ABSTRACT

The study was conducted from Capital Shoppers supermarket Kampala Uganda under the topic “E procurement and supply chain management”. The study had three major objectives to examine the e-procurement methods and procedures of CS supermarket Kampala, to assess the management of supply chain of CS supermarket and to establish the effect of e procurement on supply chain management.

The study was purely descriptive and analytical based on both qualitative and quantitative data from primary and secondary sources.

It was discovered that CS supermarket uses the following e-procurement methods, electronic data interchange, e-tending, e-auctioning, e-market places and each method follow certain procedures.

It was found out that supply chain management was far below the desired level. It was discovered that e-procurement affects supply chain management. It was also found out that e procurement has affected supply chain management because of non-adherence to the set procedures of each method and even failure to implement some e-procurement methods like e auctioning and e-market places.

The study therefore, concluded that e-procurement affects supply chain management. The study further made recommendations for improvements and for further studies.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0         INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, scope of the study and significant of the study.

1.1            Background to the study

Electronic procurement or e-procurement is the use of various forms of Information Technology (IT), such as electronic mail, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and electronic market place to automate and streamline the procurement process in government entities, improving efficiency and transparency and thereby reducing costs of operation within and between government entities (Joyce & Chan, 2002). Thus, e-procurement is the application of electronic commerce in procurement.

E-procurement adoption refers the ability of procurement entities to use the Internet and Internet technologies to support their procurement processes. It encompasses the willingness and the level if acceptance to use e-procurement. These practices range from identification, evaluation, negotiation and configuration of optimal groupings of trading partners into a supply chain network which can then respond to changing market demands with greater efficiency (Hawkins & Wyld, 2003). Other benefits include: increased compliance with the law, for instance, Ugandan Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets-(PPDA) Act (2003); supply base rationalization, as e-Procurement allows managing the supply base in a more efficient and effective way. E-Procurement also provides higher transparency to both customers and suppliers on the overall purchasing process. The increasing losses in the procurement processes in the PDEs have been attributed to low adoption level of e-procurement as the ordinary procurement process has been blamed to be time consuming and has consistently scored low on achievement of value for money and transparency (National Procurement Baseline Survey, 2010).

The PPDA Act (2003), provides for e-procurement in article 224 (3), and article 225 (3) where a notice of the evaluated bidders have to be displayed on the Public Procuring and Disposing Entities’ (PDEs’) notice boards and on their websites and that a contract award shall be displayed on the PDEs notice boards and their websites respectively. Additionally, the PPDA regulation 39 (2) requires every PDE to display on their notice boards and websites bid notices, best evaluated bidder notices, shortlists and awarded contracts among others. Despite these legal provisions the bid notices and contract award notices are rarely displayed on the PDE websites, moreover many PDEs lack websites.

E- Procurement refers to the purchasing of goods and services for the day today operations of the business on- line and authorizing the whole procedure with the underling aim of reducing costs.

E- Procurement is using the internet to operate the transactional aspects of requisitioning, authorizing, ordering, receiving and payment processes for the required services or products (The chartered institute of purchasing and supply (CIPS)

. E-Procurement platforms include; E-Ordering, E-Sourcing, E-tendering, E-reverse auctioning and E-informing among others

However, its not just a system of making purchases on- line, if properly implemented, it can connect companies and their business process directly with the supplier while managing all interactions between them (Malcom wheattly, 2000).

Supply chain management (scm) is the integration of key business processes from end user through original suppliers that will provide products & services and information that add value for customers and other stakeholders (Lambert]. Supply chain management can also refer to the coordination of production, inventory, location, and transportation among the participants in a supply chain to achieve the best mix of responsiveness and efficiency for the market being served. Supply chain management emphasizes the management of upstream and downstream supplier relationships and the role of supply chain opt ionization is to increase customer value at less cost (Christopher, 1998, Ross 1998).  The word Management in supply chain education context, the planning, implementing and controlling of networks, where network consists of many players such as; Suppliers, Manufacturers, Wholesalers and Retailers among others.

The focus of a company’s e- procurement will be making its supply chain more efficient through paperless processing of order, receipt and invoices. Increasing costs, competition and customer pressure will drive companies to review their supply chain processes and tap into the enormous savings potential from indirect spending (e-procurement L stave R Leonard, 2001).

Lee (2004) specifies that to make a supply chain more agile, it has to short term changes in demand or supply quickly and to handle external disruptions smoothly. The use of e-procurement enables fast responses, creating high responsiveness and cuts costs right through the supply chain.

1.2       Statement of the problem

With the growing modernity, dynamism and global village, the     introduction/development/embracement of electronic procurement has greatly simplified business purchasing operations easy and real. By accommodating e-procurement in an organization, business, enterprise can automate their entire process especially purchasing that is costly, risky and purchasing that takes much time. However, in spite of its significance and application in the daily life, many organizations or companies have taken it up hence carrying out the study to establish e-procurement in supply chain management.

1.3 Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study was to establish the effect of e-procurement on supply chain management.

1.4 Objectives of the study

1. To examine the e-procurement methods and procedures of CS supermarket Kampala-Uganda.
2. To assess the management of supply chain of CS supermarket Kampala- Uganda.

• To establish the effect of e-procurement on supply chain management.

1.5 Research questions

1. What are the e-procurement methods and procedures of CS supermarket Kampala, Uganda?
2. How is supply chain managed in CS supermarket Kampala, Uganda? iii) What is the effect of e-procurement on supply chain management?

1.6 Scope of the study

• Subject scope: The study focused on e-procurement as the independent variable, supply chain management as the dependent variable and the effect of e-procurement on supply chain management.
• Geographic scope: the study was conducted from the premises of CS supermarket, in the city Kampala Uganda.
• Period scope: The study focused on the period from March 2020 to December 2020.

1.7 Significance of the study

• The study helped the researcher to gain skills of conducting research. The acquired skills will not only be limited to academic research but will also be of paramount importance to the researcher while in office after school.
• The study findings helped to identify the weaknesses in the use of e-procurement of CS supermarket this company to know the inherent weaknesses in their e-procurement system and device means of overcoming them.
• The study findings helped to add on the body of existing literature about the study variables and this will be of help to future students and researchers.

CHAPTER TWO

2.0        INTRODUCTION

This chapter reviewed the existing literature about E-procurement and supply chain management. It helps the researcher to get full understanding of the variables before actually going into the field to carry out the study and this gives a basis to the study.

2.1            E-procurement

E-procurement is the business – to – business purchase and sale of supplies and services over the internet. A company is extending the use of internet technologies from the traditionally known marketing and sales to logistics, payments and most importantly the procurement processes (KALUBANGA; November, 2005)  

2.1.1    Definition.                                                                                                                                

E-procurement (EP) can be defined as using internet technology in the purchasing                        process. It is important to note that this definition is narrow in the sense that it excludes old    applications like ordering by telephone or by fax. On the other hand, this definition is relatively wide, because it not only encompasses the use of internet applicant in the purchasing process, but it also includes the use of internet and extranet applications. For example, using this definition ordering office supplies by using a supplier catalogue on a website is a form of EP (Mr. Reunis Mare

E- Procurement is using the internet to operate the transactional aspects of requisitioning, authorizing, ordering, receiving and payment processes for the required services or products (The chartered institute of purchasing and supply (CIPS)

E-procurement refers to the purchasing of goods and services for the day to day operations of the business on-line and authorizing the whole procedure with the underlying aim of reducing costs.

However, its not just a system of making purchases on-line, if properly implemented, it can connect companies and their business process directly with the supplier while managing all interactions between them (Malcom whealthly, 2000)

2.1.2    Electronic procurement forms

Nowadays, e-procurement encompasses a variety of forms. In order to get the most out of these forms, a buying organization has to apply these forms in a coherent, integral way. Of course, it is not necessary that every organization applies every single one of these forms, but the forms that are applied, should interact optimally. This research defines the most important forms of e-procurement and positions these forms in the purchasing process.

L.De Boer, J. Harkin, G. Heyboer (2001) distinguished between the following forms,

E-ordering is the process of creating and approving purchasing requisition, placing purchase orders as well as receiving goods and services ordered, by using a software system based on internet technology. In the case of e-ordering, the goods and services ordered are indirect goods and services (i.e., non-product related goods and services). The supporting software system (an ordering catalogue system) is usually used by all employees of an organization. In case of enterprise resources planning (ERP) the goods and services ordered are product –related. It may be noted that ordering of direct goods and services usually is plan-based.

E-sourcing. Is the process of identifying next supplies for a specific spend category, using internet technology (usually the internet itself)? By identifying new suppliers, a purchaser can increase the competitiveness in the tactical purchasing process for this spend category. E-sourcing is a way of decreasing the supply risk associated with this spend category (Krajjic, 1983)

E-tendering- is the process of sending RFI’s and RFP’s to suppliers and receiving the responses of suppliers back, using internet technology. Usually e-tendering is supported by an e-tendering system often the e-tendering system also supports the analysis and assessment of responses. E-tendering does not include closing the deal with a supplier. As a matter of fact, e-tendering smoothens a large part of the tactical purchasing process (Van Weele, 1988), without focusing on the content (that is spend category) of that process.

E-reverse auctioning– in practice an e- auction enables a supplier to sell (surplus) goods and services to a number of (known or unknown) buying organizations. During a relatively short time frame the buying organizations involved submit bids for the goods and services that are auctioned. The auction operates with an upward price mechanism or downward price mechanism. A reversed auction is the opposite; it enables a buying organization to get goods and services needed from a number of (known of unknown) suppliers.

Usually e-reverse auctioning focuses on the price of the goods and services auctioned. In most cases, other criteria are neglected during the e-reverse auction. Of course, other criteria can be used in a previous phase in order to determine which suppliers should be invited to join the e-reverse auction. E-reverse auctioning does really close a deal between a buying organization and a supplier, if parties agree on the price.

E-informing– Unlike the previous forms, e-informing is a form of EP that is not directly associated with a phase in the purchasing, process like contracting or ordering. E-informing is the process of gathering and distributing purchasing information both from and to internal and external parties, using the internet technology. For example, publishing purchasing management information on an extranet that can be accessed by internal clients and suppliers is away of e-informing. This form is also called purchasing intelligence or spend control.

Figure 1:  shows the six forms of e-procurement plotted in the purchasing                    process according to (Van Weele 1988

E-sourcing supports the specification phase: it identifies suppliers that can be used in the selection phase. E-tendering supports the selection phase: It facilitates the RF1 and RFP activities, usually including support for the analysis and assessment activities. E-reverse auctioning supports the contract phase. It enables closing a deal with a supplier.

Additionally, the researcher included a separation between transaction-oriented forms and information-oriented forms. The transactions-oriented forms are separated in indirect transactions and direct transactions.

2.1.3    Advantages of e-procurement

E-procurement has got a number of benefits or advantages and the researcher focused on David Eakins version of measuring e-procurement.

Transactional benefits

E-procurement enables the purchaser to pay process on line. A typical example uses a web-based transacting tool where by items are selected predominantly from resourced catalogues and submitted for electronic approval. This tool is then linked to the back-end enterprise resource planning system for entry payment of invoices and collection of management information. This leads to great time saving and efficiency.

Compliance benefits

In many cases with an organization, compliance and materials spending is a significant issue not because employees deliberately purchase outside because of preferred arrangements, but rather through lack of awareness. E-procurement address this through tools such as catalogues and standards, order processing and approval processes: compliance will be achieved due to;

A simple and quick requisition-to-payment process

A simple and quick strategic sourcing process

The e-procurement system the only procurement mechanism available.

Management information benefits

The fact that key information is hard corded against the user dramatically reduces coding errors and provides highly detailed and easily accessible data. This is essential to maximize the financial benefits of strategic sourcing. A successful e-procurement implementation will provide high quality, detailed management information and will negate the need for data warehousing or resource-heavy data mining.

Price benefits

The ability to prove to your suppliers that you are using e-procurement as a tool to ensure users do honour their contract status will enhance ability to negotiate down prices through;

Greater enhanced capture and therefore reliability of spending information.

Increased confidence that spending volumes can be guaranteed from increased compliance with the system thus allowing volume price breaks and discounts to be achieved.

Payment benefits

The successful operation of the first four benefits enables electronic payment of invoices. This includes the ability to better control the business cash flow and to manage the efficient payment of suppliers due to more streamlined procurement processes providing more timely and accurate information to the accounts payable department.

Reduced manpower

The use of e-procurement reduces on the number of man power employed and thus cutting the costs involved in maintaining this man power like salaries, rent, allowances, health and even their offices on which to work from.

Replacing the paper documents, purchase orders, acknowledgements, invoices and so on-used by buyers and sellers in commercial transactions with standards electronic messages conveyed between computers, often without the need for human intervention for example. Electronic point of sale at the supermarket where a product is purchased, the checkout operator scans a barcode on its label which automatically registers the price on the cash till.                                                                                                             

2.1.4    Disadvantages of e-procurement

        Killer and Kamauff point out that before adopting e-procurement, an organization   should

Ensure       that      exchanging      –information   electronically       supports           the       overall organizational strategy. If the 2 are in conflict then there will rise a problem in implementing e-procurement.

Consider the cost and ramifications of e-procurement specifically (EDI) electronic data interchange standards tools and techniques, including implementation, software maintenance, man power and participant training and how to promote systems and applications integration.

Price- The major disadvantage is the financial commitment a company must make in order to invest in the software necessary to participate in the e-market place. And of course, the costs can vary depending on the applications for companies that plan to buy and install in house e-procurement software, the price can range from $ 200,000 to $ 3million, says Sharyn leaver. This just covers software license costs and getting suppliers connected.

Implementation problems

Just because the software set up is available implementation is not necessarily easy. Getting employees to use-e-procurement services can be difficult. And surprisingly, equipment suppliers are not always anxious to join in the process, either. According to an October 2001 forester report titled “E-procurement Applications” companies reported four types of problems with e-procurement projects.

Back-end system integration is bear

User expectations/charge management can be difficult

Suppliers do not always want 2 get on board and – Content management is tough.

Loss of direct relationship between the buyer and the seller

The lack of personal contract between the two parties can be off-putting to some companies. E-procurement relationships are reduced to electronic transactions with no personal interactions – companies must choose whether this is the way they want to conduct business between the different entities that sustain them.

2.2       SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

A supply chain is that network of organizations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services in the hands of the ultimate customers or consumer.

Supply chain has a number of characteristics

Customer – supplier characteristics 

Virtually

Scope supply chains

Complexity

Supply chain management (SCM) is an integrating philosophy to manage the total flow of materials, information from supplier to ultimate consumer. The goal of SCM is the meet the needs of the final consumer by supplying the right product and the right place time and price. (Kalubanga and Reus).

Supply chain management can be considered as an aggregation of approaches and efforts supporting the efficient consolidation of producers, suppliers and distributors in effect a coordination of the value chain so that products are produced and distributed in the right quantity, at the right quality, at the right time and at the right place to ultimately achieve consumer satisfaction (Simchi-Levi etal, 2000).

Mentzer et al state that the many published definitions can be classified into 3 categories

Supply chain as a management philosophy. This has 3 characteristics.

A systems approach to viewing the supply chain as a whole and managing the total flow of goods inventory from the supplier to the ultimate consumers.

A strategic orientation towards cooperative efforts to synchronize and converge intra-firm and inter firm operational and strategic capabilities into a unified whole

A customer focuses to create unique and individualized sources of customer value, leading to customer satisfaction.

Supply chain management as a set of activities to implement a management philosophy.

The seven activities listed below are essential to the implementation of a management philosophy are: – – Integrated behaviour

Mutually shared information

Mutually shared risks and rewards

Cooperation

The same goal and same focus on serving customers.

Integration of processes

Partners to build and maintain long-term relationships iii)      Supply chain management as a set of management of process.

Lambert et al, listed eight SCM processes originally postulated by the international centre for competitive excellence; – Customer relationship management

Customer service management

Demand management

Order fulfillment

Manufacturing flow management

Supplier relationship management

Product development and commercialization

Returns management

2.2.1    Supply chain management enablers

Mavien identified four key enablers, all of which must be fully leveraged if SCM is to be successful. Marich also observed that these four enablers become barriers to effective

SCM if they are not in place. The four enablers and their relative rankings by Marine’s respondents are;

Organizational infrastructure

How business units and functional areas are organized, how change management programs are led and coordinated with the existing organizational structure constitute the organizational infrastructure. Therefore, having a coherent business strategy that aligns business units towards the same goal, having a formal process and having the right process metrics to guide the performance of operating units towards the strategic organizational SCM objectives will help improve SCM.

Technology

The word (technology) (not just IT but also the „physical‟ materials management technologies for material design operations and materials handing) is a factor in the selection of business allies and how intercompany relationships are built and managed. Having operations marketing and logistics data co-ordinate within the company, having data reading available to managers and the coordination of operations, marketing and logistics data between supply chain members help improve SCM.

Strategic alliance

This factor covers how external companies (customers, suppliers and logistics –service providers) are selected as business allies and how intercompany relationships are built and managed. Having expectations clearly stated, understood and agreed to upfront, collaboration on supply chain design, having top management of partnering companies’ interface on a regular basis and having compatible information technology systems may help manage the supply chain.

Human resource management

This area involves managing how job descriptions are designed, positions filled, people are recognized and compensated and career paths directed. Sourcing, hiring and selecting skilled people at all levels, finding change agents to manage SCM implementation, having compensation and incentives and finding internal process of facilitators helps manage the supply chain.

2.3       The relationship between e-procurement and supply chain management

Since procurement is very important element in supply chain. In order to understand the concept in more details, this study is using these factor as constructs to study the relationship of e-procurement methods on supply chain performance.

According to (Malcom Wheattly, 2000), procurement is not just a system of making purchases on line. if properly implemented, it can connect companies and their business process directly with the supplier while managing all interactions between them.

Lee (2004) specifies that to make a supply chain more a gile, it has to react to short term changes in demand or supply quickly and to handle external descriptions smoothly. The use of e-procurement enables fast responses, creating high responsiveness and cuts costs right through the supply chain.

The focus of a company’s e-procurement will be making its supply chain more efficient through paperless processing of order, receipt and invoices. Increasing costs, competition and customer pressure will drive companies to review their supply chain processes and tap into the enormous savings potential from indirect spending (E-procurement L Steven, R Leonard, 2001).

According to Leenders and Fexion, 1997; the major part of supply chain management is traditionally supported by information technology with the use of enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing resource planning (MRP) or electronic data interchange connections with suppliers that were established in 1980s.

Gebaner and Seger, 1998 identifies that the diffusions of e-procurement systems in the late 1990s has created the potential for reorganizing supply chains. Compared to enterprise resource planning, these systems were considerably less expensive and more flexible due to increased standardization on a tactical level. More or less all studies on e-procurement, report large efficiencies regarding supply chain management.

The main idea of e-procurement is to include the end-user in the procurement process via an electronic multi-vendor catalogue and to close the process gaps in the supply chain for indirect goods (Neff, 2001).

According to (Dalmalch et al, 2000), e-procurement deals with the management of supply chains in the procurement of indirect goods that is based on internet information systems and also e-markets.

Croom and Johnson (2003) identified five main improvements in the supply chain that e-procurement enabled supporting managers‟ budgetary control offering robust process performance with fewer failures, offering far greater transparency and accessibility across the whole process and improving management information reinforced user compliance, improving systems reliability and ensuring compliance to process.

Conclusion

The study discovered that firms should implement e-procurement systems in supply chain for better communication and performance improving. E-procurement undoubtedly promotes information sharing and   improves supply chain performance. Further more, there was no literature reviewed that concern the operations of CS Kampala Uganda. This further made it imperative for the researcher to carry out a study in order to establish the impact of e- procurement on supply chain management of CS Supermarket Kampala Uganda.

 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the methods and instruments that were used to carry out the study. It presents the research design, procedure of the study, study population, sampling technique and size, sources of data, data collection methods and instruments, presentation and analysis of findings, and the limitations of the study.

3.1 Research design

The study used both quantitative and qualitative research design. This design was preferred because the researcher based on the views of the respondents to derive conclusions and recommendations.

3.2 Procedure of the study

The researcher picked an introductory letter from the research coordinator, which was presented to the management of CS supermarket Kampala Uganda to seek permission to carry out a study from this company. The researcher through sampling selected respondents from whom data was collected. the researcher conducted both library and internet research to collect secondary data that helped to back up primary data in compiling a report.

3.3 Study population

The study population included the management and employees of CS supermarket Kampala Uganda.

3.4 Sampling technique and size

3.4.1 Sampling method

The study used stratified sampling to group the study population into two groups that is management group and employees’ group. Then from each stratum, the researcher used simple random sampling to select a representative sample.

3.4.2 Sample size

The study used simple random sampling to select a sample of 50 respondents in different proportions presented in the table below;

3.5 Source of data

The researcher collected data from both primary and secondary sources. The primary source provided first hand data from the respondents through interviews/ questioners, and observation.

The secondary source provided second hand data from the company’s records, the library and the internet.

3.6 Data collection methods and instruments

The researcher used four different types of methods and instruments to collect data they include;

a): Questionnaire method: the researcher used semi-structured questioners to collect data. These were given to respondents to fill them in and were collected after a period of one week.

1. The researcher conducted face to face interviews with the respondents. The interviews were based on the answers provided in the questionnaires.
2. Observation method: the researcher used this method to collect firsthand data by looking at the different purchasing activities taking place in the field and the body language of respondents during interviews.
3. Library research: the research conducted library reading in order to collect secondary data from the company’s documents and the university library

3.7 Presentation and analysis of findings

After the data collection exercise, data was arranged and edited to ensure accuracy, relevance and completeness. It was then analysed using frequencies and percentages as units of measurement and using frequency tables.

3.8 Limitations of the study:

1. The time allocated to the study was too limited for the researcher to exhaust the study variables. In spite of the fact that time was a problem, the study was still successful.
2. The study involved a lot of financial expenditure in terms of transport, stationary, printing, binding. Luckily enough, the researcher managed to raise enough funds to finance the study.
3. The respondents refused to provide some of the data that the researcher requested for. But still, the researcher managed to collect qualitative data and was successful.

CHAPTER FOUR

PRESENTATION AND INTEPRETATION OF FINDINGS

4.0       Introduction

This study was conducted with three major objectives. That is; to examines e-procurement methods of CS supermarket (u), to assess the management of supply chain of CS supermarket Kampala. Uganda, to establish the effect of e-procurement on supply chain management. This chapter therefore presents the findings of the study, based on the underlying objectives.

4.1        Characteristics of respondents

The respondents were classified under five categories to determine whether there was good representation of the study population and whether the respondents were well informed about the data required from the company.

4.1.1    Characteristic according to gender 

Figure 2: A pie chart showing percentage of female to male respondent

Figure 1 above shows that 56% were, males and 44% females

1: Showing composition of respondents

Table 2: above indicates that 56% were, males and 44% females.

4.1.2    Characteristic according to Age

Figure 3: A bar graph showing the age frequency and percentage of respondents.

Figure3 above indicates that 2 people were 20 and below years, 23 people were 21 – 30 years, 17 were 31 – 40, 7 were 41 – 50 and 1 was above 50 years of age.

2: Age composition of respondents

Source: Primary Data

Table 3 above indicated that, 44% were 21- 30 years, 34% were 31 – 40 years, 14% were 41 – 50 years, 4% were 20 years and below and 2% were above 50 years.

4.1.3    Characteristics according to highest level of education 

Figure 4: A bar graph showing the highest level of education

Figure 3 above indicates that 9 people had gone to secondary, 7 were certificate holders, 17 Diploma holders, 13-degree holders and 4 post graduates. 

3: Showing highest level of education

Source: Primary Data

Table 4 above indicated that 34% had a Diploma level, 28%-degree level, 18% secondary level, 14% certificate and 8% post graduate.

4.1.4    Characteristics according to position in the company

Figure 5: A pie chart showing percentage of respondents according to their positions in the company.   i

Figure 5 above indicates that 6% of the respondents were among top managers, 18% among middle level managers and 76% among other operating staff.

Table 4: Position in the company

Source: Primary Data

From table 5 above, 76% were in the category of other operating staff, 18% among middle level managers and 6% among top managers.

4.1.5    Characteristics according to period worked with CS supermarket. Figure 6: A bar graph showing period worked with CS supermarket

Figure6:  above indicates that 4 people have worked for less than 3 years, 14 for 3-5 years, 19 for 6 -8 years, 8 for 9 -12 years and 5 for above 12 years

Table 5: Period worked with CS supermarket.

Source: Primary Data

Table 6 above indicates that 38% had worked for 6- 8 years, 28% for 3 -5 years, 16% for 9 – 12 years, 10% for above 12 years and 8% for less than 3 years.

From the general analysis of the respondents the sample was representative enough as it had good education background and had worked with CS supermarket company for a reasonably long period. This made the researcher believe that the data provided was reliable.

4.2       Findings about e-procurement

The study sought to establish whether the company had methods and procedures that guide e-procurement. The respondents overwhelmingly (100%) agree that the company has e-procurement methods.

Figure 7: A bar graph showing the frequency of e-procurement methods that are used.

Figure 7 above indicates that electronic data interchange takes a frequency of 35, both online auctioning and on-line market places take 13 meaning they are not frequently used and tendering takes 31 meaning its frequently used.

6: Showing methods of e-procurement that are used

From table above 70% strongly agree and 30% agree that electronic data interchange is the most commonly used e-procurement method at CS supermarket.26% indicated that CS sometimes uses the online search for market places. 54% indicated that CS sometimes uses online auction to sell its products.

60% strongly agree and 38% agree that CS uses e-tendering.

The study sought to establish the procedures followed by supermarket while using each e-procurement method.

Figure 8: A bar graph showing e-procurement procedures followed by each e- procurement method.

EDI                OMP               OU                   e-procurement method.

EDI=electronic data interchange

OMP=online market places

OU= Online auctioning

ET=e-tendering

Figure8 above shows that EDI takes procedures a, b and c where a means transmitting a purchase order, b is online transactions and c is online payments.

OMP takes d and e where; d is searching for market places on line, and e is closing a sale on line. OU takes f, g, h and,I where; f is placing items to be auctioned online g is submit ion of bids, h is evaluation of bids, and I is online award of the contract to the best evaluated bidder.

ET takes j, k, l,and m where; j is advertising tenders online is submission of proposals online is evaluation of proposals online and m is award of the tender to the best evaluated bidder online.

7: Showing e-procurement procedures of each method

From table 9 above, 70% strongly agree and 30% agree that electronic data interchange follows the placing of order online and conducting business online until the time of payment.

52% indicated that sometimes the online search for markets until a sale in closed is the procedure used under online market places that is followed.

54% say that sometimes when online auctioning is done, it follows the procedure of placing items to be auctioned online and to be given to the highest bidder.

62% Strongly agree and 385 agree that while doing e-tending tenders are advertised online and interested suppliers respond with their proposals online and it continues until a supplier is chosen.

4.3       Findings About supply chain management of CS supermarket

The study tried to achieve objective two of the study under this section.

The study sought to establish the respondent’s explanation of the supply chain management.

Figure 9: showing people involved in management of CS supply chain.

From the pie chart above 20% of people managing supply chain are top managers, 30‟% functional managers, 10% operating staff and 40% indicated that the supply chain is managed by all the above that is top managers, functional managers and operating staff.

8: Showing people involved in the management of CS supply chain

From table 9 above, 20% indicated that top management is responsible for management of CS supermarket, 30% said functional managers are the ones responsible and 10% indicated that it’s the operating staff that is responsible for the management of CS supply chain while 40% said that all the above people are responsible for the management of supply chain.

The study sought to establish people with the highest responsibility in managing the supply chain.

Figure 10: Showing people taking the highest responsibility of managing the supply chain

People responsible for managing the supply chain

From figure 10 above, 60% indicated that a functional manager that is specifically the procurement department managers are responsible for managing the supply chain top management takes only 30% and 105 for the operating staff. Therefore, it’s the functional managers that take the highest responsibility of managing the supply chain.

Table 9: Response on which people that takes the highest percentage of responsibility on the management of supply chain

From table 11 above, 30% said that top managers are more responsible, 60% indicated that it’s the functional managers that are highly responsible for managing the supply chain an 10% indicated that the operating staff takes the highest percentage. It was interpreted that functional managers take the highest percentage of responsibility for managing CS supply chain.

4.4            Findings about the effect of e-procurement on supply chain management

The study sought to establish whether e-procurement has an effect on supply chain. The respondents concurred that e-procurement affects supply chain management

Figure 11: A pie chart showing response on whether e-procurement affects supply chain management.

From figure 11 above, 76% indicated that yes e-procurement has great effect on the supply chain management while 24% say no it has less effect on the supply chain management of CS supermarket.

Table 10: Response on whether e-procurement affects supply chain management

From table 11 above, 76% said yes and 24% said No indicating that e-procurement have significantly affect on the supply chain of CS supermarket.

The study also sought to establish the effect of each e-procurement method on supply chain management.

Figure 12: shows effect of each e-procurement method on supply chain management.

From figure 12 above, it indicates that electronic data interchange affects greatly the supply chain by70%, followed by e-tendering with 62%, online market places takes 26% together with online auction.

Table 11: Response on how greatly e-procurement methods affect the management of CS supply chain

From table 12 above, 70% strongly agree and 30% agree that electronic data interchange affects supply chain management, 52% said that sometimes online market places also affects supply chain management, 62% strongly agree and 38% agree that e-tendering greatly affect the management of supply chain and 545 indicated that sometimes online auction affects supply chain management. All in all, this indicated that electronic data interchange greatly affects management of supply chain of CS supermarket compared to other e-procurement methods because it has the highest percentage of 70% and 30%.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 Introduction

This is the final chapter of this study. It summarizes the major findings of the study, draws conclusions and makes recommendations.

5.1       Summary of major findings

The study was conducted with three major objectives; that is; examine e-procurement methods of CS supermarket, to assess the management of supply chain of CS supermarket Kampala Uganda and to establish the effect of e-procurement on supply chain management.

5.1.1 Finding’s about e- procurement methods

The study found out that different methods of e-procurement are used when purchasing different types of commodities. Electronic data interchange is commonly used for example use of electronic point of sale (EPOs) that help transfer sales records, to the suppliers and store keepers and thus making it able to prepare supplies in time.

e-tendering is also used to invite proposals from possible suppliers to submit their bids and show what they have to supply and they are evaluated and the tender awarded to the best evaluated bidder.

Online market places and online auction are the least used methods of e-procurement.

5.1.2        Supply chain management of CS supermarket

The study found out that CS supermarket Kampala had numerous barriers in supply chain for example technological barriers, relationship barriers, structural and human resource barriers. The company registered a loss of 1.2 billion shillings due to the above barriers. In 2005, the company proposed chopping the budget by C-17 from procurement merchant, e-procurement service, traders and businesses both locally and internationally were proposed.

5.1.3 Effect of E-procurement on supply chain management

The study found out that e-procurement affects its supply chain management. E-procurement of CS supermarket was found to be ineffective due to frauds involved, inflation of purchase costs, losses due to poor quality products, poor record keeping, high costs of training employees, lack of information about suppliers thus making it difficult to properly coordinate and manage the supply chain. The study found out that the losses realized in 2005 were largely attributed to inefficiencies in the company’s procurement function.

5.2 Conclusion

The study based on the findings of the study to derive the following conclusions; that CS supermarket uses different e-procurement methods and each method follows its own procedures until a purchase is made.

The supply chain management has been improving since the implementation of e-procurement from the previous looses of 2005.

E-procurement effects the management of supply chain. The study concurs with other scholars that once e-procurement is efficient or properly implemented, it will lead to acquisition of high-quality products but at a low cost, timely delivery, reduce paper work, timely payments, allow fair competition, enhance productivity and management of supply chain and the reverse will lead to shortage in the supply chain.

5.3        Recommendations of the study

The study recommends that, CS supermarket should introduce full e-procurement policy suitable for streamlining efficiency in its supply chain.

The study also recommends that, CS supermarket should emphasize strict adherence to the e-procurement procedures so that this facilitates easy audits trail. This will reduce on frauds and other malpractices in the supply chain of this company. The study further recommends that, CS supermarket should investigate other areas that reduce shortages in the supply chain so as to achieve high performance in the management of supply chain.

5.4       Areas for further research

The study recommends that further research should be conducted to establish the effect of employee training on e-procurement implementation. Further research should also be conducted to establish the effect of using just in time technique on supply chain management. This might provide an alternative to the internal procurement system.

REFERENCES

Christopher, 1998, Ross 1998. Supply chain Management 6^th edition

Kenneth Lysons and Brian Farrington: Supply Chains: Purchasing and supply chain management Seventh edition PP91.

Ballon. H. Ronald (1987), Basic Business Logistics: Transportation, Materials management, physical distribution (2^nd ed), Prentice Hall Inc. New Jersery.

Kalakota and Robinson: Evolution of e-procurement models: Purchasing and supply chain management PP. 187

Malcom Wheathly, (2000)

Institute of Logistics, Principles of warehouse design, 1993, reproduced with permission.