Abstract and Detailed Outline

Abstract

One of the major constraints that adversely affect the procurement process is the potential tendency for managers to forge long-term personal relationships with vendors, which may cause them to overlook opportunities for lower cost, improved reliability, and enhanced customer service elsewhere. Fortunately, the strategic sourcing approach provides procurement managers with a proven framework that can help continuously improve an organization's purchasing activities and add value along the entire supply chain continuum. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the relevant literature to develop a working definition of strategic sourcing and a general description of its importance for organizations of all sizes and types, but especially multinational corporations with global supply chains in particular. In addition, another purpose of the paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the recently completed 3-year California's Strategic Sourcing Initiative to identify lessons learned and best practices that have widespread applicability today. Finally, a summary of the research and key findings concerning the importance of strategic sourcing and how it can help companies achieve and sustain a competitive advantage are presented in the conclusion.

Outline: The Importance of Strategic Sourcing

Introduction (untitled)

The introduction will be used to explain that any consumer can readily testify to the importance of searching for the best deals that are available, especially when it comes to high-ticket items such as cars, boats, and houses. Likewise, the same sourcing rationale applies to organizations of all sizes and types as they seek to develop and sustain a competitive advantage in an increasingly globalized marketplace. The introduction will also describe the paper's purpose, which is to review the relevant literature to provide a concise definition of strategic sourcing and why it is important. The introduction will also explain that the paper will research a completed strategic sourcing initiative, which will be followed by an analysis of the implications of the findings for real-world practice. Finally, the introduction will also explain that the paper will provide a summary of the research and important findings concerning these issues in the conclusion followed by an analysis of directions for future research that are based on these results.

Background

This section will be used to describe the nature...

In addition, this section will also be used to set the stage for the respective sections on defining strategic sourcing and its importance that follow in the sections below. In addition, this section will also be used to provide a description concerning how the paper intends to review and synthesize the results and findings that emerged from a 3-year California's Strategic Sourcing Initiative (CSSI) which was completed in 2010. This synthesis will be used to identify salient challenges and opportunities for the optimization of strategic sourcing solutions for inclusion in the findings section and to inform the directions for future research concluding section. Likewise, this section will explain that this research will be used to identify relevant lessons learned and best industry practices for procurement professionals interested in applying strategic sourcing to their own organizations. In addition, this section will...…between organizations and its suppliers. Sustained relationship with suppliers also implies that when the suppliers are valued and considered in various sourcing decisions; they feel motivated to optimize their performance to meet the organizations objectives.

Source: Adapted from Patowarya (2019)

Evaluation of a completed strategic sourcing initiative

This section will be used to evaluate the 3-year California's Strategic Sourcing Initiative (CSSI), which was completed in 2010 (Hanson, 2010). Some of the more salient findings that will be evaluated include how the CSSI successfully codified the lessons learned from this initiative to apply them to future strategic sourcing projects. In this regard, the CSSI project manager emphasized that "We completed a strategic sourcing integration plan. That's the best way to transition from strategic sourcing as a project to strategic sourcing as another set of tools in the toolbox for conducting procurements in general" (as cited in Hanson, 2010, para. 5). The lessons learned and best practices developed from the CSSI project and the findings that emerge from the literature review will be synthesized and applied in the section below.

Findings

This section will be used to describe the main lessons learned and best practices that were identified from the CSSI project and other strategic sourcing initiatives to determine their implications of strategic sourcing for real-world organizations competing domestically and internationally today and in the future.

Conclusion

The conclusion will summarize the literature review, describe the implications for professional practice, and provide the key findings that emerged during the research.

Future Research

This section will be completed after the research has been completed and all relevant findings have…