This thesis was performed at Scania's purchasing department of non-
automotive products in Södertälje, Sweden during spring 2007. The
management of the purchasing department of non-automotive products believe
that their internal customers might not have full understanding of what the
purchasing department does. This is a problem because the internal customers
might not use the contracts negotiated by the purchasing department or they
might not involve the purchasing department when making purchases.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how the internal customers'
perception deviates from the purchasing department's perception regarding
the task of the purchasing department. And also to create a communication
package with the purpose of increasing the internal customers understanding
of what the purchasing department does.
The research strategy of the thesis was a survey and empirical data was
collected by using questionnaires and interviews. The communication package
was designed with the result from the gap analysis, information from
interviews, relevant communication theory and information from Scania's
intranet.
The gap analysis indicated that the internal customers might not have
complete understanding of the work which the purchasing department does
regarding the supplier base and activities concerning the supplier base,
i.e. how the purchasing department finds and evaluates suppliers. The
analysis also indicated that the internal customers did not want the
purchasing department to be involved to the same extent as the purchasing
department itself wants, when finding and evaluating suppliers.
The gap analysis also indicated that the internal customers possibly lack
understanding of the fact that the purchasing department has to consider
the
total cost imposed on Scania when evaluating quotations and choosing
supplier. Furthermore the internal customers did not want the purchasing
department to be involved to the same extent as the purchasing department
itself when evaluating quotations and selecting suppliers.
In order to bridge the gaps and to increase the internal customers
understanding of what the purchasing department does, a communication
package was produced. The communication package consists of a power-point
presentation, instructions and a suggestion of implementation. The power-
point presentation was tested in a pilot on a group of internal customers.
Input for improvements was received when interviewing the internal
customers participating in the pilot.
The selection of internal customers in the survey questionnaire was a
problem because no available information covering the whole population of
internal customers was available. The method of selecting internal
c...