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.

Agricultural Self-Determination on a Regional Scale

Drawing from the civil rights and Black Power movements, a cooperative movement swept the south in the late 1960s to address economic injustice and the lack of jobs. Rural African Americans organized cooperatives to resist the poverty and oppression that spurred northern and western migration, creating opportunities for community self-determination. Founded in 1967, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives (FSC) helped former tenant farmers and sharecroppers develop autonomy. By 1974, the FSC encompassed 134 cooperatives in fourteen states. Motivated to promote and protect Black land ownership, by 1977 the cooperative controlled more than one million acres. The FSC’s agricultural programs trained farmers in areas such as conservation, management, and cooperative purchasing and marketing. The FSC provided technical and financial assistance to the member cooperatives, growing to include initiatives such as credit unions, manufacturing cooperatives, housing programs, and health care centers. The FSC developed mechanisms for multistate collective organizing, engaged in local politics, and lobbied for policies that benefit their member organizations. The FSC’s successes in collective action and collective responsibility threatened white power structures, and white elites responded with political and legal attacks. While harming the FSC, it continues to organize southern cooperatives today, remaining a model for self-determination and resistance.

INVESTIGATING COOPERATIVE PURCHASING PERFORMANCE - A SURVEY OF PURCHASING PROFESSIONALS IN DUTCH HOSPITALS

Aim: Cooperative purchasing is considered a promising area for lowering the cost in the health care sector, although recent initiatives show mixed results. The purpose of this study is to find a thorough explanation for the performance of cooperative purchasing in healthcare by investigating the role of trust, commitment, organizational factors (i.e. group formality, and IT system effectiveness) and interpersonal skills (i.e. teamwork skills, and communication).Design/research method: A conceptual model for the performance of cooperative purchasing was developed. This model was empirically validated using a survey of 88 Dutch hospital purchasing professionals.Conclusions/findings: Analysis shows a significant impact of trust and commitment in cooperative purchasing groups on performance. Group formality and teamwork skills appear to be essential for achieving trust and cooperative purchasing performance. We also found a positive impact of IT system effectiveness on commitment, not on trust. Positive feelings about the group and positive expectation about the continuity of the group can be stimulated through effective IT systems. Since proper IT support is often neglected in many healthcare organizations, management efforts to improve IT systems could truly facilitate the tactical purchasing process of cooperative purchasing in hospitals.Originality/value of the article: Many cooperative purchasing initiatives suffer from conflicts over the allocation of savings, time, and costs. Despite the growing importance of cooperative purchasing, few empirical studies have explored the effects on hospital performance. Our study extends previous research by investigating the relationships between trust, commitment, and the performance of cooperative purchasing (1) and the impact of organizational factors and interpersonal skills on trust and commitment in purchasing groups within a healthcare context (2).

Frog and Toad’s ongoing journey: Cooperative acquisition of award-winning children’s and young adult titles at a multicampus university

Two years ago, we reported the beginnings of a collaboration between Education librarians at two locations within Pennsylvania State University Libraries (PSUL): the Education Library at University Park and the Penn State Harrisburg Library. We described our methods of cooperative purchasing of PreK–12 textbooks and instructional materials, which represented substantial costs and challenges to both locations.2 Since then, we have explored additional ways of sharing collection development tasks, while retaining much of the autonomy that librarians within PSUL prize. This article focuses on our efforts with our juvenile literature collections.

Library and Information Science Collaborations in the Philippines and Beyond

The development of library cooperation in the Philippines, particularly among academic, school, and special libraries, started in the early 1930s and was known under different names (Ladlad, 2003), such as resource sharing, partnership, consortium, linkage, library cooperation, and networking. Libraries usually come together in the form of consortia to supplement existing resources by providing access to information available in other libraries. Through cooperation, libraries are able to withstand the skyrocketing prices of information resources as well as budget cuts by means of consortium/cooperative purchasing. Likewise, library cooperation has proven to be an effective way of presenting smart solutions to common library problems/concerns through communities of practice. This chapter provides an overview of major library consortia in the Philippines. The compiled list is as exhaustive as possible. However, due to scarcity of sources, some active consortia may not have been included in the list. The information provided in this chapter was gathered mostly from published Websites. A comparative study, in terms of aims/objectives and activities being carried out by the different consortia, was also included and can be found at the end of this chapter.

Administrative Preparedness Strategies: Expediting Procurement and Contracting Cycle Times During an Emergency

We assessed whether administrative preparedness processes that were intended to expedite the acquisition of goods and services during a public health emergency affect estimated procurement and contracting cycle times. We obtained data from 2014-2015 applications to the Hospital Preparedness Program and Public Health Emergency Preparedness (HPP-PHEP) cooperative agreements. We compared the estimated procurement and contracting cycle times of 61 HPP-PHEP awardees that did and did not have certain administrative processes in place. Certain processes, such as statutes allowing for procuring and contracting on the open market, had an effect on reducing the estimated cycle times for obtaining goods and services. Other processes, such as cooperative purchasing agreements, also had an effect on estimated procurement time. For example, awardees with statutes that permitted them to obtain goods and services in the open market had an average procurement cycle time of 6 days; those without such statutes had a cycle time of 17 days ( P = .04). PHEP awardees should consider adopting these or similar processes in an effort to reduce cycle times.