The European economy today is built on small and medium sized enterprises (SME?s) and SME?s recieve a lot more attention in the litterature now. Even though SME?s have earned more attention in the litterature there is a significant lack of information regarding purchasing and Supplier selection in these companies?. This report aims to create bigger understanding of SME?s and their purchasing by showing how seven swedish SME?s select their Suppliers.

The Swedish alcohol market has for many years been in the hands of the government. The question of the monopoly, its being or not being, has for a long time engaged both Swedish citizens and politicians. Since joining the European Union it has also been on the European agenda, trying to adapt Sweden to the more liberal alcohol politic in Europe.The Suppliers find themselves acting on a completely different market than a market based on free competition. The Suppliers are faced with one retail channel to the stores which creates dependence and uneven power balance towards the retailer. In addition to this, their marketing activities are strictly limited due to the laws and claims.

Background: Many companies have outsourced their IT-operations and their expectations of what this IT-outsourcing will contribute to the business are high. Cost cuts are not always a natural outcome of IT-outsourcing. Many companies that have outsourced their IT-operations consider it to be problematic and complex to exercise management control and reach cost control which was the purpose of the IT-outsourcing. Purpose: To describe and analyze what affect IT-outsourcing has on a company?s management control system and a company?s possibility to exercise cost control.

Background: Performance measurement as a management control tool has received considerable academic attention. As the number of inter-organisational relationships, such as customer-Supplier relationships, increases, there is a new scope for performance measurement as a management control tool. In order for a company to assess the effectiveness of its Supplier relationships it has to define, measure and evaluate variables that are critical for the success of the relationship. The role of management control, and thereby of performance measurement, has increasingly been discussed in theory. However, empirical research in this area is still somewhat limited.

Researchers and practitioners have recognized the need for ?transforming? every policy of the company into a competitive advantage tool. Thus, both the pricing approach and the supply chain practices of the firm have emerged as an important determinant of success. In this study, however, we are not only interested in these two aspects, but also in a third one-namely cultural conflicts as an obstacle and challenge. The interaction of the tree factors is extensively presented against the backdrop of Skanska and four of their closest Polish Suppliers.

Rules for damages that are effective are important to create legal security and a public procurement that fulfil economic effectivity. Those rules are effectivly created for example when the demand of evidence is possible for the damaged Supplier to fulfil. Yet the rules cannot be too low without leading to an uncertain procurement for the public purchaser. Thus one have to balance the interests of a public purchaser against the interests of a damaged Supplier. This balance leads to a public procurement involving rules of damages where the public purchaser cannot escape duty of damages just because the demand of evidence is too hard to fulfil..

This essay describes some factors that may effect small business survival in relation to becoming a Supplier for bigger companies that may implement the use of EDI for electronic invoicing.The purpose of this study is to analyse and evaluate what impact may occur during the introduction of EDI between small and big business.Following on from the introduction of methods used in this study there will be a complete analysis made detailing results.From our research we have found that most small business have developed a professional working relationship between themselves and their clients.The adoption of EDI by big business has revolutionised the day to day dealings between both Supplier and consumer in that EDI has empowered both chains to collaborate data in real time.In conclusion our research illustrates that in order for small business to survive the must implement EDI. The results of our study have shown that the introduction of EDI to both small and big business has had a positive outcome..

This study looks into the possibility, and profitability, of expanding a pilot project that has been put into action at GGP Sweden AB in Tranås, a manufacturing company that produces front mowers. The pilot project is meant to give GGP Sweden AB a more precise control of the flow of goods from their Suppliers, and its essence has proven to be quite similar to the Japanese Just-in-Time philosophy.The study has been divided into four separate areas; mapping, Supplier selection, Supplier evaluation and cost analysis. These areas represent a holistic perspective on the expansion of the pilot project and cover topics varying from methods of finding suitable JIT-Suppliers, constructing Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to reviewing costs and assessing profitabilities.In this report, the reader will initially take part in the works of mapping GGP?s manufacturing unit, pilot project and Supplier base, which results in a list containing the most suitable Suppliers for a Just-in-Time based collaboration. Afterwards, the reader will be led into the area of Supplier evaluation, where five KPI?s are created with the purpose of ensuring that GGP will be able to evaluate their Suppliers and pilot project in an effective way.

One of the most distinguishing features for companies today is that they must have a close collaboration and keep up a good relationship with their Suppliers. This is important for the companies chance of survival and for them to compete in their markets. This essay will discuss the subject of Scania?s long-term collaboration with their Suppliers. The purpose of the essay in this case study is to analyze if a long-term cooperation with a Supplier is of essence upon renegotiations of continued collaboration.

Haldex Barnes Hydraulics (HBH) is a company which produces hydraulic aggregates for use in forklifts, construction equipment, and trucks. The last two years the company has expanded. This has lead to an insufficient production of aggregates. Thus wishes HBH to increase their production without making to large investments.This report includes a now-state analysis of the problems and where they are. From this a further analysis of possible improvements are made.HBH works mainly with assembling and this is made manually.

 Level:                                 Master thesis in business administration, 15 creditsDate of seminar:                2009-05-29Title:                                  Stick to your knitting ? Outsourcing of the economic function in some small private limited companies in VästeråsAuthors:                             Johanna Eriksson 1982johanna.erik@gmail.comSandra Hansson 1982shn04005@gmail.comTutor:                                 Leif CarlssonPurpose:                             From a company perspective describe why the chosen companies in Västerås decided to either outsource or to have their economic function internally, define how the outsourcing process looks like and examine how the companies that have chosen to outsource have experienced their outsourcing situation. Further, we wish to contribute with advice for companies that are considering the option of outsourcing their economic function.Method:                             An intensive study of existing literature and a pre-study were conducted in order to create a framework for the thesis. The pre-study was conducted with one business counselor and two Suppliers of economic services and resulted in local practical examples that supplemented the found literature. The main research consisted of semi-structured personal interviews among twelve companies in different sizes in Västerås.

Evaluating and choosing Suppliers based on price alone, has traditionally been the dominant strategy for Supplier selection within the purchasing function. With the origin of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)-concept in the early 1990s, a new philosophy dawned that promoted the importance of knowing the effects of Supplier performance on the buying firm?s internal costs. Since then, scholars have been arguing the case of TCO as a viable model for making purchasing decisions and conducting Supplier evaluation. Still, after two decades little is known about its penetration and impact on the practices of buying corporations, leaving the questions of which costs are included in the purchasing organisations? decisions unanswered, and even more importantly why certain costs are considered and others not.

The trends in trade have been changing in the last few years. To offer a good product with agood price is not enough today, it?s also required that businesses create a good relationshipwith their customers and then do their best in maintaining it. It is now even more brandscompeting in the market, which indicates how a good relationship between the parties can bean important competitive advantage and also a significant variable.The goal and purpose of the study is to investigate and analyze the factors that influence thatthe Supplier, in the sporting goods industry, is seen as a good Supplier on the basis of theretailer's point of view. Then we want, from different sized companies, analyze and study howthey work with the key properties in creating a good customer relationship and hencecustomer satisfaction.

The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of the dynamics behind Chinese-Western buyer-Supplier relationships. The study takes on a partially inductive approach by commencing with exploratory in-depth interviews. The main body of the study consists of a cross-sectional survey. Data has been collected through an on-line questionnaire. The theoretical review consists of industrial relationships with specific accounts on the role of adaptation, trust and commitment; a stream of literature in cross-cultural relationships deriving from Hofstede?s culturalist legacy with specific reference to Chinese-Western relationships, including studies on relationship bonding, and the role of guanxi.

This thesis was performed at Scania?s purchasing department of non-automotive products inSödertälje, Sweden during spring 2007. The management of the purchasing department ofnon-automotive products believe that their internal customers might not have fullunderstanding of what the purchasing department does. This is a problem because the internalcustomers might not use the contracts negotiated by the purchasing department or they mightnot involve the purchasing department when making purchases.The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how the internal customers? perception deviatesfrom the purchasing department?s perception regarding the task of the purchasing department.And also to create a communication package with the purpose of increasing the internalcustomers understanding of what the purchasing department does.