The module aims to:

Provide students with an integrative understanding of the role and objectives of the procurement function and its complex inter and intra organisational relationships that contribute to sustained commercial success and maximisation of competitive advantage;

Explore issues relating to contracts, including tendering, bidding and order management processes, as well as the legal, commercial and socioeconomic implications of purchasing strategies;

Enable students to critically evaluate procurement strategies, tools and constraints including sourcing, supplier development and supplier client relationships.

(LE1) Commercially aware.
Students will reflect on the implications of procurement and purchasing management for different forms of organisation in different contexts and apply perspectives, concepts, and theories to real-life examples.

(LE2) A team player.
Working within action learning groups, students will experience the value of peer support and critique.

(LO1) Students will be able to analyse the environmental forces that shape procurement strategy making.

(LO2) Students will be able to describe and evaluate purchasing strategy options.

(LO3) Students will be able to outline the changing role of purchasing within total supply chain management.

(LO4) Students will be able to identify and explain the contribution effective procurement management makes to corporate strategies.

(LO5) Students will be able to critique the objectives and analyse the role and extended responsibilities of the purchasing function and its strategic relationships internally and externally, as well as its role within a changing environment.

(LO6) Students will be able to assess leading best practice purchasing techniques and strategies within different sectors.

(LRE1) A problem solver.
Students will collaboratively and critically engage with, and seek to better understand and manage/resolve purchasing management related issues.

(LRE2) An excellent verbal and written communicator
Students will have the opportunity to develop written and oral communication skills through virtual group discussions, Action Learning Groups and individual assessment.

(LRE3) IT literate.
The nature of the module in terms of online delivery will enable students to develop skills in using a virtual learning/communications environment.

(LRE4) Internationally aware.
Students will explore the development and challenges of procurement/purchasing practices across different national and cultural contexts and frameworks.

(LRE5) A lifelong learner.
Students will take part in action learning and have the opportunity to develop and practice this method as a form of life-long learning.

(LRE6) Ethically aware.
Students will be exposed to the ethical risks in purchasing and modern slavery.

The module will be delivered over an 8-week period, primarily through a series of weekly e-lectures, covering key concepts, theories and case examples. These will be supported by individual online tasks, case studies, blogs, collaborative tasks and discussion boards, which will be used to develop and apply learning. These activities will be moderated by the module instructor. Students will also be directed to key academic and practitioner readings to further develop their learning.

Unscheduled Directed Student Hours: 10 hours

Description: The e-lectures will equate to 1.25 hours/week over 8 weeks undertaken asynchronously.
Attendance Recorded: Yes – tracked via the learning platform.

Students will also participate in eight weekly e-seminars where they will engage in peer discussion of key concepts and application to their own work contexts. Seminars will be conducted via a discussion board with input from the module instructor.

Unscheduled student hours: 8 hours
Description: The e-seminars will equate to 1 hour/week over 8 weeks undertaken asynchronously.
Attendance Recorded: Yes – tracked via the learning platform.

Additionally, students will participate in virtual action learning sets, where students will form small action learning groups and collaboratively choose and then work together to solve current procurement and purchasing related problems. This will be facilitated by the module instructor.

Unscheduled student hours: 6 hours
Description: The action learning sets will take place over three sessions, equating to 2 hours per session, undertaken asynchronously.
Attendance Recorded: Yes, tracked via the learning platform.

Self-directed learning hours: 126 hours
Description: This will involve directed and independent reading, and independent research into procurement practices.

The role and impact of strategic purchasing - the strategic role of purchasing, relationships between business and functional strategies, the impact of purchasing.

Strategic sourcing - the importance of strategic sourcing and supply base segmentation, benefits and limitations of partnership sourcing, sourcing strategies and sourcing models.

Supplier performance evaluation - the importance of supplier evaluation, benefits and limitations of supplier evaluation, defining the key information categories of a supplier evaluation system.

Data, category management and savings - managing product categories, strategic development of category management, links between data-categories-savings, procurement savings.

Megatrends, IT and e-procurement - shifts towards e-procurement, use of e-auctions, implications of AI in procurement, industry 4.0 and digitalisation in changing the role of procurement.

Sustainable procurement - Triple Bottom Line and its application t o a purchasing context, benefits of sustainable procurement, challenges and complexities of sustainable procurement.

Ethics in procurement and modern slavery - the importance of purchasing ethics, main impacts of modern slavery legislation, how codes of conduct impact buyer-seller relationships, review on how an economic recession can create ethical risk for purchasing.

Power and contract law - Negotiation - Public procurement.