<p> </p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Background and research problem: </strong>In more recent years, the purchasing function has been given more attention as it has come to play a bigger role in improving and maintaining company performance. One of the underlying reasons for this could be the trend of increased outsourcing which implies that costs that used to be internal in form of wages and production costs are now external in the form of purchased items. This development therefore enhances the strategic importance of purchasing and the need for managing the relations with external sources. Currently available research in the area of purchasing management is mostly based on large companies and puts forward general guidelines for increasing purchasing effectiveness. From my observations of previous research I have concluded that there is a need for gaining a better understanding of how purchasing performance can be advanced in medium sized companies in particular. Currently available theory also show that the techniques and tools that provide for operational effectiveness and efficiency in purchasing also differs dependent on the industry and the relative position of the company in the value chain. Through studying purchasing for companies of this specific size segment with a similar position in the value chain the objective to be able to generate<em> </em>solutions for improving the purchasing function that are better fitted to this company segment.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Research purpose: </strong>The purpose of this paper is to investigate what measures can be taken to improve the purchasing function in medium sized manufacturing companies.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>The study is based on a qualitative research design<strong> </strong>and has been conducted by the use of semi-structured interviews. Five medium sized manufacturing companies participated in the study.</p><p><strong>Theoretical perspective: </strong>Literature relating to competitive strategy, the construct and process of the purchasing function and theories concerning improvements of the same is overviewed.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The main obstacles to improving purchasing performance in medium sized companies are cooperation, information and costs. By improving organizational coordination and knowledge about internal processes, medium sized manufacturing companies could also have a better ability to identify separate issues specific to their company that is causing ineffectiveness in the purchasing function.  Information about costs and complete cost calculations are also of essence for being able to correctly evaluated alternatives and to make well informed choices.</p><p> </p>

<p>The aim of this thesis is to describe the customer’s attitudes toward the contracting for availability, i.e., which factors are from the customer’s perspective necessary for the fulfilment of a supplier-customer agreement? Furthermore, the objective is to describe and analyse a supplier-customer relation in the Defence Industrial sphere.</p><p>The present study has been carried out as a case study using an abductive approach. The thesis is based on a practical problem, i.e. which factors will be important to the customer when a contractor in the Defence Industry wants to increase its commitment of service, and how will their relationship change? The thesis is above all focused on generating knowledge that can lead to rapid and concrete measures and that can be used in the analysis of an increased industrial commitment but also as a case study of a problem of a more general nature in the Defence Industry. The paper studies a dyad, the relation between a buyer and a seller, where the buyer is the Swedish Armed Forces and the seller is the defence division of Ericsson. It should however be noted that on September 1st 2006, while the final work on this thesis was under way, this specific division of Ericsson, was acquired by Saab AB. The thesis is based on several different sources of information of which the main empirical data has been gathered from individual interviews with representatives from both seller and buyer organisations. The theoretical framework is based on two main currents, the first being service management within service marketing, including the customer focused business, and the second, the interaction approach by the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group within industrial marketing. The central idea in this framework is to create an added value for the customer, in which the customer takes an active part in the process of a long-term relation.</p><p>The following factors have been identified as crucial for the conclusion of an agreement and essential for Ericsson to consider in their continued customer-focused business development: Availability, a clearly defined framework and one interface for business communication, a holistic approach, the cost efficiency factor, configuration management, a supplier supervision of spare parts from sub-contractors, agile chain of command and shorter lead times, transfer of knowledge from the industry and to the supplier.</p><p>In connection with a potential increased commitment of service in the defence industrial sector, and in conjunction with the restructuring of the Swedish Armed Forces, it is possible to discern a closer and more extensive collaboration between supplier and customer. We can also see a shift of responsibility between the different defence authorities and Ericsson but also towards the industry in general. The responsibility of the Swedish Defence Material Administration to support and maintain the armaments and equipments of the Swedish Armed Forces is likely to disappear as well as its predominance in the area of technical know-how. The future role of the Swedish Defence Material Administration will probably be in the area of negotiating business agreements, as well as being responsible for the follow-up of the agreements with the industry. Instead it will be the Swedish Armed Forces Management Offices Ground Equipment, and also to a certain degree the Swedish Armed Forces Logistics Unit, who will shoulder the responsibility of being the link to Ericsson in regards to matters concerning technical support and maintenance. Should the Swedish Armed Forces decide on Ericsson’s contracting for availability, the role and responsibility of Ericsson will be considerably larger at the lower system levels. This will also mean a closer dialogue with the Swedish Armed Forces Management Offices Ground Equipment, the Swedish Armed Forces Logistics Unit and the military units, which has not been the case before.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to describe the customer’s attitudes toward the contracting for availability, i.e., which factors are from the customer’s perspective necessary for the fulfilment of a supplier-customer agreement? Furthermore, the objective is to describe and analyse a supplier-customer relation in the Defence Industrial sphere. The present study has been carried out as a case study using an abductive approach. The thesis is based on a practical problem, i.e. which factors will be important to the customer when a contractor in the Defence Industry wants to increase its commitment of service, and how will their relationship change? The thesis is above all focused on generating knowledge that can lead to rapid and concrete measures and that can be used in the analysis of an increased industrial commitment but also as a case study of a problem of a more general nature in the Defence Industry. The paper studies a dyad, the relation between a buyer and a seller, where the buyer is the Swedish Armed Forces and the seller is the defence division of Ericsson. It should however be noted that on September 1st 2006, while the final work on this thesis was under way, this specific division of Ericsson, was acquired by Saab AB. The thesis is based on several different sources of information of which the main empirical data has been gathered from individual interviews with representatives from both seller and buyer organisations. The theoretical framework is based on two main currents, the first being service management within service marketing, including the customer focused business, and the second, the interaction approach by the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group within industrial marketing. The central idea in this framework is to create an added value for the customer, in which the customer takes an active part in the process of a long-term relation. The following factors have been identified as crucial for the conclusion of an agreement and essential for Ericsson to consider in their continued customer-focused business development: Availability, a clearly defined framework and one interface for business communication, a holistic approach, the cost efficiency factor, configuration management, a supplier supervision of spare parts from sub-contractors, agile chain of command and shorter lead times, transfer of knowledge from the industry and to the supplier. In connection with a potential increased commitment of service in the defence industrial sector, and in conjunction with the restructuring of the Swedish Armed Forces, it is possible to discern a closer and more extensive collaboration between supplier and customer. We can also see a shift of responsibility between the different defence authorities and Ericsson but also towards the industry in general. The responsibility of the Swedish Defence Material Administration to support and maintain the armaments and equipments of the Swedish Armed Forces is likely to disappear as well as its predominance in the area of technical know-how. The future role of the Swedish Defence Material Administration will probably be in the area of negotiating business agreements, as well as being responsible for the follow-up of the agreements with the industry. Instead it will be the Swedish Armed Forces Management Offices Ground Equipment, and also to a certain degree the Swedish Armed Forces Logistics Unit, who will shoulder the responsibility of being the link to Ericsson in regards to matters concerning technical support and maintenance. Should the Swedish Armed Forces decide on Ericsson’s contracting for availability, the role and responsibility of Ericsson will be considerably larger at the lower system levels. This will also mean a closer dialogue with the Swedish Armed Forces Management Offices Ground Equipment, the Swedish Armed Forces Logistics Unit and the military units, which has not been the case before.

Background and research problem: In more recent years, the purchasing function has been given more attention as it has come to play a bigger role in improving and maintaining company performance. One of the underlying reasons for this could be the trend of increased outsourcing which implies that costs that used to be internal in form of wages and production costs are now external in the form of purchased items. This development therefore enhances the strategic importance of purchasing and the need for managing the relations with external sources. Currently available research in the area of purchasing management is mostly based on large companies and puts forward general guidelines for increasing purchasing effectiveness. From my observations of previous research I have concluded that there is a need for gaining a better understanding of how purchasing performance can be advanced in medium sized companies in particular. Currently available theory also show that the techniques and tools that provide for operational effectiveness and efficiency in purchasing also differs dependent on the industry and the relative position of the company in the value chain. Through studying purchasing for companies of this specific size segment with a similar position in the value chain the objective to be able to generate solutions for improving the purchasing function that are better fitted to this company segment. Research purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate what measures can be taken to improve the purchasing function in medium sized manufacturing companies. Method: The study is based on a qualitative research design and has been conducted by the use of semi-structured interviews. Five medium sized manufacturing companies participated in the study. Theoretical perspective: Literature relating to competitive strategy, the construct and process of the purchasing function and theories concerning improvements of the same is overviewed. Conclusions: The main obstacles to improving purchasing performance in medium sized companies are cooperation, information and costs. By improving organizational coordination and knowledge about internal processes, medium sized manufacturing companies could also have a better ability to identify separate issues specific to their company that is causing ineffectiveness in the purchasing function.  Information about costs and complete cost calculations are also of essence for being able to correctly evaluated alternatives and to make well informed choices.

Background: To be competitive on the global market companies see a chance to achieve success by using suppliers that can offer them the lowest prices. Because of low wages China is one of those countries that can offer very competitive prices for purchasers in our part of the world. But is global sourcing for everyone? Global sourcing can be proven to be more costly than anticipated if the total cost of ownership is not considered. Research questions: -Which costs do the investigated manufacturing companies consider in their estimation of costs when purchasing from China, and how do these estimations match up with the actual costing? -What is the explanation of potential differences between the estimation of costs and the actual costing? -How do the companies’ characteristics in terms of experience, size and product characteristic affect the formulation of the costing? Purpose: This thesis will investigate what kind of costs companies take into consideration when doing their estimation of costs before initiating trade with China. Further the thesis will study how these estimations match up with the actual costing that can be seen afterwards and investigate what the explanation of potential variations could depend on. The thesis will also answer how the characteristics of the companies and the products affect the costing development. Conclusions: The companies are mainly focusing on purchase price and costs for transportation in their estimation of costs and the match between the estimation of costs and the actual costing are good in terms of purchase price and costs for transportation. Other costs are mismatched or overlooked probably because of their complexity to estimate. Product characteristics are probably the main factor that affects the complexity and amount of time and effort companies spend on costing.

There has been significant interest in the empirical performance of the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) hypothesis. Initial studies were, in general, unfavorable for PPP. Recent research has found that trend-break unit root test derived form linear models do not support the hypothesis of long-run PPP for real exchange rates. In this paper, we propose unit root tests that use STR models and minimum LM unit root tests that endogenously determine structural breaks to investigate long-run PPP in real exchange rates for Asia Pacific countries.

<p>Background: To be competitive on the global market companies see a chance to achieve success by using suppliers that can offer them the lowest prices. Because of low wages China is one of those countries that can offer very competitive prices for purchasers in our part of the world. But is global sourcing for everyone? Global sourcing can be proven to be more costly than anticipated if the total cost of ownership is not considered.</p><p>Research questions: -Which costs do the investigated manufacturing companies consider in their estimation of costs when purchasing from China, and how do these estimations match up with the actual costing?</p><p>-What is the explanation of potential differences between the estimation of costs and the actual costing?</p><p>-How do the companies’ characteristics in terms of experience, size and product characteristic affect the formulation of the costing?</p><p>Purpose: This thesis will investigate what kind of costs companies take into consideration when doing their estimation of costs before initiating trade with China. Further the thesis will study how these estimations match up with the actual costing that can be seen afterwards and investigate what the explanation of potential variations could depend on. The thesis will also answer how the characteristics of the companies and the products affect the costing development.</p><p>Conclusions: The companies are mainly focusing on purchase price and costs for transportation in their estimation of costs and the match between the estimation of costs and the actual costing are good in terms of purchase price and costs for transportation. Other costs are mismatched or overlooked probably because of their complexity to estimate. Product characteristics are probably the main factor that affects the complexity and amount of time and effort companies spend on costing.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR46010

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Zugl.: Oestrich-Winkel, European Business School, Diss., 2006. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.