Supplier Selection Process in Café Industry : Case: X Coffee vs. Starbucks
Nguyen, Hoa (2016)
Nguyen, Hoa
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2016
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016060812473
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016060812473
Tiivistelmä
With the competitiveness of today’s business environment, customers are becoming more demanding. Value-added quality is of their first concern due to the recognition of defect-free products. Those result in the competitive role of the supply chain to provide the market with high-quality products or services with competitive prices and fewer risks. This is totally achievable, based on the efficiency of the firm’s production as well as the inputs from right suppliers. The study, through an investigation into the purchasing process at X Coffee, gave an identification of how the process of supplier selection, with a development of comprehensive selection criteria could improve the company’s situation.
A literature review on related concepts, including supply chain, purchasing and supplier selection process was conducted as an important knowledge base for the empirical research implementation. The author adopted qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews and the authors’ observations at X to achieve the study’s objectives. The benchmarking tool was used to give a closer look at Starbucks – the leading coffee chain’s success with well-developed supplier selection guidelines, based on which X recognizes drawbacks in its selection process and plans for potential improvements. The result of this thesis is of benefit to X Coffee and parties interested in the supplier selection process. However, the suggestions are limited to the area of cafés industry.
The result shows that an effective and optimized supplier selection process is of pivotal importance not only for manufacturing organizations, but for all the organizations in any competition. The decision of choosing a right supplier can help reduce purchasing risks, maximize value, increase total quality management productions, or all of them. The author’s suggestions for X Coffee include a broader search for potential suppliers, an implementation of a supply base, the development of predefined selection criteria and a tool for disciplined selection evaluation.
A literature review on related concepts, including supply chain, purchasing and supplier selection process was conducted as an important knowledge base for the empirical research implementation. The author adopted qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews and the authors’ observations at X to achieve the study’s objectives. The benchmarking tool was used to give a closer look at Starbucks – the leading coffee chain’s success with well-developed supplier selection guidelines, based on which X recognizes drawbacks in its selection process and plans for potential improvements. The result of this thesis is of benefit to X Coffee and parties interested in the supplier selection process. However, the suggestions are limited to the area of cafés industry.
The result shows that an effective and optimized supplier selection process is of pivotal importance not only for manufacturing organizations, but for all the organizations in any competition. The decision of choosing a right supplier can help reduce purchasing risks, maximize value, increase total quality management productions, or all of them. The author’s suggestions for X Coffee include a broader search for potential suppliers, an implementation of a supply base, the development of predefined selection criteria and a tool for disciplined selection evaluation.