Improving Purchasing Performance through Internal Data and Information - A Case Study at Volvo Group Trucks Purchasing
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master Thesis
Master Thesis
Program
Supply chain management (MPSCM), MSc
Publicerad
2017
Författare
Engvall, Max
Krohn, Tristan
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Purchasing in a large organization such as Volvo involves a lot of cross functional collaboration and the responsibility and role of one person is much more focused compared to in a smaller organization. This increases the requirements of communication and having well-functioning information sharing systems and processes, since a lot of people sit on a many small parts of data and information. This data and information is required by the Operations Purchasers (OP) at Volvo Trucks when making a decision and finding areas of improvement with the goal of reducing the cost. This thesis takes a closer look at how the data and information is distributed within Volvo Trucks in an attempt to understand and analyse their methods and provide practical implications as to how Volvo Trucks could improve. The research was divided into three sections, with the first focusing on the opinion and needs of the main stakeholder, the OPs working at Volvo Trucks. This included gathering empirical data through the use of interviews with a variety of OPs regarding their view on which data and information is of interest and how they receive it. The outcome of these interviews set the course for the second stage of the research, the inclusion of cross functional stakeholders. Based on the empirical findings from interviews with OPs, in combination with a survey, the cross functions with the highest perceived value were identified. The identified cross functions were then interviewed with the focus on what data and information they perceive is important for the OPs, in an attempt to look at the similarities and differences between the perception of OPs and the other functions. The final stage included the analysis and conclusion regarding which data and information the OPs at Volvo Trucks found to be of high importance and the correlation with what the other functions perceived to be of high importance. In addition to this, the sources of different types of information as well as contents of information are identified and presented. The research also included some aspects of practical implications, looking at a possible solution to help improve the distribution of data and information as well as the user’s ability to apprehend the data and information and use it in their decision making. Consequently, the research included aspects of how people convert information into knowledge and thus are able to use it in their decision making to drive purchasing performance.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Övrig industriell teknik och ekonomi , Transport , Other industrial engineering and economics , Transport