PDP: E-procurement for Contemporary Organizations Skills Assessment

This assignment is a Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) focusing on e-procurement skills for contemporary organizations. The student analyzes their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the skills required of a purchasing and supply chain professional in the context of e-procurement and technology. The student identifies areas needing improvement, such as adapting to technological changes, measuring business value, category management, supplier relationship management, inventory management, and purchase planning. An action plan is then prepared to address these gaps, including strategies for time management, business value assessment, and supplier relationship management, and also the need to centralize or outsource certain purchasing activities. The rationale for this evaluation and plan is based on the changing skill sets of the purchasing and supply chain professional. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of continuous skill development in procurement and supply chain management and the need to transform weaknesses into strengths.

Personal Development Portfolio
(E-procurement for Contemporary Organizations)
Student
Institution

Technology and e-procurement require a purchasing and supply chain professional to
possess and exhibit a certain set of changing skills. According to (Giunipero, et al., 2016, p.
825), these skills include technical understanding, project management, multi-cultural/ global
understanding, problem solving, good communication, time management, desire to learn and
achieve, relationship management and strong negotiation skills. These set of skills required of a
purchasing and supply chain professional will be clearly reflected upon in this assignment.
In e-procurement, a procurement professional possess technical knowhow skills in order
to clearly understand the process of order placing till delivery (Croom, 2015, p. 60). This is
because e-procurement is done through the internet and networking systems such as electronic
data exchange are involved. Time-management is also a mandatory, as this must align to the
promises given to the clients; this brings the need for timely and honest communication. With
strong negotiation skills, a professional ensures that a company operates within the set financial
goals and targets.
As a professional, I have always endeavored to exhibit and practice these skills as
required in e-procurement and technology trends (Naoum & Egbu, 2015, p. 10). In this context,
my personal strengths include excellent communication with clients, suppliers, and customers;
technical knowledge which enable me in creating and managing quotation requests, proposal
requests, information requests, and supplier relationship management; time management in
which I ensure all orders are delivered within the mentioned deadlines; and strong negotiation
where I convince both existing and new clients to give our company more business (Ellram, et
al., 2015, p. 17).

However, I still have various weaknesses that require improvement. These gaps include
inability to cope with the constantly changing technology and e-procurement business needs,
poor strategies of measuring business value and e-procurement performance, poor category
management, below-target value from the current suppliers which means there is a gap in
supplier relationship management, improper understanding of carrying costs, and problems in
purchases planning (Giunipero, et al., 2016, p. 830).
These areas requiring development and the right action plan to address them are
presented in the table below:
Areas that need improvement Action plan to address these gaps
Inability to cope with changing business needs Proper time management and establishing a
conducive environment
Poor business value measures Measure and manage business value and
procurement performance weekly to determine
the gaps and initiate alternative strategies
Poor category management Label products to increase more value in the
already there categories through proper product
category management
Less value from existing suppliers Ensure proper supplier relationship
management to increase business returns and
retain all suppliers
Poor purchasing Centralize purchasing processes/ outsource
some purchasing
Mismanaged inventory carrying costs Properly understand or get trained to

understand your stock carrying costs
In conclusion, a supply chain and procurement professional must possess all the required
skills in this field; some of these include good communication, excellent in negotiation, proper
procurement technology understanding, and a good time manager. In the profession, areas of
purchasing, business value management, category management, and supplier relationship
management encounter technology and e-procurement issues that require improvement in order
to attain the set procurement goals. Therefore, purchasing and supply chain managers should
endeavor to exhibit the required skills; and if they face any problem then it is their responsibility
to make an effort to develop their weaknesses to become their strengths.
References

Croom, S. R., 2015. The impact of e-business on supply chain management: An empirical study
of key developments. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 25(1), pp.
55-73.
Ellram, L. M., Tate, W. L. & Billington, C., 2015. Understanding and managing the services
supply chain. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 40(3), pp. 17-32.
Giunipero, L., Handfield, R. & Eltantawy, R., 2016. Supply management's evolution: key skill
sets for the supply manager of the future. International Journal of Operations and Production
Management, 26(7), pp. 822-844.
Naoum, S. & Egbu, C., 2015. Critical review of procurement method research in construction
journals. Procedia Economics and Finance, 21(4), pp. 6-13.