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Strategic Sourcing
Strategic sourcing is the process of developing channels of supply at the lowest total cost, not just the lowest purchase price. It expands upon traditional organisational purchasing activities to embrace all activities within the procurement cycle, from specification to receipt, payment for goods and services to sourcing production lines where the labor market would increase firms' ROI. Strategic sourcing processes aim for continuous improvement and re-evaluation of the purchasing activities of an organisation. In the services industry, strategic sourcing refers to a service solution, sometimes called a strategic partnership, which is specifically customized to meet the client's individual needs. In a production environment, it is often considered one component of supply chain management. Modern supply chain management professionals have placed emphasis on defining the distinct differences between strategic sourcing and procurement. Procurement operations support tactical day- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purchase Price
Purchasing is the procurement process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or Service (economics), services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between organizations. Purchasing is part of the wider procurement process, which typically also includes expediting, supplier quality, transportation, and logistics. Details Purchasing managers/directors, procurement managers/directors, or staff based in an organization's Purchasing Office, guide the organization's Procurement, acquisition Procedure (business), procedures and standards and operational purchasing activities. Most organizations use a three-way check as the foundation of their purchasing programs. This involves three departments in the organization completing separate parts of the acquisition process. The three departments do not all report to the same senior manager, to prevent Marketing ethics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Total Cost
In economics, total cost (TC) is the minimum financial cost of producing some quantity of output. This is the total economic cost of production and is made up of variable cost, which varies according to the quantity of a good produced and includes inputs such as labor and raw materials, plus fixed cost, which is independent of the quantity of a good produced and includes inputs that cannot be varied in the short term such as buildings and machinery, including possibly sunk costs. Total cost in economics includes the total opportunity cost (benefits received from the next-best alternative) of each Factors of production, factor of production as part of its fixed or variable costs. The additional total cost of one additional unit of production is called marginal cost. The marginal cost can also be calculated by finding the derivative of total cost or variable cost. Either of these derivatives work because the total cost includes variable cost and fixed cost, but fixed cost is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comic Strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Caption, captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, these have been published in newspapers and magazines, with daily horizontal Daily comic strip, strips printed in black-and-white in newspapers, while Sunday newspaper, Sunday papers offered longer sequences in Sunday comics, special color comics sections. With the advent of the internet, online comic strips began to appear as webcomics. Most strips are written and drawn by a comics artist, known as a cartoonist. As the word "comic" implies, strips are frequently humorous. Examples of these gag-a-day strips are ''Blondie (comic strip), Blondie'', ''Bringing Up Father'', ''Marmaduke'', and ''Pearls Before Swine (comic strip), Pearls Before Swine''. In the late 1920s, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vested Outsourcing
Vested outsourcing is a business model in which contracting parties create a formal relational contract using shared values and goals and outcome-based economics to create an agreement that is mutually beneficial for each party. Proponents of the Vested business model argue that traditional outsourcing and businesses relationships are focused on win-lose arrangements where one party benefits at the other's expense. In contrast, a Vested agreement creates a win-win relationship in which both parties are equally invested in one another's success. History The model was developed out of research by the University of Tennessee led by Kate Vitasek. The term Vested was coined by Elizabeth Kanna during the early stages of the University of Tennessee research project to describe a new outsourcing model based on mutual benefit and collaboration. The Vested approach is firmly rooted in relational contract theory, which was originally developed in the United States by the legal scholars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Switching Barriers
Switching barriers or switching costs are terms used in microeconomics, strategic management, and marketing. They may be defined as the disadvantages or expenses consumers feel they experience, along with the economic and psychological costs of switching from one alternative to another. For example, when telephone service providers also offer Internet access as a package deal they are adding value to their service. A barrier to switching is then formed as swapping internet services providers is a time consuming effort. Switching cost or switching barriers are the expenses or cost that a consumer incurs due to the result of changing brand, suppliers, or products. Although most common switching cost is in monetary in nature, there are also psychological, effort based, and time based switching costs. There are a range of different switching costs that fall under three main categories: procedural switching barriers, financial switching barriers, and relational switching barriers. Proce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Optimization (mathematics)
Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criteria, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfields: discrete optimization and continuous optimization. Optimization problems arise in all quantitative disciplines from computer science and engineering to operations research and economics, and the development of solution methods has been of interest in mathematics for centuries. In the more general approach, an optimization problem consists of maxima and minima, maximizing or minimizing a Function of a real variable, real function by systematically choosing Argument of a function, input values from within an allowed set and computing the Value (mathematics), value of the function. The generalization of optimization theory and techniques to other formulations constitutes a large area of applied mathematics. Optimization problems Opti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operations Research
Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and decision-making. Although the term management science is sometimes used similarly, the two fields differ in their scope and emphasis. Employing techniques from other mathematical sciences, such as mathematical model, modeling, statistics, and mathematical optimization, optimization, operations research arrives at optimal or near-optimal solutions to decision-making problems. Because of its emphasis on practical applications, operations research has overlapped with many other disciplines, notably industrial engineering. Operations research is often concerned with determining the extreme values of some real-world objective: the Maxima and minima, maximum (of profit, performance, or yield) or minimum (of loss, risk, or cost). Originating in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Request For Quotation
A request for quotation (RfQ) is a business process in which a company or public entity requests a quote from a supplier for the purchase of specific products or services. RfQ generally means the same thing as Call for bids (CfB) and Invitation for bid (IfB). An RfQ typically involves more than the price per item. Information like payment terms, quality level per item or contract length may be requested during the bidding process. To receive correct quotes, RfQs often include the specifications of the items/services to make sure all the suppliers are bidding on the same item/service. Logically, the more detailed the specifications A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard. There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ..., the more accurate the quote will be and comparable to the other suppliers. Another reason for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Request For Information
A request for information (RFI) is a common business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers. Normally it follows a format that can be used for comparative purposes. An RFI is primarily used to gather information to help make a decision on what steps to take next. RFIs are therefore rarely the final stage and are instead often used in combination with request for proposal (RFP), request for tender (RFT), and request for quotation (RFQ). In addition to gathering basic information, an RFI is often used as a solicitation sent to a broad base of potential suppliers for the purpose of conditioning suppliers' minds, developing strategy, building a database, and preparing for an RFP, RFT, or RFQ. An RFI may be ''open'', where information is publicly gathered from anyone interested who wants to provide a submission, or ''closed'', where parties are privately approached to provide information. The ubiquitous availability of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another. The term ''outsourcing'', which came from the phrase ''outside resourcing'', originated no later than 1981 at a time when industrial jobs in the United States were being moved overseas, contributing to the economic and cultural collapse of small, industrial towns. In some contexts, the term smartsourcing is also used. The concept, which ''The Economist'' says has "made its presence felt since the time of the Second World War", often involves the contracting out of a business process (e.g., payroll processing, claims processing), operational, and/or non-core functions, such as manufacturing, facility management, call center/call center support. The practice of handing over control of public services to private enterprises ( privatiz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leverage (negotiation)
In negotiation, leverage is the power that one side of a negotiation has to influence the other side to move closer to their negotiating position. A party's leverage is based on its ability to award benefits or impose costs on the other side. Another conceptualization holds that the party that has the most to lose from a "no deal" outcome has less leverage than the party that has the least to lose. Leverage has been described as "negotiation's prime mover," indicating its important role in bargaining and negotiation situations. Individuals with strong leverage can sometimes overcome weak negotiating skills, whereas those with poor leverage have a reduced likelihood of being successful even if they have strong negotiating skills. Bargaining power It is said that those that one has discretion over can provide leverage and this can be demonstrated in the way advertising time sellers have bargaining power at holiday time or television shows if their advertisement slots are full. In o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Market Intelligence
Market intelligence (MI) is gathering and analyzing information relevant to a company's market - trends, competitor and customer (existing, lost and targeted) monitoring. It is a subtype of competitive intelligence (CI), which is data and information gathered by companies that provide continuous insight into market trends such as competitors' and customers' values and preferences. MI along with the marketing capabilities of an organization provides a guideline into the allocation and implementation of resources and processes. It is used for the purpose of continuously supplying strategic marketing planning for organizations to gauge marketing positions in order for companies to gain competitive advantage and best meet objectives. Organizations can develop MI frameworks and models that are suited to financial capabilities and desired market sectors but are mainly based on the four-step process of collection, validation, processing and communication of MI. The gathering of M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
