Green Procurement, Its Relevance and Influence on Supply Chain Management
One of the major concerns of modern society is environmental changes and challenges associated with this process. Large corporations have already started responding to the calls of the public and made green procurement one of their priorities because the focus on sustainability translates into a favorable image and increasing profits. However, small and medium-sized companies find it difficult to adopt effective green procurement strategies, facing obstacles that do not differ significantly across the globe (Mafini and Muposhi, 2017).
Guevara Ortega et al. (2015) claim that the major issues companies have to address include taxes, tariffs, and policies, as well as the lack of motivation and knowledge concerning efficient models to implement the necessary changes. At the same time, researchers and practitioners develop various effective frameworks that can be employed in different regions of the world (Alberg Mosgaard, 2015; Hu et al., 2015). The implementation of these strategies is still yet to be researched, especially in particular contexts. For instance, it is necessary to identify the relevance and the influence of green procurement on supply chain management among British small and medium-sized enterprises.
Strategic Purchasing: Quantifying Component of Kraljic Portfolio Matrix
Strategic purchasing is seen as one of the most important elements of effective management, especially with regard to multinationals or big companies. Strategic purchasing contributes to the attainment of competitive advantage through the development of appropriate relationships with suppliers (Nair, Jayaram, and Das, 2015). Companies ensure the availability of the necessary resources, which is critical for proper operation management. Although certain tools for effective strategic purchasing exist, many companies find it difficult to incorporate them into their practice (Knoppen and Sáenz, 2015).
Montgomery, Ogden, and Boehmke (2018) note that Kraljic Portfolio Matrix (KPM) has been seen as an effective instrument enabling managers to make sound strategic purchasing decisions, but the qualitative nature of the model makes it less effective. The researchers developed a framework containing a quantitative component and utilized the matrix to analyze the strategic purchasing agenda for a multinational (Montgomery, Ogden and Boehmke, 2018). The success of the model with a large enterprise does not mean it can be effectively used in the context of medium-sized companies. It is possible to examine the effectiveness of KPM with medium-sized businesses operating in the UK.
Supply Chain Management in the UK After Brexit
The discussion of the chances of Brexit seems ubiquitous, but after the final decision of the British government, diverse questions related to the economy emerge. During the past years, researchers and practitioners contemplated the potential changes in supply change management in case Brexit came into being (Symes and Phillipson, 2019). The focus has been on specific industries or segments of the economy (Hendry et al., 2019; Nakamura, Yamada and Tan, 2019).
Decisionmakers’ views on their potential or current measures associated with supply change management have been explored. Since it becomes clear that Brexit is already a fact, companies have to reconsider their supply chain procedures to ensure their competitiveness or even survival. Therefore, it is important to trace the existing trends concerning the decisions made across different segments of the UK economy. It is necessary to review the existing literature identifying the common models and strategies employed by companies operating in diverse industries. This analysis will be instrumental in identifying the existing or potential issues different companies or industries may encounter in order to develop effective plans to mitigate the negative outcomes of such situations.
Reference List
Alberg Mosgaard, M. (2015) ‘Improving the practices of green procurement of minor items’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 90, pp. 264-274.
Guevara Ortega, L. M. et al. (2015) ‘Green procurement model using petri nets: a perspective developed from the models applied to the supply chain’, in Florez-Escobar, W.F. et al. (eds.) Energy and Sustainability VI. Southampton: WIT Press, pp. 267–280.
Hendry, L. C. et al. (2019) ‘Local food supply chain resilience to constitutional change: the Brexit effect’, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 39(3), pp. 429-453.
Hu, Z., Rao, C., Zheng, Y. and Huang, D. (2015) ‘Optimization decision of supplier selection in green procurement under the mode of low carbon economy’, International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems, 8(3), pp. 407-421.
Knoppen, D. and Sáenz, M. J. (2015) ‘Purchasing: can we bridge the gap between strategy and daily reality?’, Business Horizons, 58(1), pp. 123-133.
Mafini, C. and Muposhi, A. (2017) ‘The impact of green supply chain management in small to medium enterprises: cross-sectional evidence’, Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management, 11(1), pp. 1-11.
Montgomery, R. T., Ogden, J. A. and Boehmke, B. C. (2018) ‘A quantified Kraljic Portfolio Matrix: using decision analysis for strategic purchasing’, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 24(3), pp. 192-203.
Nair, A., Jayaram, J. and Das, A. (2015) ‘Strategic purchasing participation, supplier selection, supplier evaluation and purchasing performance’, International Journal of Production Research, 53(20), pp. 6263-6278.
Nakamura, K., Yamada, T. and Tan, K. H. (2019) ‘The impact of Brexit on designing a material-based global supply chain network for Asian manufacturers’, Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 30(5), pp. 980-1000.
Symes, D. and Phillipson, J. (2019) ‘A sea of troubles’ (2): Brexit and the UK seafood supply chain’, Marine Policy, 102, pp. 5-9.