Reference no: EM132418964
Assignment - Purchasing Strategies
To successfully complete this assignment you will need to demonstrate the required level of skills and knowledge for each of the elements involved in developing, communicating and implementing purchasing strategies.
The elements are:
- Determine purchasing objectives.
- Develop purchasing strategies.
- Implement purchasing strategies.
- Evaluate purchasing strategies and implement improvements.
The required skills you will need to demonstrate are:
- Culturally appropriate communication skills to relate to people from diverse backgrounds and people with diverse abilities
- Communication and negotiation skills to liaise with suppliers and relevant stakeholders and negotiate agreement appropriate purchasing strategies
- Literacy skills to write purchasing policies and procedures and reports containing complex concepts
- Financial management skills to create and manage a budget framework for conducting purchasing activities
- Technology skills to operate software relating to online purchasing.
Assessment task 1 -
1. Research at least four different sources of information (books, magazines or the web) related to purchasing objectives.
2. Write a 2-3-page report, incorporating the following:
a) An introduction covering how you conducted the research.
b) A table summary of the main thoughts of each of the sources, indicating where they overlap.
c) Your analysis of the different views of purchasing objectives.
d) A list of what you believe the purchasing objectives should be for your organisation and why.
Assessment task 2 -
1. Conduct an investigation into your organisation's current purchasing strategies, including the following:
a) Access your organisation's purchasing policies and procedures, make a copy and highlight any references pertaining to purchasing strategies.
b) Hold meetings with your head of procurement and head of finance to discuss the purchasing strategies and their effectiveness, and any problems or issues that have occurred. Make notes of the meetings.
c) Find three different stakeholders in the organisation and discuss their views of whether current purchasing strategies have been effective, and any problems or issues that have occurred. Make notes of the meetings.
d) Write a one-page synopsis of the findings, and collate and attach all documents as part of this assessment.
Assessment task 3 -
Based on the investigation and feedback received in the previous assessment tasks, you need to develop a new set of purchasing strategies.
1. Discuss the current purchasing spend (previous 12 months) with Procurement or Finance, and obtain as much data as possible related to five categories of goods and services (perhaps those more relevant to facilities) and the number of suppliers - total and per category. If you can't obtain accurate information, request procurement or finance to provide you with rough figures, but aim to collect as much accurate data as possible.
2. Based on the information collected so far, and the information provided in the course materials, develop a new purchasing strategy for each of the five categories you've identified. Your aim is to improve the efficiency and the cost-effectiveness of each category.
3. Write a final report, outlining the following:
a) Your investigation conducted so far.
b) Spend data collected for the categories, and any constraints, such as inaccuracies or access to data.
c) Your review of the effectiveness of the current purchasing strategies.
d) Your improvement ideas, based on your research and study, for the five categories and their revised purchasing strategies.
e) A final set of recommendations for each category (five recommendations), and the estimated benefits that will be realised in terms of efficiency and/or cost-savings.
4. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation to be given to management (this does not really have to occur), highlighting the content of your report, including the final recommendations.
5. Both the report and the PPT presentation are to be submitted.