Procurement and Supplier Selection. Case Analysis of the Procurement of Raw Material and Supplier Selection in North West Europe

The main objective of the study was to analyze the procurement of low sulphur heavy fuel oil and the selection of a supplier from the perspective of the industrial buyer in the bunker market in North West Europe. The study was made as a single case study to find out an-swers to specific research problems. Theoretical framework was based on previous researches and literature regarding both the procurement and the supplier selection. A specific oil industry related Analytic Hierarchy Process model was constructed in order to find out the criteria prioritized in the supplier selection within the case company. The model was tested empirically and the results were valid and reliable. The results showed that the prioritized selection criteria within the case company were related to quality, costs, delivery and past experience. The aim of the empirical study was to find out what kinds of alternatives the case company have to acquire low sulphur heavy fuel oil both in Finland and abroad in 2006. Information about Finland was collected by interviewing experts in the company and by collecting writ-ten material from various databases. To find out the suppliers' resources a questionnaire was sent abroad to 52 bunker suppliers, from which 21 answered. According to the results, the case company's alternatives look promising. There will be several potential suppliers to choose from. Although not all suppliers were fully aware of their strategy, preparation for the sulphur regulation has already begun. Volumes of low sulphur bunker will be increased significantly but the price will be extremely high due to increased demand and investments made in the market. At the end, the most appropriate suppliers were recommended to be selected.fi=Kokotekstiversiota ei ole saatavissa.|en=Fulltext not available.|sv=Fulltext ej tillgänglig