The complete list of e-Purchasing tools includes e-auctions, electronic health record system, electronic resource planning, catalogs complex goods and services, content and catalog management, e-marketplace, tender, RFQ, e-invoicing and payment, procurement card. Supply chain positioning model:
The diagram above shows the relationship between the organization’s vision and missions is transforming into strategic movement by purchasing necessary items. The acquisitions behave in two ways like post-acquisition and pre-acquisition. The total supply positing model can be described in relation to the suppliers and buyers. The e-purchase tools are useful to make easier the process of the entire process. For better relationships and long-run relationships, the adversarial relationship is not effective if the time span is limited.
This is the issue of whether the firm uses electronic tools for purchasing or not. This depends on several issues. If the firm wants to reduce the costs of production, it can use inventory management software with the integration of the point of the selling system. This organization takes the lead in the place of the purchaser and will seek a long-run relationship with the suppliers in order to earn economy of scale. The relationship is merely determined by the negotiation power and switching cost.
E-procurement helps the firm to get a view of the operating segments in each department. These tools ensure the reliability and accuracy of the data. In the above diagram, the process is begun with the acquisition of the purchaser rights and pre-purchase behavior. For selecting the goods and matching with the competitor’s efficiency, the e-purchasing tools are defined to an optimum level. Several factors are affecting the overall position in supply chain management.
So, from the above viewpoint, the selection of the supply chain is required. In the next segment, the relation in various issues is described in context with e-purchase. The whole process doesn’t require a long-run relationship, especially where more suppliers are available and switching cost is low. So, to get the services at an optimal price, it is required to select the least cost and appropriate service provider. As the time span is short, the advantage can be taken.
So, in the above diagram, in the first two phases, it is not required to have e-purchase tools to use as the cost can be increased. But in the last two-phase, the use of e-purchase tools is mostly required. Thus, it can be concluded that understanding the e-purchase ideas placed on the chain can assist e-purchase tools in establishing differentiation in many nontraditional ways for the purpose of value addition. This requires the capacity of adopting a particular idea with specific skills, systems & assets that can create a competitive advantage. As e-purchase has possible creativity & imagination, it should understand the customers to have such an advantage.