Enhancing Business Knowledge through Academic Research

Reflective Overview

Academic research helps to gain proper knowledge of different subjects and topics. While I was making assignment one and two, it helped me to understand the impact of different factors which can influence business functions. I have gained proper knowledge about the importance of maintaining quality in the supply chain. In assignment 1, I have researched the SQM system of some leading manufacturing firms. In addition to this, I also gain proper knowledge about supplier integration, supplier development and the selection procedure of supplier. All of these processes are essential to building an effective model of SQM. A developed chain of supply helps to enhance the manufacturing weight of the company, which is essential to increase productivity (Cook-Sather et al. 2019). Multiple research papers were collected for gathering sufficient information about the study associated with the management of supply quality. I selected some manufacturing companies situated in Hong Kong for analyzing the process of quality management applied there. Moreover, quality management is essential for developing the internal business functions of an organization. There are many challenges which can hamper the process of quality management, but the application of several strategies would be beneficial to solve those issues. Thus, collecting the relevant data and information through primary and secondary data collection method are good for the researcher to improve understanding about the research topic and analyze the gathered findings critically. I focus on collecting the quality journals and informative articles to gather in depth information, theories and concept related to the research so that it would be beneficial for me to improve my knowledge and skill for further analysis and critical evaluation.

While I completed an assignment to get proper knowledge about the competitive advantages of respect to e-procurement, I selected the case study of a company named Aramco, which is situated in Saudi Arabia. In this study, I have discussed the process of the document, which is essential for implementing any new plan (Gibson et al. 2017). Procurement refers to the process of discovering and different terms of acquiring services for all products from any kind of external source. Moreover, I learnt that e-procurement includes different kinds of competitive advantages which can be beneficial for Aramco. There are many digital platforms which can be utilised for developing the procurement functions of an organisation. These digital platforms help to improve the sales rate of the company, and it provides sufficient growth to the company. Online platforms help to finish different kinds of tasks within a short time, and it is essential for further improvement of a company (Gascóet al. 2018). In addition to this, it is essential to use online domains as digital twins while increasing business activities. If a new shift has been settled by the company, then the company needs to use e-procurement methods for governing the business functions in a correct manner. There are different types of advantages obtained by using digital platforms in the business.

Report

Overview of the main areas

In assignment 1, a detailed description of SQM and its importance in business has been elaborated. The importance of suppliers and related functions of quality management was discussed in that assignment. The impact of quality management for enhancing the business functions was the main focusing area of the assignment. In assignment two, proper discussion about electronic procurement methods was analysed (Soares et al. 2017). Aramco company was selected for this assignment, and different advantages of using electronic procurement were elaborated in this study. However, many competitive advantages can be obtained by using electronic procurement as it helps to maintain transparency in work. There are many modified technologies that can be used by the company which are essential to enhance the purchasing procedure of the company. Time management becomes so easy for the employees by using these modified technologies. Moreover, electronic procurement methods are helpful to save the valuable time of the employees and finish any kind of critical functions within a short time. In assignment two, the benefits of using electronic procurement for getting competitive advantages has been elaborated (Sampaio et al. 2016). Apart from this, different challenges faced by the company named Aramco while implementing electronic procurement was examined in the study. Along with that, the adoption of electronic procurement in the Aramco Company was properly identified and evaluated by getting some help from the existing literature.

Methodological approaches

Assignment 1 was done by collecting several journals related to the topic. Some existing research papers were collected for interpreting the results (Zhang et al. 2019). A proper discussion about the existing literature was done for getting enough information about the concerned topic. So, all the listeners' papers were properly reviewed for doing assignment 1.Qualitative analysis was done in assignment two by following the inductive approach. Some existing literature regarding the techniques of e-procurement methods and strategies were collected. All these literature were properly examined, and secondary data was collected by the researcher for gathering enough information about competitive advantages related to e-procurement method. A systematic approach was followed by the researcher for collecting secondary data. In addition to this, some databases searched as Google scholar, Scopus, EBSCO, ProQuest, Sage journals, ScienceDirect and many others were used for gathering secondary data. In addition to this, the official website of the company Aramco was used for collecting valuable information (Brandon-Jones and Kauppi, 2018). Data were analyzed by properly inspecting and cleaning. After that, the transformation was done for discovering details about the concerned topic. The methodology involves the literature review where understanding about the literature related to the research topic is possible. The researchers utilizes the convincing argument for the research, which is also beneficial to develop arguments and analyze the research findings successfully. Additionally, survey method is utilized to collect the authentic and relevant feedback from the respondents. The survey questionnaire is developed and the methods of Likert scaling are advantageous for collecting the feedback. On the other hand, the method of primary data collection method through survey technique is hereby beneficial to gather valid information to analyze the research topic further. On the other hand, the sampling technique is effective to choose the respondents where it is possible to collect the relevant data and information. Additionally, the quantitative data analysis method is fruitful in the research to analyze the collected findings through tabulated and correlations method.

Reflection

Value

In assignment one, proper details about quality management and the procedure of SQM was provided. Swades research is beneficial for understanding the importance of quality management for developing any organisation. Detailed information about SQM can be gained by a reader by reading this assignment (Shum et al. 2017). On the other hand, the assignment two all includes detailed information about electronic procurement methods and its importance on the performance of Aramco company. Several factors of procurement have been elaborated in this research. Moreover, it can be stated that assignment 2 includes all the detailed description of the impact of e-procurement in the business of the Aramco Company. In addition to this, the issues faced by this company while implementing this procurement method were also elaborated in assignment 2. Hence, the method of achieving competitive advantages by using e-procurement was determined properly.

Limitations

The main limitation of these two pieces of research was the lack of statistical data. Enough details about the electronic procurement method of the Aramco Company were not provided. Many data can be identified by the following quantitative research (Ahmed et al. 2019). On the other hand, assignment one does not include enough information about quality management. More data can be provided in these two assignments, which would be beneficial for discovering many details about the topics. The research includes primary data collection method where through survey method and interview, the researcher likes to gather relevant and valid information directly from the respondents. However, due to this pandemic situation for COVID 19, it becomes difficult for the researcher to conduct face to face interview and survey due to social distancing and lock down. This is a major limitation, where the researcher needs to depend on electronic mode for gathering the information, which may lacks the intensity of the actual information for further research analysis and evaluation.

Reference List

Ahmed, F., As-Saber, S., Fry, S. and Smith, R., 2019. Bureaucracy and E-government: A study of eprocurement initiatives in Bangladesh. Journal of Business Management & Compliance, 1(1), pp.35-51.

Brandon-Jones, A. and Kauppi, K., 2018. Examining the antecedents of the technology acceptance model within e-procurement. International journal of operations & production management.

Cook-Sather, A., Abbot, S. and Felten, P., 2019. Legitimating reflective writing in SoTL:“Dysfunctional illusions of rigor” revisited. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7(2), pp.14-27.

Gascó, M., Cucciniello, M., Nasi, G. and Yuan, Q., 2018. Determinants and barriers of e-procurement: A European comparison of public sector experiences.

Gibson, A., Aitken, A., Sándor, Á., Buckingham Shum, S., Tsingos-Lucas, C. and Knight, S., 2017, March. Reflective writing analytics for actionable feedback. In Proceedings of the seventh international learning analytics & knowledge conference (pp. 153-162).

Sampaio, P., Carvalho, M.S., Fernandes, A.C., Quang, H.T., An, D.T.B. and Vilhenac, E., 2016. An extensive structural model of supply chain quality management and firm performance. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management.

Shum, S.B., Sándor, Á., Goldsmith, R., Bass, R. and McWilliams, M., 2017. Towards reflective writing analytics: Rationale, methodology and preliminary results. Journal of Learning Analytics, 4(1), pp.58-84.

Soares, A., Soltani, E. and Liao, Y.Y., 2017. The influence of supply chain quality management practices on quality performance: an empirical investigation. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.

Zhang, M., Guo, H., Huo, B., Zhao, X. and Huang, J., 2019. Linking supply chain quality integration with mass customization and product modularity. International Journal of Production Economics, 207, pp.227-235.