Towards a contingent approach to procurement maturity: how procurement maturity models could support procurement strategic alignment.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Skipworth, Heather | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Bourlakis, Michael | |
| dc.contributor.author | Sogaard, Britta | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-04-11T12:19:26Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-04-11T12:19:26Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021-04 | |
| dc.description | Bourlakis, Michael - Associate Supervisor | en_UK |
| dc.description.abstract | Purpose – Using a contingency lens, this research aims to understand how procurement maturity models can support procurement strategic alignment, by exploring the two concepts of procurement maturity and procurement strategic alignment in academia and practice. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the initial findings from a systematic literature review on procurement maturity and procurement strategic alignment, as well as exploratory mini-cases to explore practitioners’ understanding of procurement maturity, this study employs three in-depth case studies of a major aerospace & defence manufacturer, a water services provider and a bank. This study employs both inductive and deductive approaches. Inductive elements encompass the exploration of how contextual contingencies influence procurement maturity. Deductive elements include the testing of hypotheses regarding the structure and application of maturity models. Findings – This research demonstrates that target maturity profiles (i.e. the desired maturity level per topic) strongly resemble procurement category strategies in that they define a forward plan for the category, covering multiple procurement topics and tactics. Target maturity profiles are dependent on a number of contextual factors, including product-, supplier-, category-, company- and industry-level contingencies. The research shows that procurement maturity should be measured at a category level instead of a functional level and using profiles with individual scores per topic instead of aggregate measures for the function as a whole. Research limitations/implications – This study makes a novel contribution by questioning the premise that higher maturity levels are generally desirable, asserting instead that procurement maturity targets are contingent upon the procurement categories’ context. It provides a new contingency-maturity model that can be used by category managers to assess their procurement maturity and define category strategies. This also provides directions for further research, which should investigate how the ‘maturity gap’ between current and target maturity profiles is related to performance. Originality/value – This is the first research to challenge the general desirability of higher maturity levels. Using a contingency lens, this research adds to the procurement maturity literature by providing a new perspective on procurement maturity, focusing on contextual contingencies. This research demonstrates that desirable procurement maturity levels are dependent on contextual contingencies at different units of analysis (i.e. industry, company, category, product, supplier and situational level). | en_UK |
| dc.description.coursename | PhD in Leadership and Management | en_UK |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/21186 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_UK | en_UK |
| dc.publisher | Cranfield University | en_UK |
| dc.publisher.department | SOM | en_UK |
| dc.rights | © Cranfield University, 2021. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder. | en_UK |
| dc.rights.embargodate | 2025-01-01 | |
| dc.subject | Purchasing | en_UK |
| dc.subject | procurement | en_UK |
| dc.subject | maturity | en_UK |
| dc.subject | strategic alignment | en_UK |
| dc.subject | contingency theory | en_UK |
| dc.subject | contextual contingency | en_UK |
| dc.title | Towards a contingent approach to procurement maturity: how procurement maturity models could support procurement strategic alignment. | en_UK |
| dc.type | Thesis or dissertation | en_UK |
| dc.type.qualificationlevel | Doctoral | en_UK |
| dc.type.qualificationname | PhD | en_UK |