Management of Supplier Relationship and its Effects on Service Delivery a Case Study of a Public Sector Procurement Department in Ghana.

Abstract

Supplier relationship management is one aspect of supply chain management that can assist organizations to build an effective relationship with suppliers. Effective supplier management does not only reduce cost but could create a competitive advantage for organizations. Ghana introduced the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) to provide solutions to procurement related issues but the Act does not address the supplier relationship issues that can build a long-term relationship with suppliers which can ensure a win-win approach. Against this background, this study is undertaken to provide strategies and benefits of supplier relationship management that assist to improve and add more value to the objectives of the Public Procurement Act 663. Therefore, the main objective of the research examined supplier relationship management and its effects of service delivery, a case study of a public sector procurement department in Ghana. The research designs used for the study employed descriptive and explanatory research designs in the form of structured questionnaire to obtain data from the staff of the procurement department of the hospital. In all, 25 usable questionnaires were used for the analysis of the study. Findings revealed that the hospital as a procurement entity strongly agrees to the strategies identified by Preston (2022) for managing supplier relationship to improve value for money and public procurement performance. Based on the challenges identified, it was recommended that the procurement department of the hospital should make conscious efforts to establish a working environment that foster supplier relationship management advancement in relation to supply partners and also maintain the strategies used in managing supplier relationship. Keywords Supplier relationship management, public procurement, Value for money, Suppliers, Public procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663)