Role Of E-Procurement Strategy In Enhancing Procurement Performance In .

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International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)ISSN (Online): 2319-7064Role of E-Procurement Strategy in EnhancingProcurement Performance in State Corporations inKenya1Noor Ismail Shalle, 2WarioGuyo, 3Iravo Mike AmuhayaPhD. in Procurement and Supply Chain Management) (JKUAT); MSc Procurement and Logistics (JKUAT), BSc General BusinessAdministration (University of Juba), Nairobi, KenyaPh.D, Deputy Director, CBD Campus, Nairobi, Jomo Kenya University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, KenyaPhD.in HRM (JKUAT); M.in Admin & Plan. (UoN); Dip.Mgt. (London); PGDE. (KU); M.A. & B.A (Sibiu, Romania)Abstract: In a competitive and globalized business environment, corporate sectors and business houses need to be at breast with newtechnological developments as well as manage reduction of operational costs while meeting the organizational goals and objectives.Since the internet arrived on the scene as a supply management tool in the mid-1990s enterprises have tried to gain the benefit eprocurement can deliver: cost reduction, process streamlining, improved contract compliance, increased spend under management, andmore. However many challenges stood in the way and only in the recent years have leading enterprises taken full advantage of the valueof e-procurement systems. As a higher percentage of enterprise spend and more spend categories flow through e-procurement systems,greater cost savings and other benefits are realized. E-procurement technology and other advanced technologies essentially are freeingprocurement professionals to become true supply managers at these enterprises, and the role of procurement is shifting from reducingcosts to creating supply value for the company. A descriptive research design will be used in this study. A questionnaire was used forcollecting date .Quantitative data was analyzed by employing descriptive statistics and inferential analysis using statistical package forsocial science (SPSS). This technique gives simple summaries about the sample data and present quantitative descriptions in amanageable form.Keywords: competitive, globalized business environment, e-procurement, operational costs.1. IntroductionIn a competitive and globalized business environment,corporate sectors and business houses need to be at breastwith new technological developments as well as managereduction of operational costs while meeting theorganizational goals and objectives. The advent oftechnological invasion into the market place, have created emarkets in every business sector. This paved way for a fasterconnectivity between B2B and B2C exchanges. The benefitsof online purchasing not only show cases the costs ofsavings but also improve the way companies operate. Ithelps them to deal with a chosen few suppliers with betterbuying strategic as well as slash down the administrationcosts. Today’s technological business world has turned to anelectronic procurement system (Kalakota and Robinson,2009). E-procurement has brought to prominence in recentyears by the popularization and commercialization ofinternet. In addition to the customer oriented procurement ofthe internet, e-procurement is practiced through electronicmarkets and electronic data interchange (EDI). This createsthe need for an efficient electronically enabled supply chainand value chain management (whitely, 2009).The electronic procurement system or e-procurement as it iscalled involves purchase and sale of products, supplies andservices through the various networking systems such aselectronic data interchange and internet. E-procurement doesnot mean just online purchasing decisions. It involvesconnecting the suppliers and employees of the organizationsinto the purchasing network companies that embark on eprocurement buying programmes will be able to aggregatePaper ID: 26111301purchasing across multiple departments or divisions withoutremoving individual control, reduce rogue buying, can getthe best price and quality products from a wide range ofsuppliers. For the suppliers, E-procurement is a boombecause they can be very proactive in their businessproceedings.Although, e-procurement is still in its infancy, somecompanies have made impressive savings through radicalstreamlining of their buying activities. E-procurementactually automates the purchasing and procurement processof a company and integrates the buyers and suppliersthrough relevant IT systems, which together forms a valuenetwork for the company. The automation of the end to endprocurement work flow has taken over the traditionalpurchase order software. It helps to improve theorganizational efficiency and control over the procurementactivities and the need. The advent of cloud computingconcepts and using the cloud process for e-procurement hasautomated the procurement process further. Themanagement of agreements and contracts, price listverification product, comparisons, article selection has notonly become simplified but also speedy (Chin Nam, 2007).The impact of web based technology has added value / speedto all the activities and avenues of business in today dynamicglobal competition. The ability to provide customers withcost effective total solution and life cycle costs forsustainable value become vital, Business organizations arenow under tremendous pressure to improve theirresponsiveness and efficiency in terms of productdevelopment, operations and resource utilization withtransparency. With the emerging application of internet andVolume 2 Issue 11, November 2013www.ijsr.net421

International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)ISSN (Online): 2319-7064information technology (ICT) the companies are forced toshift their operations from traditional way to a virtual eprocurement and supply chain philosophy to transport thecompany’s activity to automated one (Carabello, 2007).Electronic procurement is an ever-growing means ofconducting business in many industries, around the worldand is projected to reach 3 trillion in transaction this year,up from 75 billion in 202 (Verespej, 2002). In theirdiscussion of competitive purchasing strategies required forthe twenty first century, Monczka and Morgan (2000) statedthat firms must maximize the use internet based technologies(including e-procurement) in every aspect of the business,linking across all members of the supply chain, increasingthe speed of information transfer and reducing non-valueadding tasks. Clearly, the use of electronic procurement is arelatively recent phenomenon; therefore a sound forelectronic procurement strategy does not exist. Theconstruct, “electronic procurement strategy” examined inthis research represents a theoretical fusion of organizationalmoves and management approaches used to achieveorganizational objectives and to pursue the organizationalobjectives and to pursue the organization’s mission.The procurement process has traditionally involved slowmanual procedures and even slower systematic processes forhandling procurement transactions (Hawking et al., 2004).E-procurement has had an increasingly important role inbusiness to business (B2B) procurement. Web- enabled B2Be-procurement enhances inter organizational coordinationresulting in transactions cost saving and competitivesourcing opportunities for the buyer organization(Subramanian and Shaw, 2002).In recent years organizations are becoming more discerningabout e-procurement decisions that need to be made andhow they respond to the multitude of pressures andinfluences. The procurement process has traditionallyinvolved slow manual procedures and even slowersystematic processes for handling procurement transactions(Hawking et al., 2004). E-procurement has had anincreasingly important role in business to business B2B) eprocurement enhances inter organizational coordinationresulting in transaction cost savings and competitivesourcing opportunities for the buyer organization(Subramaniam and Shaw, 2002).In recent years organizations are becoming more discerningabout e-procurement decisions that need to be made andhow they respond to the multitude of pressures andinfluences. A number of public sector agencies worldwidehave identified electronic procurement (e-procurement) as apriority e-government agenda and have implemented or arein the process of implementing buyside e-procurementsystems. What is e-procurement? Confusion exists indefining the term e-procurement (Vaidya, Yu, Soar &Turner, 2003). While the terms ‘e-procurement’ and ‘epurchasing’ have been used synonymously in manyjurisdictions in an attempt to prove their involvement in thee-procurement revolution (m), the term ‘purchasing’ has anarrower scope. E-procurement refers to the use of internetbased (integrated acmanus, 2002) information andcommunication technologies (ICTs) to carry out individualor all stages of the procurement process including sourcing,Paper ID: 26111301negotiation, ordering, receipt, and post purchase review(Croom& Brandon-Jones, 2004). While there are variousforms of e-procurement that concentrate on one or manystages of the procurement process such as e-tendering, emarket place, e-auction/reverse and e-catalogue/purchasing,e-procurement can be viewed more broadly as an end to endsolution that integrates and streamlines many procurementprocesses throughout the organization. Although the term‘end to end e-procurement’ is popular, industry andacademic analysts indicate that this ideal model is rarelyachieved (DOIR, 2001) and e-procurement implementationsgenerally involve a mixture of different models (S & A.,2003). As one of the core enablers of an e-business supplychain, e-procurement is conceptualized as a subset of eprocurement.2. Statement of the ProblemState corporations play a major role in the development ofthe country through provision of public services and havebecome a strong entity in Kenya and very useful engines topromoting development. On the international scenes theglobal economy recorded a growth of 5.1% in 2006compared to 4.5% (IMF 2005). In Kenya state corporationsaccounted for 20% of the country's Gross Domestic Product(GDP), provided employment opportunities to about300,000 people in the formal sector and 3.7 million personsin the informal sectors of the economy (GoK 2004). Thegovernment through sessional paper no. 10 of 1965established state corporation by an act of parliament to meetboth commercial and social goals, that was to correct marketfailure, to exploit social and political objectives, provideeducation, health and redistribute income or developmarginal areas. One aim of making Kenya a newlyindustrialized, middle income country by providing qualitylife for all its citizens is by the Kenyan Vision 2030 (KNBS,2008).However, in addition, State Corporations in Kenya has beenexperiencing a myriad of problems including corruption,nepotism and mismanagement (Daily nation March 12,2003, Petiffor free directory.com 2004). For example aworld bank report (2004) stated that a key area forcorruption busting reform is the parastatal sector whichwhen compared to similar economies are a drain on publicresources and are locus of corruption that thrives in publicmonopolies especially when coupled with lax oversight,mismanagement and fiduciary control procedures. An areaof State Corporations dominance that cries out for reforms isthe financial sector and other support and service provisionsectors. In fact the public investment committee reports ofout of 130 reports examined by the Auditor General, only 23Corporations managed a clean bill of health (GoK, 2002).The general story is one of loss, fraud, theft and grossmismanagement which are hampering improved andsustained performance and service delivery. In view of themyriad challenges of budgetary allocations, staffing, anddeterioration and near collapse of infrastructure, negativetravel advisories issued by the governments in the maininternational source markets, coupled with actual andperceived concerns regarding safety and security results innegative publicity affecting marketing efforts (EconomicSurvey 2009). Private and public sector organizations havebeen experiencing challenges on their procurementVolume 2 Issue 11, November 2013www.ijsr.net422

International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)ISSN (Online): 2319-7064performance but organizations which have enhanced theirperformance through embracing e-procurement strategyhave been able to supersede others in terms of accountabilityand transparency (Subramaniam & Shaw, 2002)Productivity of state corporations was quite low while at thesame time they continued to absorb excessive portion of thebudget, becoming a principal cause of long tions' operations had become inefficient and nonprofitable, partly due to multiplicity of objectives, stifledprivate sector initiatives and failing of joint venturesrequiring the government to shoulder major procurementburdens (Naliaka, 2005). 31% of state corporations rely onold records in selecting their suppliers, while 69% searchthrough internet catalogue in selecting suppliers Comick(2006).A study by Chan and Lee (2002) found that organizationswhich adopted e-procurement strategies have reduced coststhrough transactional and process efficiencies and therebypromoting their procurement performance. However, inSingapore, previous research by Lim et al (2004) on thesurvey of the role of e-procurement adoption strategy showsthat global state corporation use of the internet is high, whilein Kenya, previous research by Kinyanjui and Omolo (2006)on usage, obstacles and policies on e-procurement show thatonly 33% of state corporations have implemented eprocurement as a strategy to improving services. The milliondollar question will be the use of e-procurement as a strategyto enhance or deteriorate the performance of theprocurement function, but none of the existing researchexplores further how e-procurement strategy affects theprocurement performance. This study therefore explains therole of e-procurement strategy in enhancing procurementperformance in State Corporations in Kenya.3. Literature ReviewFor decades procurement performance has been attractinggreat attention from practitioners due to poor performanceresulting from non-adherence to power processes andprocedures. The procurement function has not been giventhe recognition it deserves in developing countries, in mostpublic entities, regardless of the effort by the partners likethe World Bank, the international. Trade organization, theunited Nations conference on trade and development ontrade and development, they and others. This could bedeliberate or sheer ignorance on the value the procurementfunction could contribute to any organization (Telgen,Zomer, Boer, 1997). While functions like Human Resource(HR) and Finance can have their performance measured, thisis not the case with the procurement function. The failure toestablish performance of the procurement function has led toirregular and biased decisions that have costly consequencesto every entity.Knvdsen, (2009) suggested that procurement performancestarts from purchasing effectiveness in the procurementfunction in order to change from being reactive to beingproactive to attain set performance levels in an entity.According to Van Weele (2006) purchasing performance isconsidered to be the result of two elements; purchasingeffectiveness and purchasing efficiency. For an organizationPaper ID: 26111301to change its focus and become more competitiveAmaratunga & Baldry (2002) suggest that performance is akey driver to improving quality services while its absence oruse of in appropriate means can acts as a barrier to changeand may lead to deterioration of the purchasing function.Organization which does not have performance means intheir processes, procedures, and plans experience lowerperformance and higher customer dissatisfaction andemployee turnover (Artley & Stroh, 2001, Arnaratunga &Baldry, 2002 and CIPs Australia, 2005). Measuring theperformance of the purchasing function yields benefits toorganizations such as cost reduction, enhanced profitability,assumed supplies, quality improvements and competitiveadvantage as noted by Batenburg & Versendaal (2006).Although the need for performance in procurement has longbeen recognized, for a variety of reasons, manyorganizations fail to measure it adequately (Cammish andKeough, 1991; Brun et al., 2004). Easton et al. (2002)review the history of PP in the literature through the 1980sand early 1990s and conclude that a general weakness of“traditional” measures is that they recognize and rewardmainly short-term gains, rather than long-term ones. Laudonand Laudon (2010) argued that measuring long-term impactis notoriously difficult. The literature on e-PP is divided interms of its impact at the operational or strategic level of theorganization. At the operational level, there have beenseveral studies investigating the impact of EPTs on PPR andPP including Mishra et al. (2007), Vaidyanathan andDevaraj (2008) and Teo et al. (2009). It is argued that byutilizing new procurement technologies, firms can increasethe efficiency of their entire procurement process and,thereby, can achieve higher firm performance (Lindskog andWennberg, 2002). Research by Gebauer et al. (1998) hasalso described PPR and how these positively impact PP interms of cost, time, satisfaction, quality, stock, and value.There is general agreement that e-PPR positively impact PPin terms of cost, time, satisfaction, quality, stock, and value;however, estimates of the impact of investments vary(Ordanini and Rubera, 2008; Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2008)and empirically derived figures are difficult to unearth.Knudsen (2003) suggests e-procurement can be condensedinto the following six processes -“e-sourcing, e-tendering, einforming, e-mro (Maintenance, Repair and operatingmaterials), ERP (Enterprise resource planning) and ecollaboration”. The principle of electronic tendering issimply to provide a faultless system of transmitting inputfrom the contractor’s tender through to contract managementremoving the inefficiencies, delays and cost involved inmanually processing tender information and re-transcribingfor contract management activity. Bell (2001) suggestschanges must take place if electronic solutions are tobecome predominant and companies are to remaincompetitive in the new era.By implementing e-procurement system, several benefitscould be gained. Several studies have explored the benefitsof implementing e-procurement system; one of them was byGunasekaran, McGaughey, Ngai, and Rai (2009) whichfocused on the status of e-procurement in Small andMedium Enterprises (SMEs) in the South Coast ofVolume 2 Issue 11, November 2013www.ijsr.net423

International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)ISSN (Online): 2319-7064Massachusetts. This research showed that e- procurementwas poorly understood by SMEs and they were not reapingthe benefits of e-procurement.Panayiotou, Gayialis, and Tatsiopoulos (2004) conducted acase study that focused on analyzing the Greek governmentprocurement processes carried out by the General Secretariatof Procurement. This study identified tangible (quantifiable)and intangible (difficult to quantify) benefits. Tangiblebenefits included cost of supply reduction, tender costsreduction and lead time savings. Intangible benefits includedprocess improvement and organizational benefits. Anotherstudy was conducted by Croomand Brandon-Jones (2009).This study exploited issues related to implementation andimpact of e-procurement in nine public sectors in the UnitedKingdom (UK). Five impacts were identified in this study,namely: change in total cost of acquisitions, changes inorganizational characteristics, changes in governancestructure, management and implementation.Yen and Ng (2003) also conducted study on the impact of eprocurement in the procurement process on the supply chainby analyzing the project of Hong Kong Textile ApparelIndustry Global Applications (HKTAIGA). They usedSWOT analysis to describe impacts in each stage ofprocurement process. Strengths and weaknesses were usedas internal performance measurement in the procurementprocess, for example, efficiency, and effectiveness.Opportunities and threats were identified asthe electronicenvironments that support e-procurement.Neilson et al. (2000) state that instead of bureaucratic,hierarchical structure, organizations should form moreflexible, decentralized team and alliance based networks thatallow employees to react to market shifts. This research thatassumes that e-procurement involves a network of actorsthat operate both inter and intra-organization processes.Firms are making significant investments in their e-businessstrategies and IT; yet some managers remain unclear abouthow to adapt their organization to new strategies andprocesses. Advancements in procurement technology createthe opportunities for new forms of arranging work, such ascollapsing boundaries between suppliers and customersmake it imperative for management to identify the keyattributes and processes required for competitive advantage.Hand field and Nichols (2002) assert that access to memoryis vital because a chain lacks many of the formal andinformal mechanisms that guide decisions in establishedfirms, such as hierarchy (formal) and strong vales, traditionsand beliefs (informal).According to the literature in the field, security (Croom,2000) and authentication (Varney, 2011) are two other majorchallenges present in e-procurement. The impacts oftechnological errors, system constraints and technologicalfailures, which are seldom discussed or acknowledged, arealso a major concern for e-procurement (Coulthard &Castleman, 2001; Mota & Filho, 2011; Sun et al., 2012).While tools such as e-signature, e-notice or e-bids dosignificantly reduce processing time – these constructs mightraise security issues, cause costly errors and authenticatingbidders problematic. In this sense, much of the responsibilityof ethical behavior is placed on the vendors which, givenPaper ID: 26111301their motives, may place additional pressure on procurementto validate the integrity of the process; again driving upimplementation costs. The public agency is limited in itsability to insure that the internal structures of suppliers fitswithin the broader context of the rigorous ethicalexpectations of the public sector.Grodeland and Aseland (2011) have suggested that in postcommunist state countries there is a large use of informalpractices because citizens do not trust that their problemscan be solved formally. This attitude is also applicable toAlbania as a post-communist country which is still underpolitical transition. Albania is one of the most corruptedcountries in Europe and transparency challenges still need tobe addressed. There are direct factors and peripheralelements that can enforce and promote transparency.According to Smith (2010) lack of meritocracy in the publicadministration and strong political connections are sourcesof law evasion and consequently corruption. Abbink (2004)suggests that these issues can be solved through staffrotation in the public administration. On the other hand, thispractice can have negative consequences on the civilservants image and expertise.While Sitkin’s (1992) theory of intelligent failure attempts toprovide the answer, the model has recently been adapted asdescribing how to “learn from failure” (Scott & Vessey,2000). Though there have been very little studies from ational learning to failures can be found in the ISliterature. Scott & Vessey (2000) view organizationallearning as a series of processes interspersed with “small”successes or failures. According to the authors,organizations will sometimes fail, giving them opportunityto learn from their failures.They further reason that the experience of failure produceslearning readiness and if the cause of the failure isdetermined, organizational learning takes place. Accordingto Argyris (1982), organizations find it difficult to learnlessons from problems and seldom question the underlyingbasis of their own problems. Soete and Weehuizen (2003)further support this notion that public sector organizationsoften lack innovation and are resistant to change – they tendto emphasize conformity and defend status quo instead offocusing on creativity, improvement and change. This isespecially evident when implementing innovativeinformation technologies such as e-Procurement systems. Asthe implementation of e-Procurement initiatives in the publicsector demands exchange of information within and amongusers (specialist-users) and suppliers (large suppliers andlocal/regional SMEs), the procurement organization musthave capacity to exercise organizational learning and sharethe lessons learnt. However, despite many examples ofpublic sector e-Procurement failures in the popular businesspress (Vaidya et al., 2004), organizations do not documentand share the lessons learnt pertaining to the failed eGovernment implementations because organizations areinterested to publicize only successes (Subramanian &Sachdeva, 2003) and are apparently silent on failures,making it difficult to researchers to obtain data (Sauer,1999).Volume 2 Issue 11, November 2013www.ijsr.net424

International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)ISSN (Online): 2319-70644. Research MethodologyTable 4.1: Regression outputA descriptive research design will be used in this study. Thetarget population of this study comprises of the ICT andProcurement managers tall the 190 state corporationscomprising of a total of 380 respondents. Thus Eprocurement strategy and its application are relevant at thislevel prompting the choice of the departments. Primary datawas collected using a questionnaire covering the role of Eprocurement in state corporation performance. Quantitativedata was analyzed by employing descriptive statistics andinferential analysis using statistical package for socialscience (SPSS).5. Summary of FindingsThe general objective of this study was to critically examinethe role of e-procurement strategies on the procurementperformance in state Corporations in Kenya. The specificresearch objectives were to establish whether customerservice level on e-procurement strategy affect procurementperformance in state Corporations in Kenya; to evaluate howprocurement cost on e-procurement strategy affectprocurement performance in state Corporations in Kenya; toidentify whether inventory optimization on e-procurementstrategy affect procurement performance in stateCorporations in Kenya; to find out whether buyer/suppliercollaboration in e-procurement strategy promotesprocurement performance in state Corporations in Kenyaand finally to determine if compliance and auditability of nce in state Corporations in KenyaIn this respect, analysis of the aggregate data from allmanufacturing sub sectors indicates that approximately82.6717 % of variations in the procurement performance instate Corporations in Kenyaare well explained by theindependent variables. T–test X1, X2, X3, X4, and X5arethe most significant predictors based upon p-value, meaningthat the regression equation is statistically significant.Respondents were asked to whether each independent factorinfluenced procurement performance in their organizations.Interestingly, the result showed that customer service levelwas the most important driving force for procurementperformance in state Corporations in Kenya. It is followedby auditability and compliance(X5), Vision and PlanStatement procurement cost production (X2), inventoryoptimization (X3), and buyer supplier collaboration (X4).6. Regression AnalysisThe output table 4.8 below is for Y versus X1, X2, X3, X4,and X5.Paper ID: 26111301Dependent Variable: YSample: 1 310Included observations: 310VariableCoefficient Std. Error t-StatisticSig.C46.796715.196101 9.006121 0.0000X16.7699330.999345 6.774372 0.0000X23.8229040.936286 4.083050 0.0001X33.1993740.824425 3.880734 0.0002X42.8994800.764836 3.790983 0.0002X54.5185130.927896 4.869633 0.0000R-squared0.839845 Mean dependent variable 73.86466Adjusted R0.826717 S.D. dependent variable 13.78283squaredSum squared resid4015.980S.E. on1.870660Prob(F-statistic)0.000000statThe equation derived from regression output is as follows:Y 46.79671 6.769933 X1 3.822904 X2 3.199374 X3 2.899480 X4 4.518513 X57. ConclusionsStudy findings revealed that services offered in theirdepartments as efficient and effective; that E-procurementservice level significantly reduces paper work and increasedproductivity of clerical staff and that customer service levelin e-procurement strategy leads to change in “users”behavior; that procurement automation reduces procurementcost to a great extent; that E-procurement software systemreduces time and effort required to complete purchasingtransactions and hence reduced procurement cost; that thecost of laying IT infrastructure is dependent on the factorsthat influence procurement cost; that procurement costreduction integrates organizations with key tools cost data tomake decisions; that high levels of inventory/stock adverselyaffect profitability of the corporation; that inventoryoptimization was affected by dynamic pricing policy; thattop level management contributes to policies on orderingand replenishment of inventory in their organizations; andthat that real time.8. RecommendationsState corporations should adopt electronic customerrelationship management systems (CRM) to help themimprove the relationship and contact with customers. Theyshould also have a good e-procurement software system as itwould help them greatly reduce the time and effort requiredto complete purchasing transactions by eliminatingtraditional paper chain of requisitions, approvals, receivingand payment reconciliation. Business information systemsshou

defining the term e-procurement (Vaidya, Yu, Soar & Turner, 2003). While the terms 'e-procurement' and 'e-purchasing' have been used synonymously in many jurisdictions in an attempt to prove their involvement in the e-procurement revolution (m), the term 'purchasing' has a narrower scope. E-procurement refers to the use of internet-

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