Global Supply Chain Management: Risks and Procurement Strategies

Project risk and procurement management
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Abstract
This report concerns with issues related to global supply chain management, with a special focus
on Supplier relation management (SRM), strategic procurement, supply chain risk management
and sustainable procurement from a theoretical perspective. It aims to investigate the supply
relationship management for its critical role in sustaining the operations of the supply chains
under the conditions of globalization of food supply chains. The research problem concerns with
the complexity of the SRM because each actor wants to maximize his profits and minimize cost
because of the high competition between organizations. This report explains the need for
organizations to develop their relationships with suppliers and consider them as business partners
by developing good long-term relationships with suppliers to enable companies to obtain a
competitive advantage. In order to provide a concrete analysis, the strategic procurement was
also investigated; it is considered among the key value chain processes because it significantly
impacts quality and price and it plays a cross-functional role between organizational
departments. Also, the supply chains risk management action plans are considered effective in
avoiding the identified risks or mitigating them and the structured risk management process
(RMP) was analyzed. In addition, sustainability issues are investigated due to the importance of
incorporating them into different activities and streams along the supply chain, starting from raw
materials the final product delivery to the customer. A factious small business operating in the
UK food market and extensively imports from Greece was selected to investigate how it applies
the mentioned concepts in its global supply chain. The main concepts discussed in the literature
review were applied to the case company to evaluate its position in the global supply chain in
terms of its SRM, global food supply chain risk management, utilization of strategic procurement

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and sustainable procurement. The risk of Brexit was considered and the required steps imposed
by the UK government are considered.

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................4
First: Supply chain management.................................................................................................6
Second: Supplier relationship management (SRM)...................................................................6
Third: Strategic procurement......................................................................................................7
Fourth: Supply chain risk management......................................................................................8
4.1 Product quality risk management...........................................................................................9
4.2 Relevance of CSR failures in food supply chains................................................................10
Fifth: Sustainable procurement..................................................................................................10
5.1 Organizational inertia...........................................................................................................11
5.2 The role of procurement in sustainability............................................................................11
Sixth: Case study for a small UK business that extensively imports from Greece................11
6.1 Case company background..................................................................................................12
6.2 Supplier relationship management (SRM)...........................................................................12
6.3 Strategic procurement..........................................................................................................13
6.4 Food supply chain risk management....................................................................................14
6.5 Sustainable procurement......................................................................................................15
Conclusions...................................................................................................................................16
References.....................................................................................................................................18

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Introduction
Globalization of the economies and supply chains have facilitated the movement of goods.
Although, it resulted in increased expectations of consumers and intensified rivalry among
competitors. This led organizations to sell high-quality products with low prices and to transform
their supply chains into value chains through adopting strategic procurement policies (Thakur,
2017).
Organizations face risk in managing supply chains in the food market due to the greater distance
between producers and consumers. Food safety standards differ significantly between countries
on the public and private levels, the matter that increases the risk managing safety, quality and
ensuring no failure occurs in the food supply chain. Collaboration between supply chain parties
is very important, many approaches and models investigated the supply relationship management
for its critical role in sustaining the operations of the supply chains. The globalization of food
supply chains increases their complexity and makes the process of selecting suppliers based on
predefined safety criteria a critical issue (Shirani & Demichela, 2015).
Researchers assume that Supplier relation management (SRM) is a vital issue because suppliers
are considered a source of value for the organization and can increase the future revenues the
matter that makes them strategically important. Accordingly, supplier loyalty represents an
important measure. Also, procurement has strategic importance for its contribution to sustaining
the activities along the whole supply chain (Shah, et al., 2016).
The following section analyses the theoretical background concerning supply chain management,
supplier relationship management (SRM), strategic procurement, supply chain risk management
and sustainable procurement and their related concepts. Then a case of a small business in the

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UK, Foodland, the extensively Greece food importer was selected to investigate its SRM,
strategic procurement, risk management and sustainability through its global supply chain.