsområden i relation till ovanstående. Det första handlar om inköp av material till projekt för tillverkning av nya produkter, här dras slutsatsen att materialbehovsplaneringen för dessa bör kommuniceras till inköpsavdelningar genom ett företags reguljära materialplaneringssystem. Det andra området berör inköp av MRO-material och här dras slutsatsen att det många gånger kan vara effektivare om den interna användaren ansvarar för delar av inköpsprocessen. Sammantaget konkluderas att dessa förfaranden inte enbart kan effektivisera inköpsarbetet och frigöra mer tid åt strategiskt inköpsarbete, utan också effektivisera arbetet för övriga avdelningar som är inblandade i ett företags materialanskaffningsprocess. Slutligen, uppsatsen diskuterar även att mer tid åt strategiskt inköpsarbete inte enbart påverkar ett företags lönsamhet och ekonomiska aspekter, utan att det också spelar en viktig roll när det kommer till de miljömässiga och sociala aspekterna av hållbar utveckling. / Prior research shows that the purchasing process for corporations has gained a greater and more strategic importance, with a crucial role for its profitability and future competitiveness. At the same time, research shows that despite its growing strategic importance not enough time is spent on strategic purchasing activities, where one of the reasons addressed is that operational and administrative purchasing tasks are too time consuming. Accordingly, this thesis is through a qualitative approach based on a single case study combined with a literature study, evaluating which corresponding tasks in the purchasing process that can be made more efficient. In addition to the relevancy of the subject, the value of the thesis is by the authors viewed to be enhanced as only limited literature has been found that explores the subject in practice, and the material found does not provide any suggestions on which specific activities that can be made more efficient. The thesis mainly focuses on manufacturing corporations and from the case study and associated literature study, two areas of improvement are presented in relation to the above stated. The first area of improvement concerns purchasing of materials intended for projects to manufacture new products, here the conclusion is drawn that the materials requirements planning for projects should be communicated to purchasing departments through a corporation’s regular material planning system. The second area of improvement concerns purchasing of MRO materials, where the conclusion is drawn that in many cases it is more effective if the internal user of the material is responsible for a share of the purchasing process. Overall, it is concluded that these procedures not only can increase the efficiency of the purchasing department and enable more time to be spent on strategic purchasing activities, but also increase the efficiency of other departments involved in a corporation’s procurement process. Lastly, the thesis also discusses that more time spent on strategic purchasing activities not only affects a corporation’s profitability and economical aspects, but that it also plays an important role when it comes to the environmental and social aspects of sustainable development.