course-details-portlet

SMF2010

Sustainable Purchasing and Supply Management

Choose study year
Credits 7.5
Level Foundation courses, level I
Course start Autumn 2025
Duration 1 semester
Language of instruction English and norwegian
Location Gjøvik
Examination arrangement School exam

About

About the course

Course content

This course provides students with an introductory understanding of sustainable purchasing and supplier management. The course focuses on integrating environmental, social, and economic aspects into procurement and supplier management processes.

Students will learn about:

  • the scope of definitions and sustainable purchasing.
  • role of purchasing in the supply chain context.
  • the sustainable purchasing process.
  • purchasing strategy and strategic purchasing.
  • Innovative procurement with focus on pre-commercial procurement (PCP) and public procurement of innovation (PPI).
  • purchasing and supply organizations and structures.
  • negotiation strategy and tactics.
  • ethical sourcing and different types of sourcing strategies.
  • sustainable public procurement & competitive bidding processes.
  • supplier positioning tools and supplier preferencing models.
  • buyer-supplier interface management.

Learning outcome

In this course the students shall learn about the theory and methods in sustainable procurement and supplier relationships management which ensure that firms build value chains that are robust economically, socially and environmentally.

Knowledge

At the end of this course, students will have:

  • knowledge about the importance of sustainable purchasing.
  • knowledge of purchasing role in ensuring economic, environmental, and social impact of organizations.
  • knowledge of sustainable procurement frameworks and standards such as ISO20400, IS4001, UNSDGs etc.
  • knowledge of ethical and sustainable sourcing practices.
  • knowledge of sustainable innovation and co-creation with suppliers.

Skills

Students should be able to:

  • develop sustainable procurement and supplier policies for a firm.
  • develop criteria for supplier evaluation that considers economic, social and environmental requirements.
  • evaluate supplier offers which among other criteria consider environment requirements.
  • use negotiation strategies to influence sustainable practices among suppliers of the firm.

General competence

Students should be able to apply knowledge and skills to:

  • design supply chain strategies that align with the organization’s sustainability goals.
  • make informed procurement decisions that balance cost, quality, and sustainability goals of an organization.
  • lead sustainability projects in procurement and with an organization’s supplier base.

Learning methods and activities

  • Lectures
  • Case studies
  • Guest lectures
  • Role-playing scenarios

Compulsory assignments

  • Oblig 2
  • Oblig

Further on evaluation

  • There is a re-sit exam in August. The re-sit exam may be changed to an oral exam.
  • Previously approved compulsory coursework requirements will be valid for subsequent exam attempts, unless significant changes have been made to the course content.

Specific conditions

Admission to a programme of study is required:
Logistics Management (BLOG)

Credit reductions

Course code Reduction From
TLOG2006 7.5 sp Autumn 2020
This course has academic overlap with the course in the table above. If you take overlapping courses, you will receive a credit reduction in the course where you have the lowest grade. If the grades are the same, the reduction will be applied to the course completed most recently.

Subject areas

  • Organization and Leadership
  • Operations Management
  • Economics and Administration

Contact information

Course coordinator

Lecturers

Department with academic responsibility

Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management

Examination

Examination

Examination arrangement: School exam
Grade: Letter grades

Ordinary examination - Autumn 2025

School exam
Weighting 100/100 Examination aids Code H Date 2025-12-05 Time 09:00 Duration 4 hours Exam system Inspera Assessment
Place and room for school exam

The specified room can be changed and the final location will be ready no later than 3 days before the exam. You can find your room location on Studentweb.

Smaragd
Room S411
26 candidates

Re-sit examination - Summer 2026

School exam
Weighting 100/100 Examination aids Code H Duration 4 hours Exam system Inspera Assessment Place and room Not specified yet.