Joint procurement of complex products: actual price savings, perceived nonmonetary advantages, disadvantages and impediments

Purpose Little is known about actual price savings generated by cooperative purchasing and nonmonetary advantages, disadvantages and impediments for the cooperative purchasing of complex or high-risk purchases. This paper aims to explore these topics by studying joint purchasing of pacemakers in The Netherlands. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate the magnitude of price savings, data on individual and collective prices for 18 hospitals was analyzed. In addition, 16 interviews were carried out with representatives of hospitals that participated and did not participate in the joint purchase. Findings Based on quantitative and qualitative data, the authors found large differences in price savings which can be attributed to scale, but mostly to knowledge of the group and renewing a contract in a technology-driven and developing market. Limited product choice – because of an organization joining a cooperative – constrained the attractiveness of cooperative purchasing, as end users may have specific product preferences. The consideration of preferences of end users is important toward successful joint purchasing of complex items. Social implications The authors argue that price savings because of scale are about 7% for smaller organizations and 4% for larger organizations. For smaller organizations with low specific knowledge and capacity for buying complex products, economies of process and knowledge are more important reasons for joining a purchasing group than scale. For large organizations with high specific knowledge and capacity, scale is the most important reason. Originality/value This study combined qualitative and quantitative perspectives, using actual spend data, to investigate cooperative purchasing of high-risk or complex purchases. On the one hand, more insight into the magnitude and reasons for price savings is provided than in earlier literature. On the other hand, more insight is given in qualitative reasons for joining a group and challenges for cooperative purchasing of complex items.

Citizen Participation to Finance PV Power Plants Focused on Self-Consumption on Company Roofs—Findings from an Austrian Case Study

Despite large amounts of available roof space, long pay-back periods for investments in photovoltaic (PV) power plants often hinder PV installations in industrial parks. Photovoltaic citizen participation initiatives (PV-CPI) are an alternative way of financing PV power plants that add non-financial benefits to these investments. This paper analyzed the feasibility of the installation of PV power plants focused on high rates of self-consumption financed by citizen participation initiatives on the roofs of five companies located in the Austrian Ennshafen industrial business park based on the net present value and the discounted pay-back period and compared it to a standard financing scheme, assuming a predetermined interest rate for participants as well as economies of scale with respect to the specific installation costs due to a joint purchase of the PV power plants. To calculate the feasibility, site-specific data and literature input have been used. The results show that despite an interest rate above the current interest rates of conservative forms of investments provided to (small-scale) investors, a payback-period of 17–23 years can be reached while the joint purchase can lead to a competitive feasibility of the PV-CPI compared to an individual purchase of PV power plants.

Procurement Strategies Using Portfolio Approach Based on Options and Spot Markets Procurement

The paper explored the conditions for retailers to implement option contract and the strategies to make joint purchase in spot market. Under the condition of uncertain market demands, a joint purchase model integrating batch ordering, option contract and spot market has been developed. Considering price fluctuation, the conditions for implementing option contract-based ordering have been studied; the impacts of price fluctuation and option execution price on retailers optimal ordering of joint purchase have been analyzed as well. The result shows that if a retailer adopts a joint purchase strategy, certain constraints need to be met. Otherwise, it is more conductive for the retailer to maximize revenues by adopting a single purchase order. When the spot market is involved, the total order quantity and the order quantity of option contract are negatively correlated with the option execution price and are positively correlated with the spot price fluctuation; and, the order quantity of bulk order contract is positively correlated with the option execution price and is negatively correlated with the spot price fluctuation.

Assessing the Borrow Direct engineering e-book pilot

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an assessment of a one-year pilot exploring the joint purchase of e-books via demand-driven acquisition (DDA) conducted by engineering librarians from seven members of the Borrow Direct interlibrary loan partnership. Also provided are observations that may inform future initiatives of a similar nature. Design/methodology/approach – The author presents a case study approach and examination of the results. Findings – The pilot was discontinued as a result of dissatisfaction with its configuration, but it did offer significant financials savings as well as provide accessible copies of mutually acquired titles to each member. The pilot also offered several lessons that can inform future joint e-book endeavors. Originality/value – Multi-institutional joint e-book DDA acquisition has been attempted elsewhere; however, what is unique about this pilot is that it was managed by seven independent institutions without a central legal entity to oversee it. This paper is a follow-up to the author’s presentation at the 80th IFLA World Library and Information Congress, August 16-22, 2014, in Lyon, France.

A Secure and Fair Joint E-Lottery Protocol

The attractive huge prize causes people to adore lotteries. Due to the very small probability of winning prizes, the players can enhance their probability of winning by using the method of joint purchase. In spite of many lottery schemes having been proposed, most e-lottery schemes focus on the players’ privacy or computation overhead rather than support a joint purchase protocol on the Internet. In this paper, we use the multisignature and verifiable random function to construct a secure and fair joint e-lottery scheme. The players can check the lottery integrity, and the winning numbers can be verified publicly.

Joint Purchase Service System Research Based on User Needs

Joint purchase is a new concept that came into being in recent years. It is gradually on the rise and development. In view of the unreasonable information structure about existing joint purchase website.In this paper, by using the research method of Ethnography, the lifestyles and behaviors of joint purchase groups are observed, and attributes of target groups are concluded. Users’ potential needs are tapped while qualitative data are analyzed with SCAT qualitative tool. Some needs’ factors and suggestions are given for joint purchase service system,and prepare for developing mobile application software about joint purchase.