Modern manufacturing has to deal with global competition, in which customers have high purchasing power. Production efficiency and rapid response to customer demand are dominant conditions for enterprises to stay successful. Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs) are designed to have a modular architecture …

Horizontal collaborative purchasing (HCP) has often been cited as a way for hospitals to address the challenges of the rising healthcare costs. However, hospitals do not seem to utilize horizontal collaborative purchasing on any large scale, and recent initiatives have had mixed results. Focusing on …

Nokia is a large mobile phone company that is struggling to keep up with other players in the emerging smartphone market. The market is very competitive and the products have a short life cycle. Furthermore, a high level of innovativeness is required. In this report the Finnish mobile phone company has …

The contribution of purchasing to the development and growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the overall performance of supply chain has been neither rigorously examined nor empirically substantiated. This paper provides empirical evidence on how purchasing variables (relationship, …

This report was produced within the framework of the RAAK PRP project ‘Veiligheid op de werkvloer’. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used on a daily basis by millions of people all over the EU, voluntarily or as a result of EU legislation. In this report we deal specifically with the textile/garment …

This paper describes a study into consumers' reasons for buying socially responsible (SR) products, such as Fair Trade products and organic meat. As opposed to other studies, we use a qualitative approach based on 25 in-depth interviews and include several different products in the research. This leads …

The benefits of collaborative purchasing are many, yet in the healthcare sector, in particular at hospitals, it is still uncommon. In this paper we identify major impediments for collaborative purchasing, resulting in a first component of our proposed collaborative e-purchasing model for hospitals; as …

The purpose of this report is to investigate the industrial trade networks of Bulgaria for the manufacturing of machines, parts, tools and mechanical equipment. It was assigned by the marketing consultancy KommaNet in order to find out why its main client, the Dutch Centre for Promotion of Imports (CBI), …

The commencement of the Single European market by the signing of the Single European Act led to the foundation of public procurement. Public procurement is the process of purchasing public works, supplies and services by states and their governing bodies in which they have to act transparent, non discriminatory …

After previous research Plus Holding BV has decided to start with the import of the Argentinean beach cruiser. This is a striking and fashionable bicycle from Argentina. The idea of the company is to sell this bicycle via an international export website. On this website the cruiser and all other kinds …