Sourcing Decisions in the Supply Chain
13-2 Outline
The Role of Sourcing in a Supply Chain
Supplier Scoring and Assessment
Supplier Selection and Contracts
Design Collaboration
The Procurement Process
Sourcing Planning and Analysis
Making Sourcing Decisions in Practice
13-3
The Role of Sourcing
in a Supply Chain
Sourcing is the set of business processes required to purchase goods and
services
Sourcing processes include:
Supplier scoring and assessment
Supplier selection and contract negotiation
Design collaboration
Procurement
Sourcing planning and analysis
Benefits of Effective Sourcing Decisions
13-4
Better economies of scale can be achieved if orders are
aggregated
Design collaboration can result in products that are easier
to manufacture and distribute, resulting in lower overall
costs
Good procurement processes can facilitate coordination
with suppliers and improve matching of supply and
demand
Appropriate supplier contracts can allow for the sharing of
risk
Firms can achieve a lower purchase price by increasing
competition through the use of auctions
13-5 Supplier Scoring and Assessment
Replenishment Lead Time Pricing Terms
On-Time Performance Information Coordination
Supply Flexibility Capability
Delivery Frequency / Design Collaboration
Minimum Lot Size Capability
Supply Quality Exchange Rates, Taxes,
Duties
Inbound Transportation Cost
Supplier Viability
13-6 Supplier Selection- Auctions and Negotiations
Supplier selection can be performed through competitive
bids, reverse auctions, and direct negotiations
Supplier evaluation is based on total cost of using a
supplier
Auctions:
Sealed-bid first-price auctions
English auctions – auctioneer starts with a price followed by
supplier making lower bids
Dutch auctions – auctioneer starts with a low price followed by
himself raising the price till a supplier agrees to contract
13-7 Contracts and Supply Chain Performance
Contracts for Product Availability and Supply Chain Profits
Buyback Contracts (e.g. book industry)
Revenue-Sharing Contracts (e.g. video rentals with movie studio)
Quantity Flexibility Contracts (e.g. electronics / computer industry)
Contracts to Coordinate Supply Chain Costs
Contracts to Increase Agent Effort
Contracts to Induce Performance Improvement
13-8
Contracts for Product Availability and Supply
Chain Profits
Many shortcomings in supply chain performance occur
because the buyer and supplier are separate organizations
and each tries to optimize its own profit
Total supply chain profits might therefore be lower than if
the supply chain coordinated actions to have a common
objective of maximizing total supply chain profits
An approach to dealing with this problem is to design a
contract that encourages a buyer to purchase more and
increase the level of product availability
The supplier must share in some of the buyer’s demand
uncertainty
Contracts for Product Availability and Supply
13-9
Chain Profits: Buyback Contracts
Allows a retailer to return unsold inventory up to a specified
amount at an agreed upon price
Increases the optimal order quantity for the retailer, resulting
in higher product availability and higher profits for both the
retailer and the supplier
Most effective for products with low variable cost, such as
music, software, books, magazines, and newspapers
Downside is that buyback contract results in surplus inventory
that must be disposed of, which increases supply chain costs
Can also increase information distortion through the supply
chain because the supply chain reacts to retail orders, not
actual customer demand
Contracts for Product Availability and Supply Chain
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10 Profits: Revenue Sharing Contracts
The buyer pays a minimal amount for each unit purchased from the supplier but
shares a fraction of the revenue for each unit sold
Decreases the cost per unit charged to the retailer, which effectively decreases the
cost of overstocking
Can result in supply chain information distortion, however, just as in the case of
buyback contracts
Contracts for Product Availability and Supply Chain
13-11 Profits: Quantity Flexibility Contracts
Allows the buyer to modify the order (within limits) as demand visibility increases
closer to the point of sale
Better matching of supply and demand
Increased overall supply chain profits if the supplier has flexible capacity
Lower levels of information distortion than either buyback contracts or revenue
sharing contracts
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Contracts to Coordinate
12 Supply Chain Costs
Differences in costs at the buyer and supplier can lead to decisions that increase
total supply chain costs
Example: Replenishment order size placed by the buyer. The buyer’s EOQ does not
take into account the supplier’s costs.
A quantity discount contract may encourage the buyer to purchase a larger quantity
(which would be lower costs for the supplier), which would result in lower total
supply chain costs
Quantity discounts lead to information distortion because of order batching
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13 Contracts to Increase Agent Effort
There are many instances in a supply chain where an agent acts on the behalf of a
principal and the agent’s actions affect the reward for the principal
Example: A car dealer who sells the cars of a manufacturer, as well as those of other
manufacturers
Examples of contracts to increase agent effort include two-part tariffs and threshold
contracts
Two –part tariff: Upfront franchisee fee, car is sold at cost to dealer. Entire profit is to the
dealer
Threshold contract: Margin is defined as per slab of sale.
Threshold contracts increase information distortion, however
13-
Contracts to Induce
14 Performance Improvement
A buyer may want performance improvement from a supplier who otherwise would
have little incentive to do so
A shared savings contract provides the supplier with
a fraction of the savings that result from the performance improvement
Particularly effective where the benefit from improvement accrues primarily to the
buyer, but where the effort for the improvement comes primarily from the supplier
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15 Design Collaboration
50-70 percent of spending at a manufacturer is through procurement
80 percent of the cost of a purchased part is fixed in the design phase
Design collaboration with suppliers can result in reduced cost, improved quality, and
decreased time to market
Important to employ design for logistics, design for manufacturability
Manufacturers must become effective design coordinators throughout the supply
chain
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16 The Procurement Process
The process in which the supplier sends product in response to
orders placed by the buyer
Goal is to enable orders to be placed and delivered on schedule at
the lowest possible overall cost
Two main categories of purchased goods:
Direct materials: components used to make finished goods
Indirect materials: goods used to support the operations of a firm
Procurement for both should consolidate orders where possible to
take advantage of economies of scale and quantity discounts
Direct vs Indirect Materials
Direct Material Indirect Material
Use Production Support operations
Accounting Cost of goods sold Selling, general and Admin
expenses (SG&A)
Impact on production Delay impacts production Less direct impact
Processing cost relative to Low High
the value of transaction
Number of transactions Low High
• Focus for direct materials should be on improving coordination and visibility with
supplier
• Focus for indirect materials should be on decreasing the transaction cost for each
order
13- Product Categorization by Value and Criticality
18
High Strategic Items
Critical Items Products designed together,
long term relationship
Focus on availability
Criticality (electronics for auto industry)
(Specialty chemicals)
Bulk Purchase Items
General Items
Same selling price
Lower the transaction
across suppliers
cost
(packaging material)
Low (most indirect items)
Low High
Value/Cost
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19 Sourcing Planning and Analysis
A firm should periodically analyze its procurement spending and supplier
performance and use this analysis as an input for future sourcing decisions
Procurement spending should be analyzed by part and supplier to ensure appropriate
economies of scale
Supplier performance analysis should be used to build a portfolio of suppliers with
complementary strengths
Cheaper but lower performing suppliers should be used to supply base demand
Higher performing but more expensive suppliers should be used to buffer against variation
in demand and supply from the other source
Similarly companies can use low-cost supplier with long lead time & high-cost supplier
with short lead time.
13- Making Sourcing
20
Decisions in Practice
Use multifunction teams
Ensure appropriate coordination across regions and business units
Always evaluate the total cost of ownership
Build long-term relationships with key suppliers
Thank You
