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Closing Case: The University of Sheffield’s E-Tendering System 133

(f) Enter sa.alibaba.com and watch the video about sup- 9. View the video “Panel Discussion on Collaborative
plier assessment at Alibaba.com (3:31 min); summa- Commerce (Pt.1) @ Ariba LIVE 2011” (12:36 min) at
rize its content. youtube.com/watch?v=bucxXpDvWDI. (Part 2 (11:11 min)
(g) Watch the video titled “e-Riches 2.0—The Best at youtube.com/watch?v=dV_KUJ0eVuE is optional.)
Online Marketing Book by Scott Fox” (6:18 min) at Answer the following questions:
youtube.com/watch?v=6O747UHN9Mw. What have (a) What benefits do the buyers see? Relate these bene-
you learned from this video? fits to collaborative commerce.
2. Each team should explore a different social networking (b) How is EC used to support c-commerce?
B2B activity and prepare a summary paper for a class pre- (c) How can buyer/supplier relationships be fostered
sentation. The paper should include the following about with c-commerce?
the activity or method: (d) Run a similar panel discussion in class. If possible,
(a) The mechanisms and technologies used ask large buyers to attend and take part.
(b) The benefits to buyers, suppliers, and others (if (e) How is bringing business partners online accom -
applicable) plished?
(c) The limitations to buyers, suppliers, and others (if (f) What role does Ariba play? (Check its website ariba.
applicable) com.)
(d) The situations for which each method is recom- (g) What have you learned from this video about the ben-
mended. Hint: Look at Leake et al. (2012), and ven- efits of c-commerce and e-commerce?
dors’ products.
3. Each team finds a global B2B intermediary that competes
with alibaba.com (e.g., globalsources.com). Prepare a CLOSING CASE: THE UNIVERSITY
list of services available to sellers and to buyers from both OF SHEFFIELD’S E-TENDERING SYSTEM
Alibaba.com and your chosen competitor.
4. Enter amazon.com/Amazon-Business-Tour/dp/B00W The University of Sheffield in Sheffield, England (sheffield.
N5U03W and view the video tutorial. Also explore the ac.uk), is a leading large public teaching and research insti-
site. Describe the benefits to manufacturers and distribu- tute with over 25,000 registered students and over 5300 staff
tors as well as customers. (see sheffield.ac.uk/about/facts).
5. Enter ariba.com and find out what its software solutions The University’s research output is recognized all over
such as Ariba Commerce Cloud can do to facilitate inter- the world. Despite its excellent reputation, it operates on a
enterprise commerce. Also examine the company’s solu- tight budget. One area where the university saved a consider-
tion for sourcing, procurement, and contract management. able amount of money was in procurement.
Present your findings to the class. Due to its research activities, the university purchases over
6. View the slide presentation “Vision 2020: Ideas for £110 million of supplies a year from about 12,000 suppliers,
Procurement in 2020 by Industry-Leading Procurement of which 4500 are regular. The university needed an elec-
Executives” by Oka and 13 other procurement executives tronic system in order to minimize procurement delays, stan-
(2011) available at slideshare.net/Ariba/vision2020- the dardize processes across all departments, and reduce potential
futureofprocurement. Each team analyzes the ideas of errors. In addition, the administrative expenditures (e.g.,
several contributors and presents the highlights to the postal cost, employees’ time, photocopying) were very high.
class. As of 2005, the university has enhanced an e-tendering sys-
7. Watch the video titled “eProcurement Case Study: tem as part of its government mandated e-procurement
HOYER Group” (3:44 min) at youtube.com/watch?v=B system.
FaJPeDQyIs&noredirect=1. Answer the following
questions.
(a) What problems did the Hoyer Group face? The E-Tendering Initiative
(b) What were some of the software requirements?
(c) How did they evaluate the software? What criteria did The objective of the procurement department, which initi-
they use? ated the e-tendering initiative, was and still is to support the
(d) What have you learned from the video? university in attaining its mission. The initiative must also
8. The class researches Ariba’s supplier network and com- comply with public procurement regulations. The system
pares it to several similar networks (e.g., to IBM was built with software called in-Tend (a standard European
Sterling B2B Collaboration Network). Each team Union tendering tool) in collaboration with users, suppliers,
examines one comparison and makes a presentation to the staff of the procurement department, and the IT develop-
the class. ment team.