A STUDY ON ADOPTION OF E-PROCUREMENT IN MEDIUM SCALE INDUSTRIES IN

TAMILNADU
- G bala sendhil kumar

Part A

Name of your organisation: ______________________________________

Your Position in the company

Top executive Senior manager Middle-level manager
Purchasing officer/supervisor Non-Managerial procurement specialist
Others (Please Specify): ______________________

No. of years in the current position

Less than 2 Years 2 to 5 Years 5 to 7years
7 to 10 Years More than 10 Years

Which type of industry is your company involved in?

Automotive Chemical & Pharmaceuticals
Construction (Building) Materials Electrical & Electronics
Energy & Power Leather & Products
Minerals & Metals Office Supplies
Packaging & Paper Textile & Garment
Others (Please specify): _______________

Type of Organisation
Sole Proprietorship Partnership Private Limited
Public Limited Any other (Please Specify): ______________________

Type of Goods Produced

Industrial Goods Consumer Goods Both

No. of years in business

Less than 5 years 5 to 10 Years 11 to 15 Years
16 to 20 Years 21 to 25 Years More than 25 Years

No. of Employees working in your organisation

100 to 200 201 to 400 401 to 600
601 to 800 801 to 1000 More than 1000

Annual procurement expenditure for the last financial year (including direct &
indirect procurement)
Less than 20 Lakhs 21 Lakhs to 40 Lakhs 41 Lakhs to 60 Lakhs
61 Lakhs to 80 Lakhs 81 Lakhs to 1crore More than 1 crore

How many suppliers provide goods and services to your Organisation?

Less than 3 5-10 11-15 16-20 More than 20

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Part B
This section deals with questions relevant to adoption of e-procurement in your
organisation.

How long has it been since your organisation first adopted e-Procurement?
0-6 months 6 to 12 months 1 to 2 years
3 to 4 years over 5 years

To what extent has your organisation used e-Procurement in terms of overall

procurement transactions
Evaluation Stage Limited deployment Full deployment

Which type(s) of e-procurement system is currently being employed in your

organization and its extent? (Tick in the appropriate box)

1. No intention to implement (Our organisation does not intend use e-Procurement

within the next 12 months (or in the near future)
2. Rejection (Our organisation has evaluated and rejected the use of e-Procurement)
3. Evaluation or Pilot use (Our organisation has purchased `trial' capabilities or
implemented `pilot' projects and is currently evaluating the possible use of e-
Procurement.)
4. Limited deployment (Our organisation has established a programme of regular but
limited use of e-Procurement.)
5. Generalized deployment (Our organisation has deployed one or more forms of e-
Procurement in its generalised capacity and integrated e-Procurement in the
majority of information systems)

E-Procurement technologies 1 2 3 4 5
Third party e-Procurement system
In-house integrated e-Procurement system
Electronic auction
Electronic marketplace
Electronic reverse-auction
Electronic tendering
E-MRO
E-sourcing
E-informing
Web-based ERP

Please indicate whether the following procurement activities are assisted by e-

Procurement, in your organization.

E-procurement activities Yes NO

Information Search
Requisition Request
Approval
Purchase Order
Delivery Receiving (Tracking)
Payment
Identifying Sourcing Opportunities
Negotiate

Part C
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ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS INFLUENCE ON E-PROCUREMENT ADOPTION
This section deals with your perception on how the organisational factors influence an
e-procurement adoption decision by your company. Please indicate your perception on
each statement below based on the scale of 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). If
your opinion is less strong, tick one of the numbers in the middle.

1- Strongly Disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Neither Agree nor Disagree

4- Agree, 5- Strongly Agree

ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS 1 2 3 4 5
Centralisation
Our purchasing is fully centralized.
Quality checking of the procured materials is centralised
Payment for the procured materials is centralised
Organisational Readiness
Organisational Support for adopting e-procurement is very
high.
We have sufficient financial resources for adopting e-
procurement.
We have employees having enough skills and knowledge about
e-procurement.
Employees have no resistance in adopting e-procurement.
Top management Support
Management has allocated enough resources for adoption of e-
procurement.
Top Management actively participates in formulating e-
Procurement implementation strategy and documenting formal
action/communication plan for the organisational use of e-
Procurement.
Top Management actively participates in providing user training
and encouraging organisational learning on the use of e-
Procurement.

Part D

TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS INFLUENCE ON E-PROCUREMENT ADOPTION

This section deals with your perception on how the attributes of technology itself
influence an e-procurement adoption decision by your company. Please indicate your
perception on each statement below based on the scale of 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5
(Strongly agree). If your opinion is less strong, tick one of the numbers in the middle.
1- Strongly Disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Neither Agree nor Disagree
4- Agree, 5- Strongly Agree

TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS 1 2 3 4 5
Technology Readiness
We have enough technology infrastructures for adopting,
implementing and supporting e-procurement.
We have sufficient number of technical experts for using e-
procurement.
We were already using internet, intranet and extranets for
information sharing in our organisation.
Relative Advantage
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E-procurement provides a better way to do procurement than
the way we used to do it manually.
E-procurement facilitates better management of our purchasing
activities.
We found that using e-procurement reduces operating
procedures.
Complexity
The best thing about the e-procurement system is that it is easy
to use.
Our employees had no trouble learning how to use e-
procurement.
The directions are adequate for our employees to figure out how
to operate an e-procurement system.
Compatibility
E-procurement system fits well with the way we manage our
procurement activities.
E-procurement system is compatible with all aspects of work in
the organization.
E-procurement system is compatible for acquiring information
on products / services needed for our business.
Trailability
Our employees have the opportunity to try various e-
procurement system applications before we decide to use it.
Our employees are familiar with the e-procurement system
before we use it.
We know what this particular e-procurement system could do
since we are permitted to use it on a trial basis for long enough.
Security and Authentication
We have enough level of security related infrastructures in our
organisation.
Our Organisation has confidence in the security of the
information involved in a transaction.
Our employees feel comfortable regarding security and privacy
when using e-Procurement.

Part E

MARKET RELATED FACTORS INFLUENCE ON E-PROCUREMENT ADOPTION

This section deals with your perception on how the attributes of Market related factors
influence an e-procurement adoption decision by your company. Please indicate your
perception on each statement below based on the scale of 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5
(Strongly agree). If your opinion is less strong, tick one of the numbers in the middle.
1- Strongly Disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Neither Agree nor Disagree
4- Agree, 5- Strongly Agree

MARKET RELATED FACTORS 1 2 3 4 5

External pressure
Our customers require the use of e-procurement for doing
business with them.
Significant pressure was placed on our organisation to adopt e-
Procurement by the Government.
External IS support
Our customer supported us in implementing e-procurement.
Our vendor extended their full support in implementing e-
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procurement.
There was a significant support from the Government in
implementing e-procurement.
Competitive pressure
Competition is a factor in organisation’s decision to adopt e-
procurement.
We adopted e-procurement because our competitors were using
it.
We will lose customers to our competitors if we do not adopt e-
procurement.
Market scope
It is a strategic necessity to use e-procurement to compete in
the marketplace.
We made a decision to adopt e-procurement for finding new
business or target markets.
To be a leader in Organisation’s Industry there is a need to
adopt e-procurement.

Part F
SUPPLIER RELATED FACTORS INFLUENCE ON E-PROCUREMENT ADOPTION
This section deals with your perception on how the attributes of Supplier related factors
influence an e-procurement adoption decision by your company. Please indicate your
perception on each statement below based on the scale of 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5
(Strongly agree). If your opinion is less strong, tick one of the numbers in the middle.
1- Strongly Disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Neither Agree nor Disagree
4- Agree, 5- Strongly Agree

SUPPLIER RELATED FACTORS 1 2 3 4 5

Trust on Suppliers
We have strong sense of loyalty to our suppliers.
Our suppliers always keep their promises.
We are confident that our suppliers will carry out
work/provides services at the time with the standard and
performance as agreed.
Dependency on Suppliers
Many of our suppliers currently using e-procurement are
demanding us to use e-Procurement.
Our company’s investments in e-procurement were based on
the supplier’s decision to adopt e-procurement.
The high skill and knowledge of our suppliers in their area of e-
procurement made us to adopt e-procurement.
Supplier Participation
Supplier participation is more in adopting e-procurement
Our suppliers always listen and seriously response to our
proposals.
Our company always receives good response from its suppliers.
Supplier and Buyer Relationship
Creating value for customer through partnership with supplier
is important in our decision on adopting e-procurement.
Our relationships with suppliers are long term alliances.
We view our suppliers as an extension of our organisation.
Our firm relationships to its suppliers are regulated in a written
contract.

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Part G
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

Please indicate your perception on the items below based on the realization of
operational efficiency after adopting e-procurement technology in your organisation,
using the scale of 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). If your opinion is less
strong, tick one of the numbers in the middle.
1- Strongly Disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Neither Agree nor Disagree
4- Agree, 5- Strongly Agree

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY 1 2 3 4 5

Standardized Purchasing Processes across the Organisation

Reduced administrative tasks (paperwork and manual filing etc.)
Reduced Inventory Levels
Reduced Non-Contractual (maverick) Buying
Reduced Operational Tasks
Reduced Purchase Cycle Time
Reduced Transactional Costs
Reduced Monitoring costs
Reduced overall search (e.g. goods/services, supplier) costs
Reduced Average Production Cost

Part H
OVERALL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
Please indicate your perception on the items below based on the realization of overall
business performance after adopting e-procurement technology in your organisation,
using the scale of 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). If your opinion is less
strong, tick one of the numbers in the middle.
1- Strongly Disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Neither Agree nor Disagree
4- Agree, 5- Strongly Agree

OVERALL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE 1 2 3 4 5

Increased Market Share

Increased Sales Growth
Improved Customer Satisfaction
Improved Relationships with Suppliers
Improved Existing Markets
Improved Delivery Reliability
Improved Employer Employee Relationship
Improved overall purchasing efficiency
Increased availability of public information on bids/offers and
their depth
Better Overall Competitive Position

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