SC0007 – CATEGORY MANAGEMENT IN PURCHASING

Dear students get fully solved assignments

Send your semester & Specialization name to our mail id :

  “ help.mbaassignments@gmail.com ”

or

Call us at : 08263069601

(Prefer mailing. Call in emergency )

SUBJECT CODE & NAME

SC0007 – CATEGORY MANAGEMENT IN PURCHASING

BK ID

B1662

CREDITS AND MARKS

4 CREDITS AND 60 MARKS

Q.No

Criteria

Marks

Total Marks

1Write Short notes on

·         Obstacles for driving change in category management process

·         Product category life cycle

·         Stakeholder mapping

·         Request for Information

2 Explain opportunity analysis.

3 Wal-Mart redefines sourcing strategy

By Gill McShane

Wal-Mart Stores has announced in a press release a number of related events that position the company to leverage its global scale to reduce costs of goods, accelerate speed to market, and improve the quality of its products.

The new global sourcing strategy involves the creation of Global Merchandising Centers, a change in leadership and structure, and a strategic alliance with Li & Fung, a global sourcing organisation.

The announcements are “important elements in the company’s strategy to deliver even greater value to its customers and shareholders”, according to Wal-Mart vice-chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright.

Walmart first announced a consolidated global sourcing structure centred around new Global Merchandising Centers (GMCs) at its annual meeting for the investment community in October 2009. This new structure is expected to leverage the company’s global scale in both general merchandise categories and global food sourcing.

“The newly-established Global Merchandising Centers represent the largest and most important element of our new sourcing strategy,” said Mr Castro-Wright. “These centers will create alignment between sourcing and merchandising and drive efficiencies across various merchandise categories.”

The core of the company’s overall global sourcing strategy will be to continue increasing direct sourcing for the company’s private brands. Today, private brand merchandise represents more than US$100bn in purchasing annually. “Our new strategy and structure should drive significant savings across the supply chain,” Mr Castro-Wright said.

Ed Kolodzieski, currently president and CEO of Walmart Japan Holdings G.K. and Seiyu, has been promoted to executive vice-president and will lead Walmart’s Global Sourcing. Mr Kolodzieski will report to Mr Castro-Wright.

As part of this new strategy, Walmart also finalised a series of agreements with Li & Fung, which is forming a new company to manage the Walmart account, and is expected to build capacity that would enable it to act as a buying agent for goods valued around US$2bn within the first year.

“In sum, we are redefining how we source products that are imported into Walmart retail markets around the globe,” Mr Castro-Wright said. “By realigning our resources, leveraging our scale, and restructuring our relationship with suppliers, we will enable our businesses around the world to offer even more competitive pricing on merchandise and to provide our customers a clear and compelling assortment of better quality products at lower prices.”

Source:http://www.fruitnet.com/americafruit/article/5565/wal-mart-redefines-sourcing-strategy

Analyse Wal-Mart’s sourcing strategy.

4 List and describe the different activities in relation with logistics in purchasing(unit 10)

5 Measures Taken to Improve Lessons Learnt Review (LLR) in ABC Company

ABC is a media company established in 2000 in New Delhi. The company runs a television channel and also a monthly news magazine. At the end of every financial year, the management of the company spent some quality time in preparing a lessons learnt report. The management was aware that continuous learning is essential to achieve continuous improvement. During the process of creating the LLR, the officials of the company figured out that lots of negative and positive things were happening in their business every financial year. After the analysis of their performance, they documented their findings in a structured manner. They prepared LLR to avoid repetition of mistakes and improve the overall performance.

Problem

However, after creating LLR on a regular basis, the management of ABC found that the employees were committing the same mistakes which were explained and analysed in the LLR many times. After much discussion, it became clear that the LLRs that were created were not shared with the employees of the organisation properly. As a result of this, most of the employees were not aware of the mistakes and the new updates.

Solution

The management of ABC deployed a team to check whether the LLR was shared with the employees immediately after it has been created. The team uploaded the LLR in the intranet and ensured that it reached every employee of ABC. They thus ensured that the mistakes mentioned in the LLR were not repeated by any of the employees in their future projects.

Result

As a result of the proper sharing of LLR, the overall performance of the employees is now improved and the company has gained good revenue.

What was the main problem faced by ABC? How did ABC tackle its problems?

6 Explain any seven steps used for purchasing process sourcing strategy process.

Dear students get fully solved assignments

Send your semester & Specialization name to our mail id :

  “ help.mbaassignments@gmail.com ”

or

Call us at : 08263069601

(Prefer mailing. Call in emergency )

SUBJECT CODE & NAME

SC0008 –PURCHASING AND CONTRACTING FOR PROJECTS

BK ID

B1663

CREDITS AND MARKS

4 CREDITS AND 60 MARKS

Q.No

Criteria

Marks

Total Marks

1Write short notes on:

·         3 R's in contract management

·         Contracting strategies

·         Target cost contract

·         Fixed price contract

2 Contract for Transferring the Newspaper Agency

Background

Pranav, a business man, owned a newspaper agency. He wanted to sell the newspaper agency to another party. Hence, in January 2010, he entered into negotiations with Mishra who had just started a newspaper agency business. Pranav informed Mishra that the newspaper agency has been making a profit of about Rs 10 lakh per annum over the last five years.

Pranav also offered to let Mishra inspect the annual accounts of the newspaper agency, but Mishra refused to do it. The negotiation proceeded for three months, during which time the business diminished to such an extent that the profit reduced to approximately Rs two lakh per annum.

Issues

On 1st June 2010, Mishra entered into a contract with Pranav by which the newspaper agency business was transferred to Mishra for Rs 50 lakh. On 12th June 2010, Mishra realised the actual state of the business. He also realised that the business had only made a profit of Rs five lakh over the last five years and not Rs 10 lakh.

In this case, Mishra had no remedy against Pranav for breach of contract. This is because a valid contract was created when Mishra agreed to Pranav's offer after months

of negotiation. Without any contrary to the contract, Mishra had entered into the contract and offered his consent.

After creating the contract, both the parties had not breached any terms of the contract. Even though Pranav had stated that the agency was earning Rs 10 lakh per annum, the contract did not indicate that the agency to be transferred was earning Rs 10 lakh per annum for the last five years.

The contract that existed in this scenario only covered the transfer of ownership of the agency and the purchase price that was delivered by Pranav as fulfilment of his obligations. As there was no apparent breach of contract terms, Mishra could not claim breach of contract even when he identified that the agency was really earning less than what Pranav had stated previously.

Source: http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/08/assignment-instruction-case-study-contract-law.html

http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/08/case-study-contract-law.html

Explain why Mishra could not claim breach of contract against Pranav.

3 Assume that you are looking out for a contracting company for the construction of a hospital. You decide to draft a PQQ to all the proposed tenderers. Which questions you would include in the PQQ?

4 Explain payment security

5 Attractive Incentive Scheme

OP is a major oil company that had a massive blow-out in one of its oil wells. Oil was flowing out and polluting a major river in an environmentally sensitive area. Only a few companies in the area had equipment suitable to plug the well. OP’s director had a brief discussion with one of the companies that specialised in plugging the leak.

This leak had posed a major environmental risk. Hence, the issues that needed to be considered here were urgency, duration of the work and availability of suitable contractors. If the leak was not plugged at the earliest it would seriously affect the public’s perception of the company.

As the situation had to be rectified at the earliest the company had to choose contractors in the nearby location. Most contractors viewed the situation as an opportunity to make money. The oil company’s director had noticed this in his discussion with the first company. However, in this situation the oil company had to seek a solution that satisfied the contractor’s objective to make money and the company’s aim of getting the work done quickly.

The offer for the contract was such that the contractor would be paid at the standard rates for normal work, together with an incentive scheme. Conversely, the two tasks, plugging the well and cleaning up, had to be treated independently. The offer also stated that if the oil leak was stopped within an hour a very high bonus would be paid, and the longer it takes the bonus would be reduced on an hourly basis. If the time taken was unacceptable, the bonus would be reduced to zero and only the standard rate as agreed for the work would be paid. The bonus offered was sufficiently high in order to make the task seem worthwhile.

The clean-up work was also based on a similar incentive formula but with a daily, rather than an hourly, time schedule. By providing a high incentive the company was able to get the well plugged in one day and the clean-up in 23 days.

Source: Ward, G. (2008). The Project Manager's Guide to Purchasing: Contracting for Goods and Services. Great Britain: Gower Publishing Limited.)

What contract and payment terms should be negotiated? What should be the base criteria for formulating the incentive scheme?

6 Can delivery affect the project? explain

Dear students get fully solved assignments

Send your semester & Specialization name to our mail id :

  “ help.mbaassignments@gmail.com ”

or

Call us at : 08263069601

(Prefer mailing. Call in emergency )

SUBJECT CODE & NAME

SC0009–SUPPLY CHAIN COST MANAGEMENT

BK ID

B1664

CREDITS AND MARKS

4 CREDITS AND 60 MARKS

Q.No

Criteria

Marks

Total Marks

1 Write short notes on Methods of calculating costs of inventory Cycle time Various costs included in transaction costs Different methods for identifying fair and reasonable pricing

2 What are the tasks that an organisation needs to perform before implementing the cost management strategy?

3 What is process costing? Discuss the steps involved in process costing method.

4 Discuss the steps involved in overcoming the constraints of cost management plan.

5 HP Experiences Cost Savings And Exhibits Environmental Responsibility Through Sustainable Supply Chain Solutions

HP is committed to its role in creating a low-carbon economy. The leading technology company was one of the first to measure and report its global logistics and manufacturing carbon footprint, so transitioning to more sustainable supply chain operations was a critical next step.

HP leveraged its existing relationship with ModusLink to develop a sustainable supply chain strategy. For more than 20 years, ModusLink has managed the company’s complete supply chain for commercial accessories in North America and EMEA, including procurement, kitting and distribution into direct and indirect channels.

ModusLink’s cradle-to-cradle approach includes services ranging from sustainable packaging redesign and network optimization to GHG footprinting, recycling and asset disposition. HP was seeking to accomplish two major goals: Significantly decrease its GHG emissions Reduce logistics and transportation costs

In order to achieve these goals, ModusLink used a combination of sophisticated tools, existing relationships with key sustainable materials suppliers, and an in-house team of experts to conduct a thorough analysis of HP’s supply chain network and operations.

This analysis confirmed that an eco-friendly product packaging redesign would significantly reduce HP’s environmental impact and its logistics costs.

The existing packaging design consisted of large boxes and non biodegradable foam. ModusLink has developed a 4D methodology — a process that analyzes ergonomics, cost, logistics and sustainability — to redesign product packaging using less materials,

eliminating plastic and finding more environmentally sound alternatives. As a result, the foam was replaced with protective end-caps made from 100 percent recycled plastic, and cubic feet and pounds of the finished packaging were significantly reduced.

The 4D Methodology for Product Packaging

1. Ergonomics Design for easier assembly Design for a supreme point-of-purchase and out-of-box experience

2. Cost Reduce materials where possible Use cost-effective materials

3. Sustainability 7Rs concept (Remove, Reduce, Recycle, Renew, Revenue, Read) Determine CO2 footprint via ECRM scorecard

4. Logistics Reduce empty space and size for pallet maximization and freight reduction Reduce packaging while still protecting the product

ModusLink then conducted a network simulation and GHG analysis incorporating the new packaging design to understand the impact on transportation cost and other factors in the supply chain. The analysis showed that HP could reduce GHG emissions by 10 metric tons per year and yield transportation cost savings of more than $50 thousand per year, which is a savings of 12 percent per unit. With more compact, eco-friendly packaging in place, HP continues to uphold its commitment to the environment while benefiting from the cost savings and efficiency resulting from a more sustainable supply chain.

Results:

HP experienced substantial, measurable savings:

Direct Packaging Benefits Per Year

More than 350 thousand U.S. dollar savings in packaging materials alone 74 thousand cubic feet removed from packaging 88 thousand pounds of packaging eliminated 62 metric ton reduction in GHG, equaling: 11.9 passenger cars driven in one year 144 barrels of oil saved 6,974 gallons of gasoline 20.9 tons of waste recycled , not sent to landfills

Estimated Indirect Savings Per Year More than 50 thousand U.S. dollars in outbound transportation costs 10 metric tons less packaging

http://www.moduslink.com/images/uploads/resources/CS_HP_DOWNLOAD.pdf

Why did HP redesign its packaging? How did they achieve these goals?

6 Healthcare supply chains face many challenges

By NCT11. October 2013

Medical supplies and equipment are a significant cost center for hospitals.Medical supplies and equipment are a significant cost center for hospitals.

An aging population continues to place pressure on the healthcare industry. Hospitals are expected to deliver immediate care to anyone who walks through the door, but the number of people needing treatment is likely to continue to grow.

This dynamic is creating new jobs within the industry - more than 5.6 million positions are expected to be created by 2020, according to a study from Georgetown University's Center on Education and Workforce, as reported by The Huffington Post. However, the growth is also placing new demands on supply chains. The Supply Chain Council noted that healthcare organizations may have to absorb 10 to 20 percent more capacity to account for the increase in equipment and medications needed to treat an aging population.

There is already considerable pressure to reform hospital distribution networks, as the supply chain can represent nearly half of healthcare companies' operating costs, making it the second largest expense behind labor. A blog post on the medical site KevinMD stated that changes in supply chain management could contribute to significant saving for hospitals.

Overcoming obstacles with effective shipping

Hospitals face several challenges when it comes to streamlining their supply chains. The first is the need to cover emergency care. On any given day, a facility may have the need for a wide range of equipment and medications. Regular, timely deliveries ensure they have the supplies they need. The second issue facing healthcare supply chain reform is the range of products required. Everything from cardiac stents to artificial joints may be needed at anytime. To complicate the situation, physicians may have preferences for select brands of medications.

More products create complex distribution networks, but hospitals could benefit from LTL freight management. This shipping strategy lets organizations move various quantities of goods from a variety of locations at a minimal costs. The carriers are able

to use product to increase capacity, reducing their overall operating expenses, and the savings are passed along to customers. Switching to LTL services could help hospitals gain control of supply chain costs.

Product quality is essential to controlling expenses in the healthcare industry. Pharmaceuticals that are stored wrongly could deteriorate and become ineffective. Keeping merchandise at the ideal temperature is essential for reducing waste within supply chains, and hospitals can use refrigerated trucking services to maintain the optimal climate for medications during delivery. This provides the guarantee that shipments will arrive as scheduled and in good condition

Source: http://www.nctrans.com/Trucking-Industry-News/post/2013/10/11/healthcare-supply-chains-face-many-challenges

What are the challenges faced by faced by hospitals in streamline their supply chain? How can these be overcome?

Dear students get fully solved assignments

Send your semester & Specialization name to our mail id :

  “ help.mbaassignments@gmail.com ”

or

Call us at : 08263069601

(Prefer mailing. Call in emergency )