Modeling and implementation of supplier selection procedures for e‐commerce initiatives
| Published date | 01 February 2003 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570310456878 |
| Pages | 28-38 |
| Date | 01 February 2003 |
| Author | Reggie Davidrajuh |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Modeling and implementation of supplier selection
procedures for e-commerce initiatives
Reggie Davidrajuh
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Stavanger University College, Stavanger, Norway
1. Introduction
The Internet, or World Wide Web precisely,
allows the supplying of enterprises from the
smallest enterprise to largest corporations to
establish global presence. Hence, the
supplying enterprises now have the
opportunity to reach geographically
dispersed markets that would otherwise be
cost prohibitive to consider. Purchasing
enterprises also now have the opportunity to
select the best suppliers, by utilizing
suppliers' bids on the WWW, thus averting
time consuming and costly outside sources
(middlemen like professional, import
brokers). By best supplier, we mean the
supplier who can supply the right amount of
material at the right time (thus preventing
physical inventories at the purchasing
enterprise), at right price (or cheap), and of
the right quality (e.g. by adhering to ISO
standards).
This paper explores the possibilities of
automating supplier selection procedures as
an e-commerce application; that is,
automatically searching supplier bids
(product data) on WWW servers, and filtering
the data to find the best supplier. By
automation, an enterprise can seek potential
suppliers from all over the world, faster and
cheaper. Also, an enterprise can seek
suppliers often, for an ongoing project or for
future projects. Thus, automating supplier
selection procedures enables the enterprise
to maintain its key concepts for survival,
namely agility and dynamic collaboration
(virtual enterprising).
Before we try to automate supplier
selection procedures as an e-commerce
application, we must model the supplier
selection procedures. In the next section
(section 2), our methodology for modeling
supplier selection procedures is presented.
Our approach for implementing supplier
selection as an e-commerce initiative is given
in section 3. Some directions for further work
are given in the conclusion section.
2. Development of a generic model
Several research studies attempt to develop
models of supplier selection procedures for
various reasons; for review, see Chick and
Olsen (2000), Ghingold and Wilson (1998),
Motwani et al. (1999), Woodside et al.
(1999),Yousef (1992), Yousef et al. (1996).
Developing a generic model for the supplier
selection procedures is not an easy task, for
the following reasons:
.It is a multiple-person activity. Supplier
selection involves persons at several
authority levels (vertical involvement),
and across several departments (lateral
involvement) within the purchasing
enterprise.
.Type of procurement. Supplier selection
procedures vary for procurement of
capital equipment and for commodities
and MRO (maintenance, repair and
operating) items.
.Duration of collaboration. Supplier
selection criteria depend on the duration
of expected collaboration between the
supplier and the purchaser; from short-
term commitment to long-term alliance.
.Type of collaboration. Selection criteria
also depend on the closeness of
collaboration between the supplier and the
purchaser. Extensiveness of the selection
criteria will be high if the potential
supplier is to become a strategic partner.
Though several research studies have
attempted to model supplier selection
procedures, they are mostly about buying
capital equipment, and about the behavior of
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
[28]
Industrial Management &
Data Systems
103/1 [2003] 28-38
#MCB UP Limited
[ISSN 0263-5577]
[DOI 10.1108/02635570310456878]
Keywords
Suppliers, Selection, Automation,
Electronic commerce
Abstract
The main work in this paper covers
a methodology, tools and
implementation techniques for
automation of supplier selection
procedures as an e-commerce
application. The work could be
divided into two main parts. First,
the development of a modeling
methodology which can be used
for automation of supplier
selection procedures. By this
modeling methodology, supplier
selection procedures are divided
into pre-selection, selection and
the post-selection procedures. The
selection procedure is further
divided into the following stages:
bidder selection, partner
selection, and performance
evaluation. The second part is
about realization of automation.
Three modules for automation are
identified; they are the data
collection system for bidder
selection stage, the inference
engine for partner selection stage,
and the performance evaluation
engine for the performance
evaluation stage.
To continue reading
Request your trial