...the Business Dictionary as being part of the national economy and provides goods and services that cannot otherwise be provided by the private sector (Business Dictionary, 2014). Examples of these goods and services range from the procurement of electricity, to cleaning services, and water management to name a few. The public sector's main focus is that of service delivery (The Student Room, 2014). Due to human induced climate change many governments have requested their public sectors to change and optimize their supply chains to cater for green purchasing. As a result of this the majority of the European Union have effectively found ways to reduce the overall effect of their purchasing activities (European Union, 2010, page 1 paragraph 1). The procurement of public goods and services in the EU is done through the life cycle approach (European Union, 2010, page 3 paragraph 1). The life cycle approach that is used by the member countries of the European Union has 5 steps (Europa, 2014), the fifth step that has been added in recently deals with all the externalities that can occur while performing the assessment. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) use the more traditional four step approach to evaluate the life cycle of the goods and services to be procured (EPA, 2014). And in South Africa there is a nine step evaluation method on how procurement of public goods and services should be done sustainably (Sustainable Energy for Environmental & Development...
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...2015 | Role of purchasing has changed from year to year. Years ago, it was considered as a job to buy materials. Now, purchasing is an essential function, which is used as a strategy by companies (Monczka et al. 2010). There are many reasons leading to the changes, such as increase in competition between companies, rise in technology, and growth in customers request (Lysons and Farrington 2012). These changes make the relationship with suppliers more important and therefore transparency is needed. Nevertheless, new concepts are needed which involves technology to keep a track to organize a global supply chain (Monczka et al. 2011). Supply chains are mergers from all activities, processes, and functions, which involve all the suppliers to support organizations or companies to deliver the products and services that customers or consumers needed (Business Dictionary). As a function, purchasing took part in the process of supply chain and all the internal organizations that related with supply chain, such as engineering, manufacturing, marketing, finance, information technology, logistics, and legal. Firstly, engineering, purchasing can help the engineering to reduce the defect. For example, in one global electronic manufacturing company, the purchaser made a standard, which was right dimension and good quality for every pallet that the supplier would send. This had a good impact and the defects and damage of the shipping was declined. Second, purchasing helps manufacturing...
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...UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND RESEARCH PROJECT Research project on how Ninomaxx can attract customers to purchasing its clothing online Nguyen Thuy Dai Trang 12/19/2014 Words count: 9730 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: ..................................................................................................... 3 II. ABSTRACT: ............................................................................................................................... 4 III. INTRODUCTION: .................................................................................................................. 5 IV. RESEARCH BACKGROUND: ............................................................................................ 6 V. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: .............................................................................................. 9 VI. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: ............................................................................................... 10 VII. RESEARCH QUESTIONS: ............................................................................................... 10 VIII. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: ................................................................................... 11 1. RESEARCH APPROACHES: ................................................
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...Buying Habits Buying habits is the purchasing of the same brand over and over again, due to a loyalty to that certain brand. Buying habits can be developed by good customer service, high quality products or similar ethics. 2.4.1 Internet Purchases When it comes to online purchasing, you must understand your consumers. This method of shopping has made it very convenient to both men and women. This means learning what they look for, and how they use the internet. This helps you grab their attention and get your marketing message in front of the right audience. Generally, we companion technology with men but today even women are becoming increasingly knowledge about technology. It is also important to realize that when it comes to online purchasing men and women differ. Men usually read the news, buy travel services or make reservations, check sports scores and gather sports information, stay updated on political news, participate in online auctions, such as eBay, write content to publish online, download music, buy and sell stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Men can easily purchase or browse for what they need on-line without feeling embarrassed or judged. Women do their shopping for almost everything (household needs etc), women usually get health information, read spiritual and religious information, gain access and participate in support group websites without leaving their house. “40 percent of women say they spend equal time shopping online and offline. For the rest, there’s...
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...CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter comprises review of previous studies done on the area of the effect of e-purchasing on quality products. The researcher will source the information from articles and extracts appearing on the business journals, textbooks, newspapers, magazines and projects from the library. 2.2. Review of theoretical literature According to chartered institute of purchasing and supplies (CIPS) the combined use of information and communication Technology helps acquire inputs of goods and services from external suppliers or providers. Many organizations accept credit card payment for their goods and services. (William cats-Baril and Ronald Thompson, 2005). They continue to say that many decisions are highly structured and can be automated. Automating decisions through the use of information technology can help streamline the internal operations of organizations among them, online purchasing. This can in turn improve the quality of services and products required and those offered to the market. Quality products and services tie up internal customers and attract new ones. Cats-Baril and Thompson (2005) factored out that management should be encouraged to think of ways to link customer into the firms operations so that the customer will find switching to another supplier difficult. The type of services provided to customers using internet technologies generates customer loyalty. James A. O’Brien,(2003) cited that the information systems...
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...6-11 Real World Example 12-28 Appendix 29-31 Legal Issues Legal Issues E-commerce is when buying and selling of goods and/or services takes place over electronic systems, most likely the internet. An e-commerce business has the same laws that all businesses have, and also has to suffer the same penalties for breaking these laws. There are a number of laws for businesses in the UK such as the Data Protection Act and Disability Discrimination Act to name a couple. The Data Protection Act prevents unauthorised use of personal data; it is illegal for companies to use personal data for anything other than its intended use, e.g. when a transaction is made and the consumer gives their address so goods can be shipped directly to them, the provider cannot use this address for any other purpose, such as a marketing campaign, without the customer’s knowledge and consent. The Disability Discrimination Act makes it illegal for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person; it is illegal for companies to deny access to goods to disabled people, e.g. if there are goods on two floors in a shop, there must be a way to facilitate somebody in a wheelchair to access both floors maybe by having an elevator present. When a business begins to trade on the web, their website can be accessed from all around the globe and this turns them...
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...is a broad range of concepts in the bibliography referring to Procurement and purchasing. Here below you could find a summary of some of this concepts as well as some different point of view. Procurement Purchase Source Is considered as the function responsibly to acquire all items or materials needed by an organization Is part of procurement in charge of buying all items and material for an organization, often it is use as synonym of procurement. Wile.com (n. d.) Glossary of Inventory Management Terms It is a business function responsibly for several activities such as planning, purchasing, inventory control, traffic, receiving, incoming inspection, and rescue operations. It could be seen as a synonym of purchasing. It Is the function specifically associated with buying the goods and services required by the organization. SUPPLY CHAIN and LOGISTICS TERMS and GLOSSARY logisticsservicelocator.com (2006) Often could be understood as purchasing however procurement is the totality of acquisition starting from the identification or a requirement to the disposal of that requirement at the end of its life. Its functions may include pre contract activities supplier relationship and sourcing but it does not include logistic functions, such as storage, or transport. Could be used as the same meaning of procurement but it refers specifically to acquire goods, work or services, from suppliers. It is a component function of Procurement that is wider concept...
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...consumers’ online buying behavior (Seda Yoldas, 2012; Adil Bashir, 2013). Previous researchers have examined the area of factors which affect and influence consumers to shop online. (Muhammad Umar Sultan and MD Nasir Uddin, 2011). This study reviews the previous studies done by researchers and highlights the main research question regarding to the elements affecting consumers’ online buying behavior. 2.1 Consumers online buying behavior Consumer online buying behavior refers to the attitudes, preferences, intentions, purchases, uses and decision made while purchasing goods and services through the Internet that will satisfy to meet their needs. In other words, consumer online buying behavior can also be defined as the behavior or attitude that consumer explores in the process of searching for goods and services, purchasing through online, evaluating and disposing the products or services that they expect will satisfy their requirements (Kuester, 2012). In addition, the behaviors of every consumer are different from consumers’ buying choices which are influenced by purchasing habits and choices that are turn tampered by psychological and social drivers that affect consumer purchasing decision. (Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S., 2000) The researcher highlighted that consumers behavior in decision making can hardly be defined as it is unpredictable. What can be done by the researchers is predicting the future trends by bringing and considering profitable products and services into...
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...finest in selected foodstuffs, wines and related needs in the unparalleled consumer environment.”(Kudler Fine Foods Mission Statement, University of Phoenix Virtual Organization Portals, 2008) With the wide variety of foods is offered at Kudler Fine Foods, the different departments include gourmet baked goods, dairy, gourmet cheese, and wine, organic, non-organic produce sections, fresh meats, and seafood. In addition, within the three retail locations, KFF offers cooking classes along with monthly cheese and wine customer appreciation classes. Some of these services will be expanded into the private residence sector. Adding to their list of offered services, KFF has just added a new catering service in an attempt to attract new customers, as well as, increasing revenue from their existing customer base. There have been some recent operational changes at Kudler that will be advantageous to the success of their stores. Kudler is able to increase their profitability by using operational strategies, such as, establishing contracts with local producers of organic produce, creating a purchasing department, and using marketing tools; at this time Kathy Kudler has been doing the purchasing herself. The purpose of this analysis is to identify the business opportunities created due to the changes in the use of technology. Additionally this analysis will show the business strategy of Kudler Fine Foods, how to implement it, and the role the management team will...
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...are perceived by consumers in the online market. It will examine consumer perceptions and behavior when purchasing various goods and services in an online environment. As well as the trends of increasing dynamic pricing methods on various websites even for goods and services sold at posted prices. 2) Introduction The pricing issue we have chosen to investigate is that of dynamic vs. fixed pricing of products and services on the internet. Prior to the introduction of e-commerce, products and services were distributed through brick-and-mortar stores with fixed prices. However, many online websites are now offering variable pricing methods for the exact same products. Consumers are now able to have much more control over the prices of these online goods and services. With a typical brick-and-mortar store or online store, the price is set by suppliers to meet the average consumers’ willingness to pay, in order to maximize profit. One of the main advantages associated with a set retail price is reliability. Consumers can make a decision to purchase the product at the current price, and they have a sense of security that the product will be available at the set price. With the introduction of e-commerce suppliers are now able to sell their products to much larger markets across the world and are no longer restricted by geographical limitations. This creates a greater price competition and allows consumers access to certain goods and services that may not have been available...
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...CAAE STUDY 1 Technology 1. Online purchasing enables cross-border trading activity. This, Nullifies the constraints of business location, scale and time zone. 2. With better technology, shipment of goods from one type of transport to another will be easy. 3. Reduced cost of long distance transport through improved efficiencies and reduced labour requirements. This result in cheaper goods available to consumers. 4. Save time to travel to shopping centres and provide wide range of items than traditional retail shop 5. Retail industry is in decline as users change to online purchasing. This is expected to get worse with the possible increase use of internet. 6. Sophisticated US internet retailers found that with a few tweaks to their websites and some negotiations with logistics suppliers, they had become global internet retailers. 7. The Australian consumers now purchase goods from US, which was not accessible before. 8. Sometimes search engine helped them to find the products at the best price. 9. The technology helped the retailers to identify the consumers behaviour patterns and have their prior purchase history and help them to “see” the products in their home setting 10. Consumers have access to global pricing and they are likely to check online before making the purchase Economy 1. The global financial crises forced US business to look for source of revenue outside their normal channel. This result in direct competition with Australian...
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...ABSTRACT Despite the development of online shopping around the world, there is still a lack of understanding concerning the benefit of internet shopping in Vietnam. This study aims to compare the popularization of traditional methods of shopping with online shopping and examine the prospect of shopping online in Vietnam. A structure questionnaire was sent out randomly to students at a university in Ho Chi Minh City to collect the necessary data. The results showed that online shopping had not been favored by many people, even ones who frequently access the internet. The study also found some obstacles that limited the development of internet shopping in Vietnam. Applying the suitable ways to deal with the obstacles may help Vietnamese online suppliers attract more customers. INTRODUCTION In Vietnam, since the introduction of the first Internet Service Provider in 1997, the growth of Internet usage has been rapidly growing. Coming with the development of Internet’s growth speed, there are many e - service that Vietnamese people can enjoy such as: email, yahoo chat, sending files, e-banking…One of the most familiar services that Internet brings to people around the world is Internet shopping or online shopping. Online shopping first started in 1994 (Hsin, 2000). It is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods or services over the Internet (Margherio, 1998). A good example is The Dell Online Shopping Store that sells personal computers...
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...The relationship between online environments And Customer Satisfaction (Iran Computer Hardware Industry) Mahmoud Manafi (mahmoud_manafi@yahoo.com) Roozbeh Hohabri (rhojabri@gmail.com) Kamran Karimi (kami_harmonica@yahoo.com) Seyed Mehdi Fatemi (mehdi_fatemi_drh@yahoo.com) Seyed Salman Fatemi (salmanfatemi@gmail.com) Kaveh Mehrnia (k_m261156@yahoo.com) Abstract In this quantitative article research first, the main factors in customer satisfaction in online environment of Iran in hardware industry with process based-view are identified. Secondly relationships between identified factors in online environment of Iran and customer satisfaction are investigated. Keywords: Online Environment, Customer satisfaction, and Process Based-View Introduction Experimental studies show that enterprises with high customer satisfaction, has more return on economic in comparison with others (Eugene W. Anderson, 1993). Others implied that firms should try to seek profitable way to differentiate their services and deliver high quality services (A. Parasuraman 1998, Adam Finn 2003, Hsu, 2008). Additionally, quality of the quality of customer interface in online shopping is positively related to intention to buy and consequently future financial performance of the firm (Hsin Hsin Chang, 2009) This is the reason that currently firms using customer satisfaction and loyalty improvement strategies to sustain in current competition environment and create value for all stakeholders and...
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...E-procurement: Government, Private and Commercial Abstract With the rapid and emerging growth of technology, coupled with globalization and competitive market place, most businesses are re-modifying the way they transact business. Few decades ago a lot of companies went through their daily business manually. The use of manual procurement invoice, ordering, payments, catalogues, and requisitions was the order of the day. Times have changed and improved technology has changed the way businesses function. Many businesses have turned to electronic procurement (e-procurement) in the purchasing and supply of goods and services. In as much as there are many advantages ranging from cost saving, time saving and effectiveness, e-procurement also has it disadvantages; high cost of implementation and lack of readiness. More importantly a lot of businesses are not only concerned about cost saving advantage of e-procurement but also achieving high level of customer satisfaction through CRM. Electronic data interchange (EDI) enables the transfer and sharing of data and other forms of information electronically. This research paper will analyze the need for e-procurement, the IT tools and system involved, the advantages and disadvantages of e-procurement, factors inhibiting and supporting e-procurement. Questions such as: will e-procurement add value to my business? does it worth investing in? What IT tools, system and software...
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...An analysis of the most significant factors which influence online purchasing decision Introduction With the development of digital technology, online shopping tends to be wildly accepted as a new convenient and efficient method to purchase. This trend may contribute to a dramatically growth in online sales. For example, online grocery has created £15 billion in the UK in 2015 and this figure is probably predicted to almost double by 2020 (Anon., 2015). Hence, analysis of consumer behaviour is quite useful for online vendors to expand their online business. In the previous researches, price is often considered as the most important intention of shopping online. For instance, (Reibstein, 2002) claims that price plays the most essential role in shoppers’ choosing a site; Lu (2009) states that customers often get the same product with a lower price online than in store. Although the importance of price has been accepted by most people, it is also probable to argue that other core factors, such as convenience, quality of product and service, website assortment and satisfaction of shopping experience may reduce the potential impact of price, as well as play the most initial role in online purchasing decision. In order to analyse the most important factors, this argument will take the following steps: (1) Firstly mention the motivations of online shopping; (2) Then provide a normal model of online purchasing decision progress and analyse core factors of each stage; (3) Lastly...
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