Operational Benefits of Electronic Integration in B2B Procurement Processes

Proposal

 

Introduction

      This paper discusses in detail the research proposal that examines the operational benefits of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes. Basically, the researcher attempts to identify the possible effect of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes. This includes discussion of its history, the current status of B2B procurement processes, and advantages and disadvantages of electronic integration. Specifically, this proposed research explores the perceptions of the business manager respondents and their view regarding electronic integration.       

 

            This research proposal discusses in detail the background, general purpose of the study. Moreover, the objectives of the study and the research statements are presented. Here, vital concepts, questions and assumptions are stated. Finally, the scope and limitation of the study, overview of the methodology used and the significance of the research are discussed.

 

Background of the Study

The industrial competitions worldwide are at brisk, making companies across the globe search for extensive strategic management procedures that would keep them in on the business world.  The tasks of crafting, implementing, and executing company strategies are the heart and soul of managing business enterprise.  A company’s strategy serves as the game plan management and is use to stake out a market position, conduct its operations, attract and please customers, compete successfully, and achieve organizational objectives.

 

Accordingly, all business firms are subject to several factors outside the control of the industry that affect the outcome of its operations, and by and large, predominantly predict its success.  With this, companies consider certain strategies to maintain their competitiveness, especially in the marketing arena.  In fact, marketing has been regarded as a recurring concept in the organizational world. As asserted by  (1984), marketing provides the link or bridge between the organization and its environment, moving the firm away from bureaucratic inertia toward responsiveness to customer needs and anticipation of continuing changes in the environment.  In short, marketing helps institutions fulfill its mission, keeping it relevant in a dynamic industrial world.

 

Dynamicity is perhaps the best word to describe the recurring trends in the business arena.  It is known that the extensive influence of information technology across the globe nowadays has brought major changes in the world’s economic and political system, thus, affecting the industrial environment at large.  Electronic communication is already dramatically changing how commercial transactions between companies are conducted, how digitally based goods and services are distributed, and how industrial sales are made.  As the marketplace becomes increasingly global, using information technology in the context of international trade relations also become increasingly important.  Indeed, the significant role that technology plays in the market today is unquestionable.

 

However, these radical changes in technology and the increasingly unstable business environments had brought a series of difficulties in all industries across the globe.  Companies worldwide keep reinventing themselves to keep pace with these conditions in order to improve competitiveness and raise productivity.  In the United States, for example, social, political, and economic instabilities led to a bunch of management theories which have influenced largely the practice of management in US corporations and small businesses (1997).   As a result of these drastic transformations, the question as to how can companies convert themselves to become technologically-established firms while maintaining and increasing the effectiveness of its operations became the focal point of most marketing-technology paradigm.

 

            With this query, this paper would provide an analysis regarding the operational benefits of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes.  This would include a detailed discussion pertaining to the reasons for its strategic translation, methodology or procedures in doing so, and other matters relevant to the changes in the company’s operational schemes.

 

Statement of the Problem

Generally, the purpose of this study is to conduct a study on the possible operational benefits of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes and identify the perception of the business managers regarding this integration. This study tries to answer the following queries:

1.            What are the advantages or benefits of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes?

2.            What are the disadvantages of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes?

3.            Does electronic integration in B2B procurement processes directly affects the progress of a certain business?

4.            What is the possible impact of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes to the business practices of business managers?

 

 

Hypothesis of the Study

Based on the research questions the research project works out on the following null hypotheses:

1.            Electronic integration in B2B procurement processes no significant effect to the progress of a certain business.

2.            Electronic integration benefits in B2B procurement processes has no significant relationship to the success of a certain business.

 

Scope and Limitations

The study intends to investigate the effects of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes. For this study, primary research and secondary research will be used. Primary research will be conducted using anonymous questionnaires that will be sent to the different business managers related to electronic integration. The questionnaires will be used to collect quantitative data and the interviews will be used to provide qualitative insights into the data collected. The data will be analyzed and compiled for the correlation of the hypothesis. The data will then be presented by means of graphical representations and illustration and the difference would be highlighted.

 

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework that will be used in the study is the Input-Process-Output Model. In the IPO model, a process is viewed as a series of boxes (processing elements) connected by inputs and outputs. Information or material objects flow through a series of tasks or activities based on a set of rules or decision points. (1997) Flow charts and process diagrams are often used to represent the process. ( 1997) What goes in is the input; what causes the change is the process; what comes out is the output. (2001) Figure 1.1 illustrates the basic IPO model:

Figure 1.1

Input – Process – Output Model

    

              

 

 

The IPO model will provide the general structure and guide for the direction of the study. Substituting the variables of this study on the IPO model, the researcher came up with the following:

 

Figure 1.2

Conceptual Framework

 

           INPUT                                PROCESS                           OUTPUT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Methodology

The study intends to investigate the perception of business managers regarding the operational benefits of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes. For this study, primary research and secondary research will be used. Moreover, the descriptive research method will be utilized. In this method, it is possible that the study would be cheap and quick. It could also suggest unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, it would be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations. Thus, this study will use the descriptive approach. This descriptive type of research utilizes observations in the study.  To illustrate the descriptive type of research,  (1994) guided the researcher when he stated: Descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition. 

 

Primary research is conducted using questionnaire surveys that are sent to the business managers. Here, the questionnaires will be used to collect quantitative data and the interviews will be used to provide qualitative insights into the data collected.  Apparently, secondary data are based from the recent literatures related to business development, electronic integration and B2B procurement processes.

 

As stated above, this research will partially base its findings through quantitative research methods because this permits a flexible and iterative approach. During data gathering the choice and design of methods are constantly modified, based on ongoing analysis. This study will also employ qualitative research method because it will try to find and build theories that will explain the relationship of one variable with another variable through qualitative elements in research. Through this method, qualitative elements that do not have standard measures such as behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs within the health institution domain will be analyzed.

Respondents of the Study

The general population for this study is composed of business managers of different businesses that are related to the integration of electronics to the B2B procurement processes. Basically these respondents are asked regarding the current status of their B2B procurement processes as integration of electronics has been made and their personal views about the operational benefits of the said integration.

Basically,  (1973), initiated that it is advisable to use the Slovin’s formula in choosing sample sizes. Thus, the sample size of the population in this paper was determined by Slovin’s formula. The formula of Slovin is given as follows:

Where:

      n = a sample size    

N= population size

e= desired margin of error (percent allowance for non-precision                         because of the use of the sample instead of the population). 

Sampling Technique

First, the respondents shall fill out a self-administered questionnaire. Another set of questionnaires will be prepared for the interview of teachers. Ideally, the respondents will grade each statement in the survey-questionnaire using a Likert scale (Barnett, V. 1991), with a five-response scale wherein respondents will be given five response choices.

The equivalent weights for the answers will be:

 

Range                                    Interpretation

                  4.50 – 5.00                            Strongly Agree

3.50 – 4.49                            Agree

2.50 – 3.49                            Uncertain

1.50 – 2.49                            Disagree         

0.00 – 1.49                            Strongly Disagree

The researcher opted to use the questionnaire as a tool since it is easy to construct having the rules and principles of construction are easy to follow. Moreover, copies of the questionnaire could reach a considerable number of respondents either by mail or by personal distribution. Generally, responses to a questionnaire are objectified and standardized and these make tabulation easy. But more importantly, the respondents’ replies are of their own free will because there is no interviewer to influence them. This is one way to avoid biases, particularly the interviewers’ bias. The researcher will also use graph and charts for data presentation.

Validity of the Data

            For validation purposes, the researcher will initially submit a sample of the set of survey questionnaires and after approval; the survey will be conducted to five respondents.  After the questions were answered, the researcher will ask the respondents for any suggestions or any necessary corrections to ensure further improvement and validity of the instrument.  The researcher will again examine the content of the interview questions to find out the reliability of the instrument.  The researchers will exclude irrelevant questions and will change words that would be deemed difficult by the respondents, too much simpler terms.

 

Administration of the Instrument

The researcher will exclude the five respondents who will be initially used for the validation of the instrument.  The researcher will also tally, score and tabulate all the responses in the provided interview questions. Moreover, the interview shall be using a structured interview. It shall consist of a list of specific questions and the interviewer does not deviate from the list or inject any extra remarks into the interview process. The interviewer may encourage the interviewee to clarify vague statements or to further elaborate on brief comments. Otherwise, the interviewer attempts to be objective and tries not to influence the interviewer's statements. The interviewer does not share his/her own beliefs and opinions. The structured interview is mostly a "question and answer" session.

Basic Assumptions

            This study assumes that the survey used is an effective measurement tool to identify the operational benefits of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes.  This study also assumes that each participant will honestly ad thoroughly answer each question.

 

Expected Output

It is said the electronic business systems has changed the way contemporary businesses are being operated.  With these e-businesses forms, many people especially those in the business field had been given the chance to expand their business portfolio by merely integrating electronic in B2B procurement processes.  In its application many industries had survive in the stiff competition within the marketplace.

 

From this, proposed research paper shall be divided into five chapters in order to provide clarity and coherence on the discussion of the effects of electronic integration in B2B procurement processes. The first part of the research paper will be discussing the problem uncovered by the researcher and provide ample background on the topic. The chapter shall constitute an introduction to the whole research paper, the hypothesis, and the statement of the problem in order to present the basis of the study. Moreover, the chapter shall also have a discussion on the scope of its study as well as the significance of the study to society in general and specific effects on the use training to improve the performance of the company.

 

The second chapter shall be discussing the relevance of the study in the existing literature. It shall provide studies on business strategies, development, electronic integration and B2B procurement processes. After the presentation of the existing related literature, the researcher shall provide a synthesis of the whole chapter in relation to the study.

 

The third part of the study shall be discussing the methods and procedures used in the study. The chapter shall comprise of the presentation of the utilized techniques for data collection and research methodology. Similarly, it shall also contain a discussion on the used techniques in data analysis as well as the tools used to acquire the said data.

 

The fourth chapter shall be an analysis on the tabulated data. After the said tabulation, the data are statistically treated in order to uncover the relationship of the variable involved in the study. With the said data, the chapter seeks to address the statement of the problem noted in the first chapter.

 

The last chapter shall comprise of three sections, the summary of the findings, the conclusions of the study, and the recommendations. With the three portions, the chapter shall be able to address the verification of the hypothesis stated in the initial chapters of the study.

 

TIMETABLE

 

TASK Month

 

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

Select topic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Undertake preliminary literature search

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Define research questions

• Write-up aims and objectives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select appropriate methodology and locate sources of information. Confirm access.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Write-up Research Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Undertake and write-up draft critical literature review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Secondary and Primary Data Detailed

• Sources

• Consulted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research Findings:

• Analyzed

• Evaluated

• Written-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion:

• Research findings evaluated and discussed in relation to the literature review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Methodology written-up

(including limitations and constraints)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main body of the report written-up and checked for logical structure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Conclusions drawn

• Recommendations made

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction and Executive Summary written-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final format and indexing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Print

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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