Graduate School

NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY

Alunan Avenue, City of Koronadal 9506
South Cotabato, Philippines

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

In this current competitive economy, all enterprises of all sizes are continuously longing

for a better way to achieve the best performance and deliver the highest value to their end users

with less expenditures. The way toward mastering this goal can be rocky as not every company

has sufficient resources to fully support its strategic movement.

Purchasing function is the first gateway for any primary inputs to be filtered for further

movement inside the operational process. Without proper understanding and implementation

of this function, firms are more likely to encounter numerous defaults at the other end.

Supply management mainly focuses on strategic purchasing and supplier relationship

management. To be specific, strategic purchasing activates a proactive attitude toward an

organizations purchasing power and facilitates a win-win sourcing strategy with its suppliers.

Nowadays, even medium sized enterprises have begun to invest in their sourcing strategies for a

more efficient procurement. Purchasing is no longer a low cost negotiation but rather a value

creating commitment. After determining appropriate buying strategies, companies need proper

tools to maintain their supplier relationships. This is a very essential part of supply management

and it is not an easy task. Effective supplier management supports firms to flexibly deal with all

the problems occurring during their partnerships with suppliers. Additionally, purchase

department could confidently make a decision on which relationships should be kept and which

ones should be eliminated by applying supplier assessment methods.

 Graduate School
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
Alunan Avenue, City of Koronadal 9506
South Cotabato, Philippines

For a long time, firms have ignored and underestimated the power of purchasing. Even

though if they have, the full potential of purchasing has not been exploited. This traditional point

of view has received a lot of criticisms lately. Researchers and practitioners are eagerly seeking

for new approaches and techniques in order to improve the drawbacks of traditional approach.

Applying a strategic mindset into purchasing will not only create smooth goods and

value exchange streams between buyers and sellers but also reduce companys resources for

fixing failures down to the chain. It also strengthens the flexibility and adaptation of a business

for new opportunities and challenges thanks to its strong foundation with its suppliers.

During the authors study time at Notre Dame of Marbel, the author discovered the

importance of purchasing in this growing business and an update on strategic sourcing process

was needed to increase the companys competitive advantages in the current business context.

Hence, the topic: Strategic Purchasing Practices, the case study of Jo-Anns Bakery was chosen

as her research paper.

Objectives of thesis

This research focuses on the purchase process particularly on supplier management at

Jo-Anns Bakery. There are three main objectives the author aims to achieve in this research

paper.
 Graduate School
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
Alunan Avenue, City of Koronadal 9506
South Cotabato, Philippines

Firstly, the author is going to analyze and investigate the current purchasing practices at

Jo-Anns Bakery in order to detect the potential areas for further development. As mentioned

above, purchasing attitude and supplier relationships will be focused to point out existing

challenges.

Next, the author will come up with suitable and relevant applications for each

acknowledged challenge for purchase process at Jo-Anns Bakery. More importantly, the

suggested applications will be proposed under the consideration of retail bakery business context

and General Santos business environment. Modification and adjustment will be implemented if

it is needed.

Lastly, the author shall reflect and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each

application as there are always two sides of a coin. However, the best suggested applications

would be the ones with more advantages and best situated with Jo-Anns resource

and business potential.