Question

Business buying can be a very involved process. Many companies employ procurement or purchasing experts dedicated to managing the firm’s buying process. Visit www.glassdoor.com/salaries and www.indeed.com/salary to conduct a search of the salary ranges for “procurement specialists” and similar positions in purchasing. Present your findings. Can e-procurement help to streamline the buying process? Might it eventually replace employees in these careers? Discuss if it is possible for all buying functions to be performed through e-procurement.

Answer 1

As per glassdoor

Purchase specialist salary varies between $43k to $77k in the US.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/purchase-specialist-salary-SRCH_KO0,19.htm

As per indeed

The average salary for "purchase specialist" ranges from approximately $13.83 per hour for Certified Peer Specialist to $25.44 per hour for Buyer/Planner

https://www.indeed.com/salaries/purchase%20specialist

Can e-procurement help to streamline the buying process? - Yes it definitely streamlines the buying process. In the e-procurement software modules are clearly defined, workflows are in place for authorization and authentication, e-procurement is secure and the most sought after feature is transparency, which makes is useful for public sector procurement very lucrative. Already the governments of Singapore, India, UK, Ukraine, US started using e-procurement systems. E-procurement helped them dealing with the corruption issues.

Might it eventually replace employees in these careers?

It depends on the complexity of the process and industry. Procurement process is different in Oil and Gas industry, mining industry than process in Retail industry. So replacing the employees completely might not be easy for complex procure process. Also, the maturity and organization change readiness will play a vital role. Many a times organizations procure and install the sophisticated software’s to automate the process but employees are not comfortable using them. Which is very challenging for organizations to navigate to "e" path.

Discuss if it is possible for all buying functions to be performed through e-procurement.

Buying would vary from industry to industry.

Basic questions before making any purchase decision

1. What to buy

2. How much to buy

3. When to buy

4. from where to buy

5. Associated costs

Let’s understand this how it works in Retail Industry.

1. What to buy > it can be raw material or finished goods. Planning software can give the inputs based on the demand plan.

2. How much to buy > how much quantity of which product needs to be purchased. Planning software based on demand and design inputs will give the estimated.

3. When to buy > It will depend on the lead time. How much time it takes to procure the given product from the given supplier. Supplier management team/software will provide this input. Reorder points will be decided based on the safety stokes and demand during lead times.

4. From where to buy > Supplier selection is very much important. It can give the biggest cost advantage. For garmenting Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Thailand and India are the destination of choice when it comes to garments and textiles. The government policies have impact on the procurement destination selection.

All the above functions can be automated through e-procurement if buyers and seller both agree.

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