RESEARCH ISSUESSHAWNEE VICKERY, Feature Editor, Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State UniversityThe Center for Advanced Purchasing Studiesby Phillip L. Carter, Director at the Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies, Harold E. Fearon Eminent Scholar Chair of Purchasing Management, Arizona State University
The Center for Advanced
Purchasing Studies (CAPS) is an innovative research center that
serves the interests of academia, major corporations and the
purchasing profession. Established in 1986 as the result of an
affiliation agreement between the National Association of
Purchasing Management (NAPM) and Arizona State University's College
of Business, CAPS' mission is to "contribute competitive advantage
to organizations by providing leading-edge research to support the
evolution of strategic purchasing/supply management."
The founding director of CAPS was Dr. Harold E. Fearon, Professor
Emeritus at the College of Business at Arizona State University and
a leading academic and consultant in the field of purchasing and
supply management. Dr. Fearon, along with Mr. Jerry Baker,
Executive Vice President of NAPM, and several purchasing executives
provided the leadership to launch and the vision to sustain CAPS
during the early years.
From the start, purchasing executives were included as key players
with CAPS. A board of trustees was established with a majority of
the members business executives. This helped to interest the
business community in CAPS and to focus CAPS on the interests of
the business community. The CAPS Board of Trustees, made up of
purchasing executives and academics, is responsible for determining
overall CAPS policies and research direction. Companies currently
represented on the Board of Trustees include: Cyprus Amax Minerals
Company; AT&T; IBM Corp; Eastman Kodak Co.; The Dial Corporation;
Lucent, Lockheed-Martin Corporation; Nortel; AlliedSignal, Inc.;
Coca-Cola USA; Honda of America Mfg., Inc.; Bayer Corporation; The
Quaker Oats Company; General Mills, Inc. and American Express. In
addition, serving on the Board of Trustees are the President and
the Executive Vice President of NAPM, the Director and
Director-Emeritus of CAPS, the Chair of the NAPM Academic Resources
Committee and the Chair of the Supply Chain Management Program at
Arizona State University.
It is certainly no secret in recent years that management has
placed increasing importance on achieving increased efficiency and
cost savings while improving product quality and customer service.
Purchasing professionals have responded to this challenge by
providing management with recommendations about supplier
development, cost modeling, new approaches to buying and other
innovative purchasing practices. CAPS has provided the purchasing
professionals with the critical research data necessary to provide
a solid basis for their recommendations.
As an independent research organization, CAPS provides companies
and purchasing professionals with research and data from a
perspective outside the normal business realm. By making this
information available to all, including faculty and students, at
nominal cost, CAPS' research benefits the widest audience over the
long run. By distributing this information widely, CAPS enables
organizations to avoid duplicating research activities across the
profession.
The director of CAPS also holds the Harold E. Fearon Eminent
Scholar Chair of Purchasing Management in the College of Business
at Arizona State University. The $1,000,000 endowment for this
chair was provided by corporations, by significant contributions
from NAPM and NAPM-affiliated organizations, and by contributions
from many purchasing professionals. The State of Arizona has
matched this endowment through its Eminent Scholars program.
CAPS publishes a research report for each funded study. These
reports are made available at a nominal cost to all who request a
copy. Additionally, copies of all CAPS studies are sent to the
corporations which provide the research funds. Since 1986, CAPS has
published 26 focus studies and currently has eight additional
studies in various stages of completion.
A complete list of finished reports and studies underway is
available from CAPS. A Call from Proposals which outlines the
process for applying for CAPS funding is also available upon
request.
Each Executive Purchasing Roundtable includes an overview of CAPS'
recently completed but not-yet published research studies. These
reports are usually presented by the researcher(s) who conducted
the study. In addition to the research reports, selected
participants will discuss best practices from their own
organizations.
One of the chief benefits of the Executive Purchasing Roundtables
is the opportunity they provide for participants to interact with
purchasing professionals from industries different from their own.
At any given Roundtable an executive from a telecommunications
company may have the opportunity to learn from colleagues in
aerospace or chemicals.
Finally, Roundtable participants are invited to help establish the
research priorities for CAPS for the coming year. This activity
benefits CAPS by providing us with input from professionals who
have a keen understanding of the most pressing research needs
within the purchasing field. Additionally, this exercise affords
Roundtable executives the opportunity to ensure that their
financial support of CAPS is targeted at research efforts that will
yield relevant, practical information.
Attendance at the North American Executive Purchasing Roundtable is
reserved for representatives of companies whose annual financial
support of CAPS equals or exceeds $10,000. More than 70 major
corporations were represented at the North American Roundtable in
Phoenix, Arizona in 1997. Approximately 40 executives participated
in the Asian Roundtable in June 1996 and in the European Roundtable
in October 1996.
In order to collect reliable purchasing performance data, our
researchers meet regularly with purchasing professionals at leading
firms in each industry. The benchmarks for which data are collected
are arrived at by collaboration with purchasing managers and
executives. The published benchmarks are a compromise between what
data are feasible to collect via mail questionnaires and the broad
questions on which the managers would like to see industry data.
Typically CAPS is the only source of this data.
In June 1996, at a Washington, D.C. presentation, CAPS received the
Vice President Gore Hammer Award for helping to develop
benchmarking studies for the federal government.
In 1997, CAPS began benchmarking activities in Australia in
conjunction with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and
the Victoria Government Purchasing Board.
Following the identification of the "Best-in-Class" companies CAPS
will send researchers on visits to those companies to study the
processes by which they achieve their industry-leading results.
Ultimately, CAPS will publish reports on the best practices for
each industry.
CAPS generally funds proposals in the following three categories:
In general we like to fund studies that can be completed in one
year. (This is a time frame strongly suggested by our Board of
Trustees). Our most successful projects include case studies plus
practical recommendations for implementation of the research
findings.
Most faculty have a need and desire to turn research into
publications. While CAPS reports are not blind refereed, they do
get a thorough review by CAPS and industry reviewers before
publication. Many of our researchers have been able to generate
refereed articles from the research, which CAPS actively
encourages. Because the CAPS research reports typically do not
include all the statistical analysis which might be wrung from the
data, opportunities exist for further analysis and reporting of the
research in academic journals. Furthermore, CAPS research projects
can provide access to organizations and data beyond the study at
hand.
Best practice research is another area where faculty from around
the country have the opportunity to get involved with CAPS. After
identifying the best-in-class companies, CAPS will identify a
faculty member to visit each company and to collect information on
their superior processes. CAPS will pay the faculty member a
stipend for conducting the best practices research and writing the
report and will reimburse them for all expenses. Additionally, CAPS
encourages the faculty member to take a graduate student on the
visit to help with recording the conversations and compiling the
information. CAPS also pays the expenses for the graduate student.
We feel this is a great learning opportunity for faculty members
and students.
In conjunction with NAPM, Michigan State University, Arizona State
University, and ATKearney, CAPS has just started a major study to
forecast the future environment for purchasing and supply five and
ten years into the future. This study will be completed by about
the second quarter of 1998 and will be repeated every three to four
years. Our objective is to provide visibility for purchasing
executives as they plan strategic directions for their
organizations.
Last February at CAPS' 10th year anniversary celebration, many were
surprised and delighted at what had been accomplished in ten years.
The next ten years promises to be equally challenging and exciting.
Located in the Arizona State University Research Park, CAPS can be
reached at:
In the meantime, you can find us on at the NAPM Web site at:
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