Purchasing, Procurement, and Supply Chain Management (SCM) Sample

Introduction:Purchasing, Procurement, and Supply Chain Management (SCM) In current times, for all the companies development of the procurement strategies is important because it help them in making the supply chain planning. The procurement strategy of business focuses on managing the supply chain effectively to ensure that adequate buffer stock is available or not. The effective procurement strategy is significant for the companies because it helps in reducing cost of production process by searching the best purchase option, enhance customer satisfaction, build strong supplier relationships and stay ahead of competition. Effective procurement strategy of the business helps in gaining the competitive advantages and accomplishes the organizational objectives. The procurement strategy is also significant for the green agenda of Marks and Spencer (M&S) because it helps in complying with the applicable laws and regulations minimize business risks, managing customer perceptions and reputation. In addition, for every business analysis of procurement strategies is require because it helps in identify which products and services are select from which suppliers and how much pay relied on the pricing, vendors, market and other significant elements. Apart from this, the essay will be based on purchasing, procurement and supply chain management (SCM) strategies of M&S.

Company background

M&S is one of leading British International retailer. It is a public limited company and it was incorporated in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. The headquarters’ of this organization is situated in London, UK. Presently, this organization has 959 stores across the UK and in which 615 stores sell only food products. This organization is bringing quality, has great value home ware, clothing and food to the millions of customers in all over the world (M&S, 2024). This organization provides several ranges of home products, apparels and home products to the customers. The product portfolio of selected organization includes menswear, women wear, lingerie, bedding products, home furnishing, footwear, cosmetics and home décor. In addition to this, The chosen organization also provides cakes, brownies, wine, alcohol gifts, fruit baskets etc. this organization advertise its products in the market with the help of network of own and franchise stores. Currently, this organization has business presence on Middle East, Europe and Asia. Apart from this, in 2023 this organization generated total revenue of approx. 11.9 billion British pounds in the UK and globally (Smith, 2023). In 2023, M&S has approx. 72,316 employees and it serve its products in all over the world through e-commerce sites.

Supply chain analysis

The term supply network is defined as pattern of spatial and temporal process that is carried out at a facility lumps and over the links of distribution which helps in adding the value for the customers through producing and delivery of goods and services. It is vital for all the organizations have the effective supply chain network because it helps them to detect the movement of goods right from starting till finishing. M&S also has effective supply chain network in order to improve the resilience. It improves services towards consumers. Supply chain network helps the chosen organization in ensuring the consumers are require the goods according to their expectations and in the estimated quantity (Jabbar et al, 2021). Strong supply chain network helps the consumers in accessibility of the goods at precise time and at the particular locations. If the organization have strong supply chain network then it helps in minimize the cost of operations. The managers of chosen organization design the strong network of supply chain that helps them to achieve the target goals and objectives of the customer satisfaction with minimum expenditure. Additionally the strong supply chain network helps the selected organization in improving the monetary circumstance by enhancing the profit leverage. Strong supply chain network helps the organization in controlling and reducing the supply chain costs as well as earn the higher profits. The flow of cash gets high because supply chain network accelerates the delivery of goods to the consumers. Apart from this, supplier relationship management (SRM) is one of the significant methods to manage the work with the suppliers who are providing materials, goods and services to the producers. If the organization has strong relationships with the suppliers then it directly impacts their efficiency and performance (Lim et al, 2021). To increase the efficiency and efficiency, most of organizations employ SRM among other techniques to run the business successfully. Moreover, M&S supplies the goods from various countries. It purchases foods from more than 600first-tier suppliers around the world (M&S, 2024). This organization is also use procureWare as SRM software in order to build the strong relationships with its vendors. It is cloud-based software that supports the self-registration process of supplier offers the organization with their searchable database. This software is useful for the selected organization because it helps in providing the features of log notification, message delivery tracking, drag-and-drop functionality, receipt acknowledgement and online distribution of tender documents. The relationships with the suppliers are relied on the financial incentives (Jahani et al, 2021). If the organization has strong relationships with the suppliers then it helps in reducing the costs by saving the money for long period of time. The chosen organization also have effective strategies in regarding SRM that helps in developing trust and enable better working condition which directly impacts the resilience of the supply chain. Furthermore, SRM also helps the chosen business in modernized its operational efficiency. SRM also facilitates the greater supply chain consolidation that minimizes volatility of price and creates more effective supply chain. By holding the regular SRM opinions, the management of company can easily share outlook of its business with the vendors and permits them to make effective plans for the future (Moosavi et al, 2021). The better relationships with the suppliers lead to consistent business practice. By creating the space for meaningful and regular conversations about the communication and performance the organization can nurture and promote the culture of innovation and collaboration. SRM also helps the organization to increase the potential to outsource (Govindan et al, 2020). . If the company has strong and healthy relationships with the customers and vendors then automatically it increases the probability of transfer activities

Analysis of procurement and purchasing theories

It is vital for all the organization to analyse their procurement strategies because it helps in determine inefficiencies, renegotiate contracts and forecast the future spending trends. The organizations are likely to analyse their procurement strategy because it helps in promote the better supplier performance. In addition, to analysis the procurement strategy M&S use several tools. Kissflow procurement cloud is considered as one of the significant tool that is used by the chosen organization in order to evaluate its procurement strategy. It is elastic source-to-pay solutions that assist in modernize the procurement process in a central platform (Hoekman and Taş, 2022). It is useful tool for the companies for analysing their procurement strategy because it provides customizable workflows and processes to supply to the different requirements of the company. This procurement tool helps the business in contract management, sourcing, invoice automation, custom integration, inventory management, automates manual tasks, minimizing third party tasks and reducing the errors which ultimately positively impact the supply chain process. By enhancing the efficiency and fostering the cross-collaboration between the internal teams and suppliers, this procurement tool helps the organization in increasing the profitability and ensuring the fulfilment of demands on time. Kissflow procurement cloud is useful for M&S because it helps in streamlining its procurement process, enhancing efficiency and reducing the manual work. This procurement tool is valuable for the organization because it has user-friendly interface which makes simpler for the users to interact and navigate with the system. It is customizable tool and workflow permits the organization to modify the process of procurement according to its particular requirements and needs (Sönnichsen and Clement, 2020). However, this procurement tool is complicated, asset and contract management are in the early phases. Additionally, this procurement tool assists selected organization in automating the repetitive tasks which ensuring the reliability and minimizing the errors in the whole procurement process. Furthermore, Kissflow procurement cloud tool also helps M&S in facilitating the effective communication with the stakeholders and suppliers both externally and internally which resilience the efficiency of the supply chain. This tool is beneficial for the organization because it easily incorporate with other tools and systems such as financial software or ERP that enables more seamless and complicated procurement ecosystem. Apart from this, M&S is also focusing on the SAP Ariba procurement tool that helps in analysing the process. It is a cloud-based procurement, supply chain management and spend tracking tool that helps in connecting the purchasers and suppliers on a single platform. This procurement tool offers an all-in-one integrated structure for managing the sourcing to payments (Hafsa, Darnall and Bretschneider, 2021). This procurement tool is useful for the chosen business because it helps in offering the visibility into the transaction of procurement. Moreover, to analyse the procurement strategy, M&S is also focusing on various theories. Transaction cost is one of the significant theories that are widely used by the business in order to evaluate their procurement strategy. Implementing this theory is valuable for the business because it is bookkeeping for the actual cost of outsourcing manufacturing of goods and services involving contracting costs, transaction costs, search costs and coordination costs. This theory is useful for the business in analysing its procurement strategy because it helps in reduce the transactional costs by effective institutional design and then transacting the wastage resources which results in increase economic efficiency. Another significant theory of procurement is resource dependency that is highly used by the companies in order to evaluate their strategies (Heinis et al, 2022). This theory views the inter-organizational relations for safeguarding the required resources and improving the control over the supplied resources. For increasing the efficiency of supply chain process, this theory is useful for M&S because it collaborate and dependent to pursue the gain of higher performance in the long run rather than seeking short-term advantages at the expense of others. Adaption of this theory is beneficial for the business because it permits it to gain the better understanding of its competitors and attentive of way dependent they are on specific resource or organization and also see how its practices are different. This theory is useful for selected organization because it helps in gaining understanding and increase the attention of external environment which has impact on the supply chain. With the help of this theory the managers are easily build the strategies for the better management and secure of resources as well as develop strong relationships with the suppliers to increase the efficiency of procurement process (Sayed, Hendry and Zorzini Bell, 2021). Along with this, to analyse the procurement strategy M&S is also focusing on several sources such as outsourcing and insourcing. In the outsourcing the organizations are transfer their functions related to procurement and supply chain to the third party. Generally, companies are outsourcing supplies to tap into their skill set and market knowledge as well as cut costs. Outsourcing the procurement services is beneficial for the organizations because it helps in enhance the capability to meet the demands of the customers. Outsourcing procurement services helps the chosen organization in increase the productivity since third-party service providers are put all the efforts to modernize the process. Outsourcing the procurement services are helps the organizations in reducing the operational costs, greater admittance to global and local databases, modernize business process and mitigating the risks (Govindan et al, 2020). The chosen organization is also focusing on insourcing to analyse its procurement strategy. In insourcing, the companies are fully utilizing and engaging its internal employees to achieve and meet its regular functions of supply chain and procurement. In this procurement strategy, M&S is uses its resources and peoples in order to fulfil the day-to-day requirements of the supply chain. Insourcing is useful for the organization in evaluating the procurement strategy because it offers greater control over the process of procurement as well as also permit the business to modify strategies according to its particular needs and requirements. Insourcing also facilitates customization of procurement strategies to align the organization exclusive needs. Through insourcing the chosen organization can develop and retain the specific skills and knowledge of procurement. In-house procurement also helps in matching with the firm values, cultures and objectives.

Get Extra 10% OFF on your WhatsApp order!

use my discount

Analysis of sustainability objectives and its relation with the business level strategy

The term business level strategy is defined as amount of the strategic planning and adaption activities that set and navigates the business unit direction. Development of business level strategy is beneficial for the organization because it helps in creating the customer value and gaining the competitive advantage in the competitive market. The business level strategy of M&S is to retain its customers for long period of time by providing enhanced goods and services in the highly competitive market. In current business environment, all companies are looking forward towards the sustainability in order to enhance the quality of goods and services to increase the satisfaction and improve the experience of the customers (Mio, Panfilo and Blundo, 2020). If the organization has sustainability objectives then it helps in gaining the competitive advantage, improve brand reputation, attract customers, reduce costs, reduce waste and increase the profitability. Along with this, the sustainability objectives of M&S are net zero emission, make its products, reduce waste and protecting the resources, animal welfare and doing the ethical trade (M&S, 2023). The sustainability objectives and business level strategy of the chosen business are interrelated. The key objective of the M&S is to attract and retain the customers by offering them high quality of goods and services. If the company is providing sustainable products to the customers then they are likely to make purchase with it and retain for the long period of time which ultimately impacts the profitability and efficiencies. Apart from this, the organizational objective of M&S is to develop a sustainable business with the help of reliable and profitable growth as well as responsible in meeting the answerability to shareholders. In corporate level strategy the organization evaluates its whole business and identifies its direction in order to increase the value and growth (Khan et al, 2021). Effective corporate level strategy is valuable for the business because it helps in improve decision-making, gain competitive advantage, increase profitability and increase market share. The corporate level strategy of M&S is to building exceptional product by the trusted brand and making huge investment in great testing, quality food, home ranges and quality clothing (M&S, 2023). On the other hand, the operational level strategy of M&S is building the online and partner sales for growth and development. The key functional areas of chosen business are human resource, marketing and sales, administration, research and development as well as finance. The corporate and functional level strategies of the chosen business are directly related to its organizational objective and functional areas. The key objective of the selected business to become a sustainable business in the competitive market by providing higher quality of goods and services to the customers and it is directly inked to the corporate level strategy. At the present time, the customers are likely to buy the sustainable products to protect the environment and their health (Alzoubi et al, 2020). The corporate level strategy of M&S is directly related with the functional area of marketing and sales. The sustainable products help in attracting and retaining the customers for long period of time and gain the competitive advantage over the competitors which directly impacts its sales and profitability. Along with this, the functional strategy of chosen business is increase the online and partner sales and it is directly related to the research and development (R&D) area. To increase the online sales by providing eco-friendly products to the customers then company has to focus on innovation which is crucial part of R&D (Sjödin et al, 2021). With the help of innovating and new technologies the organization are easily develop the sustainable products which reduce environmental footprint and it also directly impacts the online sales of business. Aside from this, all the companies have sustainability priorities to increase the profitability and efficiency of the business in highly competitive market. All the organizations have sustainability priorities such as invest in renewable energy, fair trade, reducing emissions and sustainable supply chain. The sourcing policy of M&S is to engaging with the suppliers lawfully and fairly to adhering to food values. The chosen organization ensures that, its suppliers are treated equitably and in line with its global sourcing principles and requirements of GSCOP in foods (M&S, 2024). The sustainability priorities and sourcing strategy of the chosen business has significant impact on the sustainability objectives. Effective sustainability priorities and sourcing strategy helps the business to accomplish the sustainability objectives which ultimately positively impacts the profitability and sales. The sustainable priorities and sourcing strategy plays crucial role in addressing the sustainability objectives such as net zero emission, reduce waste and protecting the resources. The sustainable sourcing strategy helps the organization in managing the risks, reduce costs and increase revenue which helps them in achieving the sustainable objectives. It is crucial for all the organizations to have the effective sustainable priorities and sourcing strategy in order to addressing the sustainability objectives (Flechsig, Anslinger and Lasch, 2022). It also helps in increases the efficiency of the procurement process and resilience of the supply chain. If the organization address the sustainable objectives successfully then the customers are more likely to purchase the products and retain them with long period of time. CONCLUSION In the end it has been summarized that, it can be vital for all the organizations to have the purchasing procurement and SCM strategies. Implementation of procurement strategy is significant for the companies because it helps in reducing cost of production process by enhancing customer satisfaction, searching the best purchase option, stay ahead of competition and build strong supplier relationships. Strong supply chain network helps the consumers in accessibility of the goods at precise time and at the particular locations. M&S is use procureWare as SRM software in order to build the strong relationships with its vendors. SRM also facilitates the greater supply chain consolidation that minimizes volatility of price and creates more effective supply chain. To analyse the procurement strategy the chosen business is focusing on several tools, theories and sources such as transaction cost and resource dependency theories, Kissflow procurement cloud and SAP Ariba as well as outsourcing and insourcing. The sustainability objectives and business level strategy of the chosen business are interrelated. the sustainability objectives of M&S are net zero emission, make its products, reduce waste and protecting the resources, animal welfare and doing the ethical trade. The sustainable priorities and sourcing strategy plays crucial role in addressing the sustainability objectives such as net zero emission, reduce waste and protecting the resources. RECOMMENDATIONS The following recommendations are mentioned below in order to analyse the procurement strategy effectively and increase the efficiency of process.

• It has been recommended that, to analyse the procurement strategy effectively M&S can also use Precoro that helps them in modernize the procurement process. Implementation of this procurement tool can be beneficial for the organization because it helps in creating the purchase order, real-time budgeting, catlog management, visual analytics on departmental spends, three-way matching and billing (Hoekman and Taş, 2022). This procurement tool helps the business in centralizing all the data, permitting users to observe approvals, requisitions, orders and budgets in one place. With the help of this tool the user can easily set the due dates for request according to their requirements. This tool enable fast, simple and flexible customer workflows and offers visually pleasing custom reports as well as analysis of comprehensive budget that provide better visibility into the spend.
• M&S can also focus on implementing the contract management system in order to improve the process of procurement. Manually it is difficult for the business to create the contracts with the wide range of suppliers so contract management system helps in improve the entire task of creating the new contracts. This system can be useful for the organization because it helps in understand which contract can be reuse from one vendor to the next. The contract management system can helps in creating the templates of standard contract which will need only minor updates.
• Chosen organization can also use Pipefy to build the strong relationships with the suppliers and streamline the procurement process. It is a solution of business process automation that can be utilized for the management of suppliers to developing and optimizing the processes of purchasing and procurement. Adaption of this SRM software can be useful for the business because it permits for full prominence of supplier information for better supplier faster approvals, communication and measurable department spending with customizable dashboards (Flechsig, Anslinger and Lasch, 2022).
• To improve the procurement process, the selected organization can require to provide training and development to its employees. If the company can educating its employees regarding purpose of having effective procurement process then it minimizes occurrence of any barriers. If the employees have proper knowledge then they are quickly adapt the new regulations, market trends and supplier capabilities to make the informed decisions (Gunasekara, Sridarran and Rajaratnam, 2022). Training and development helps procurement professionals in gaining insights and developing new skills into the innovative procurement technologies and methodologies. This knowledge can be empower the employees to automate tasks, modernize process, determine cost-saving opportunities which ultimately increases the effectiveness of procurement function.

REFERENCES Books and journals Jabbar, S., Lloyd, H., Hammoudeh, M., Adebisi, B. and Raza, U., 2021. Blockchain-enabled supply chain: analysis, challenges, and future directions.Multimedia systems,27, pp.787-806. Lim, M.K., Li, Y., Wang, C. and Tseng, M.L., 2021. A literature review of blockchain technology applications in supply chains: A comprehensive analysis of themes, methodologies and industries.Computers & industrial engineering,154, p.107133. Moosavi, J., Naeni, L.M., Fathollahi-Fard, A.M. and Fiore, U., 2021. Blockchain in supply chain management: A review, bibliometric, and network analysis.Environmental Science and Pollution Research, pp.1-15. Govindan, K., Rajeev, A., Padhi, S.S. and Pati, R.K., 2020. Supply chain sustainability and performance of firms: A meta-analysis of the literature.Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review,137, p.101923. Hoekman, B. and Taş, B.K.O., 2022. Procurement policy and SME participation in public purchasing.Small Business Economics,58(1), pp.383-402. Sönnichsen, S.D. and Clement, J., 2020. Review of green and sustainable public procurement: Towards circular public procurement.Journal of cleaner production,245, p.118901. Hafsa, F., Darnall, N. and Bretschneider, S., 2021. Estimating the true size of public procurement to assess sustainability impact.Sustainability,13(3), p.1448. Heinis, S., Bamford, D., Papalexi, M. and Vafadarnikjoo, A., 2022. Services procurement: A systematic literature review of practices and challenges.International Journal of Management Reviews,24(3), pp.352-372. Sayed, M., Hendry, L.C. and Zorzini Bell, M., 2021. Sustainable procurement: Comparing in-house and outsourcing implementation modes.Production Planning & Control,32(2), pp.145-168. Mio, C., Panfilo, S. and Blundo, B., 2020. Sustainable development goals and the strategic role of business: A systematic literature review.Business Strategy and the Environment,29(8), pp.3220-3245. Khan, S.A.R., Razzaq, A., Yu, Z. and Miller, S., 2021. Retracted: Industry 4.0 and circular economy practices: A new era business strategies for environmental sustainability.Business Strategy and the Environment,30(8), pp.4001-4014. Alzoubi, H., Ahmed, G., Al-Gasaymeh, A. and Kurdi, B., 2020. Empirical study on sustainable supply chain strategies and its impact on competitive priorities: The mediating role of supply chain collaboration.Management Science Letters,10(3), pp.703-708. Sjödin, D., Kamalaldin, A., Parida, V. and Islam, N., 2021. Procurement 4.0: How industrial customers transform procurement processes to capitalize on digital servitization.IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. Flechsig, C., Anslinger, F. and Lasch, R., 2022. Robotic Process Automation in purchasing and supply management: A multiple case study on potentials, barriers, and implementation.Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management,28(1), p.100718. Gunasekara, H.G., Sridarran, P. and Rajaratnam, D., 2022. Effective use of blockchain technology for facilities management procurement process.Journal of Facilities Management,20(3), pp.452-468. Jahani, N., Sepehri, A., Vandchali, H.R. and Tirkolaee, E.B., 2021. Application of industry 4.0 in the procurement processes of supply chains: a systematic literature review.Sustainability,13(14), p.7520. Online M&S, 2024. About us. [Online].Available through :< https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/about-us>. Accessed On: 5th January,2024]. Smith, P., 2023. Revenue of M&S. [Online].Available through :< https://www.statista.com/statistics/413349/group-revenue-marks-and-spencer-mands/>. Accessed On: 5th January,2024]. M&S, 2024. Supply chain and responsible sourcing policy of M&S. [Online].Available through :< https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sites/marksandspencer/files/marks-spencer/policies/supply-chain-and-responsible-sourcing-new.pdf. >. Accessed On: 5th January,2024]. M&S,2023. Sustainability report of M&S (2023). [Online].Available through :< https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sites/marksandspencer/files/sustainability-report-2023.pdf >. Accessed On: 5th January,2024]. M&S, 2023. Annual report of M&S (2023). [Online].Available through :< https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sites/marksandspencer/files/marks-spencer/investor/Annual%20Report%202023/M%26S_AR23_Strategic_report.pdf >. Accessed On: 5th January,2024].