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

Specific conditions

Recommended previous knowledge

SMF1200 Intro to logistics management

Credit reductions