Conceptual framework of the research carried out - Ganjikashmira/kashmiraG GitHub Wiki

1. Research Objectives:

This chapter presents the methodology that was adopted in this study. The study investigated the attitudes to, and perceptions of, e-procurement over manual procurement held by the purchasing methods of materials required for various iron ore mines projects of NMDC. The study had three objectives; • First, to determine the limitations of the traditional procurement process that is manual procurement. • Second, to investigate the comparative factors of manual versus e-procurement to determine the potential benefits of e-procurement • Finally to assess the implementation of e-procurement, in particular with MSTC service provider. So the main objective of the thesis is to find out the ways for smooth procurement of critical raw materials required for the projects of NMDC. Last but not the least the ultimate goal is to suggest the measures to avoid loss of revenue and profit of the organization.

1. Research Methodology:

This study adopted a subjective research methodology to study the same phenomenon from different perspectives to achieve reliability and validity. The research methodology used in this thesis is the actually the combination of exploratory and case study. While carrying out the research various research strategies are adopted on supply chain and related field of procurement process. The subjective research design is important when trying to give a picture of a situation the way it is without any manipulation of existing situation. Firstly the literature available in the library, in the web, in the journals is presented. As the research was carried out from head quarters of NMDC limited, secondary sources of data is used, that is the organizations records and various documents and observational strategy was adopted for the findings.

1. Research approach:

The research methods adopted forms the backbone of entire research process and are crucial for correctness of the research results. (Dekha, 2009). As I followed the inductive approach, the research was conducted for analyzing the procurement process in particular by analyzing two case studies of procurement of Tools and Tackles, and was able to study in depth to explore the various factors in more detail and after that empirical study conclusions were drawn. This study examined the implications of the findings and more broadly of implementation of e-procurement. The case studies are suitable to study a contemporary phenomenon within a real-life context (Yin, 2009). Conclusions were drawn based on different findings from the case studies.

1. Limitations of thesis:

The purpose of this study is to understand the concepts of supply chain management in procurement side and the problems faced by NMDC in methods of procurement. The exact problems of NMDC in mechanizing for the fully fledged E-procurement cannot be pinpointed, as there are many related aspects like government regulations and situational problems etc. All these require more time and resources. However an attempt is made through the study, to analyze the problems with manual procurement process and suggestions were made for the usage of fully fledged E-procurement like elimination of paper based works , files and documentation which would increase operational and storage expenses. The case studies analyzed are restricted in specific to NMDC, and generalization to all companies would ask for some modifications. Most of the analysis for the study has been obtained from the secondary data, collected from the materials management department. There have been limitations in finding the exact differences from the cases analyzed, in obtaining the latest and current data. Because of this quite a few cases and projections have been used in interpretation of findings and conclusions.

1. Scope for further study:

Because of the limitations of time and resources in this study, only procurement of materials B2B transactions from purchase side is only analyzed. Analysis of supply chain management in e-procurement with normal auctioning has been done here. This leaves a scope for the further study of various aspects in procurement process related to supply chain. In particular it is necessary to carry out further study in following areas: • The supply chain study has to be done from the operations to delivery of the product from the supply side. • Detailed feasibility of extensions to the study of E-procurement process of Reverse Auctioning.