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Case Studies in Contract and Procurement Management

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 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

Case Studies in Contract and Procurement Management

Donald K. Hsu
Associate Professor
Division of Business Administration
Dominican College
Orangeburg, New York, USA

Abstract

Harvard University developed the well known case studies approach for MBA curriculum. For
International Management, Thunderbird University is the known leader. Cranfield University in United
Kingdom, also published much work on case studies. Using these publications and the internet search, add
much to the learning of global business and leadership. One of the hottest jobs today is being a project
manager. After the project management course, MBA students are taking the Contract Procurement
Management course. Contract manager works closely with project manager. The new survey indicated that
contract management and procurement management are two of the growing disciplines globally, during the
economic downturn in 2008. MBA students completed real-life case studies as their final projects. This
paper summarized their results.

Keyword: Contract Manager, Logistics, Procurement, Project Manager, Supply Chain Management

Harvard University, Thunderbird University and Cranfield University UK have been publishing case
studies for 20+ years. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Polytechnic Institute of New York and
Stevens Institute of Technology offered the Executive Master Degree program in Technical Management to
differentiate themselves from the traditional MBA degrees. Project Management is one of the core courses.
Since project management is cross-functional, the project skills learned can be applied to any industry.
Companies started to hire project managers in construction, engineering, environment, finance, human
resource, marketing, software or any large/small project. In 2008, project manager became one of the
hottest job titles, with 3,500 daily openings listed on Dice.com, Hsu (2007).

The next hot job title is Contract and Procurement Management (CPM). Year 2008 witnessed the
worst global recession and financial meltdown. Bad news were all over: 90,000+ layoffs on Wall Street,
no CEO bonus, big three auto makers asking for government bailout, toxic mortgages, bankruptcy filings,
banking crisis, exotic derivative implosions, hedge fund companies closed, private equity firms insolvent,
pension/mutual/bond funds down 30 to 80% in USA and many parts of the world.

In the down economy, contract and procurement managers fare much better than other managers,
CNBC (2008). Businesses are interested in lowering costs, so they hire CPMs to review and negotiate the
global purchase of equipment, supplies and services. For import/export business, the cost for international
transport and storage materials makes a huge impact on a company’s bottom line. There is high demand to
hire a supply chain manager and/or a logistics manager to facilitate all transportation and shipping issues.
The four job titles: contract manager, logistics manager, procurement manager, and supply chain manager
are used interchangeably in different firms. At the end of the day, they are all doing the same jobs, namely
to buy from global suppliers or to sell to world customers with the best quality products and the best prices.
Dice.com lists daily jobs for these managers: contract 848, supply chain 177, purchase 141, logistics 98,
and procurement 81.
 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

Since 1996, internet e-commerce quickly became the new paradigm for doing business. For CPMs that
are e-commerce savvy, they will definitely be able to quickly get the bids of global suppliers, buyers, and
all types of relevant information to close deals for the firm. CPMs will play bigger role in those firms that
are doing international business in the e-commerce era for the next ten years.

(A) Dominican College***

In Fall Semester of 1988, Dominican College enrolled 1,400 students when this author joined the
Division of Business Administration as an Associate Professor in Computer Information Systems. It offers
Bachelor of Science programs in Accounting, Computer Information Systems (CIS), Economics, and five
concentrations of management: 1. Financial Management, 2. Human Resource Management, 3. Information
Systems Management (MIS), 4. International Management, and 5. Marketing Management. As of the Fall
Semester of 2008, the College enrolled 1,950. The College is located 14 miles northwest of New York City.
Business is the largest division.

This author taught all courses in CIS/MIS, Hsu (2007). He served as the Director of Business
Administration Division, from 1990 to 1996. Starting in 1992, this author also taught courses in the
International Management area, namely International Business, Global Marketing, International Finance,
International Management and Manage Global E-Commerce. While the majors in CIS/MIS continue to
decrease (Hsu (2007)), there has been a steady increase for students to major in International Management
since 2001.

1. MG355 International Management

In Fall 2008, 23 day students enrolled. Accounting, finance, toxic mortgages, ethics, human resource,
managing culture, marketing, merger/acquisition, and operations, were covered in details, Hsu (2006), Hsu
(2007) and Hsu (2008). They did final group projects covering global business founders/managers in
France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and UK. The
presentations went well, see Table 1.

2. MG 366 Manage Global E-Commerce Projects

Twenty people enrolled in Fall 2008. Ebay and Amazon were the American success stories for e-
commerce. This course covered 7 countries taking the e-commerce to the global level. In the continental
Europe, 60 discount airlines were formed to benefit travelers. There are 27 countries with 500 million
people in the European Union. The discount airline started with just one website doing e-commerce, and
tried to be the next RyanAir or EasyJet. Final team projects involved the comparison between the discount
airline and the traditional airline, covering Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Poland, Spain and UK, see Table 2.

(B) Keller Graduate School of Management*

Keller is part of the DeVry University (DV) system. DV is a for-profit firm that has significant impact
to the University Education community. DV has 90+ locations offering online or onsite courses,
throughout the United States. It trades in the stock market under the stock symbol DV. The price was
$52.77 as of 12/15/2008. DV trains 20,000+ professionals yearly.

The Oracle based DV eLearning platform (eDV), is a very powerful learning tool for both the
instructor and the students. DV eCollege helpdesk is available 24/7 and 365 days, with toll free telephone
and online support. Registered MBA students signed in with the D numbers and passwords. They were able
to preview course syllabus, chapters, assignments and references. Instructor’s screen contained the same
materials, but instructor could modify assignments, create the grade book, and receive assignments online.
Short quizzes using multiple choices and true/false questions were graded by eDV. This feature saved
 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

much time on the instructor part. Threaded discussion questions were displayed on eDV. Students
answered them in the threaded manner every week, and instructor graded them easily. Midterm exam could
be done online if needed. Team or individual project was posted on eDV. The important thing to cover for
the instructor is the terminal course objectives (TCO). eDV did an extensive work in TCO for each course.
Final exam is conducted on the closed-book and closed-notes basis for the entire period, 3.5 hours.

1. PM 582 Project Management System

Project Management Systems introduces project management principles and methods from the
standpoint of the manager who must organize, plan, implement, and control non-routine activities to
achieve schedule, budget, and performance objectives. Topics include project life cycles, project selection
and organization as well as planning, budgeting and scheduling systems. Planning and control methods,
critical path method, PERT/Gantt charts, earned value techniques and project audits, are studied.

Since 1999, this author taught Project Management 20+ times at 10 different firms, Hsu (2006) and
Hsu (2007). Each course has slight different content. Keller’s course placed emphasis on the engineering
tasks such as late start, late finish, early start, early finish and the heavy use of MS Project 2007 Gantt chart
to do two projects. There was difficulty for several students doing the “hands-on” project. One solution was
to do group project. It worked out well. At Keller, this course was taught in March with 8 MBA students
and in July again with 7 MBA students. Student evaluations were extremely positive. Four of the seven
students enjoyed this course so much, that they subsequently enrolled in the next course PM 598.

2. PM 598 Contract and Procurement Management

This course examines processes through which goods and services are acquired in the project
management environment. Topics include contract procurement strategies, legal issues, contract pricing,
technical, management and commercial requirements, request for proposal (RFP) development, global
sourcing, invitations to bid, bid evaluation, risk assessment, contract negotiation and administration. The
textbooks were from Garrett (2007) and Fisher and Ury (1991).

The Terminal Course Objectives (TCOs) represent minimum skills that will be developed or enhanced
upon successful completion of this course:

A Given a project situation, discuss and document the six phases of the procurement cycle and the
impact that procurement has on the overall project.

B Given a project situation, analyze those factors that are important when firms need to qualify and
select suppliers for a project requirement.

C Given a project situation for a major contract, examine the key factors, including risk factors that
affect buyer/supplier decisions concerning contract pricing and the selection of the proper contract type.

D. Given a procurement situation for a major contract, analyze the application of e-Procurement and
other types of supplier bidding models available.

E. Given a situation to solicit a bid proposal, evaluate technical, management, commercial and ethical
requirements, and then prepare a RFP.

F. Given the receipt of a proposal or competitive proposals for a major contract, determine the key factors
used when negotiating an agreement or evaluating competitive proposals and establish a negotiating
strategy.
 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

G. Given a project situation, analyze and select effective contract management techniques to control
contract cost, schedule and performance factors; as well as manage contract changes, contract claims and
contract close out.

H. Given a claim on a major contract, analyze the role of commercial terms and conditions, the uniform
commercial code (UCC) and applicable government regulations on the outcome

The course ran for eight evenings, 6:00 – 9:30 p.m. Grading components were: weekly eCompanion
100 points, major quiz 200 points, MIS Project 300 points and final written exam 400 points, for a total
1000 points. Each week, the TCO was covered according to the outline posted on eDV. Fisher and Ury
(1991) gave good examples on negotiation techniques. It was used for role play in class. Garrett (2007)
provided sound theoretical approach on fundamental concepts. Real-life examples in contracts,
international buying/selling, logistics, and supply chain management, were covered in details.

Using cell phone as a starting point, this author asked the students to compare features and prices.
Then they did role play employing negotiation techniques before they signed contracts with ATT or
Verizon Wireless. Another way was to explain real estate contracts. Buyer, seller, realtor, broker, lawyer all
played different roles in this business. Use the role play in class, going through the detailed process:

1. seller makes an offer via a realtor (seller agent)

2. seller agent presents it to the buyer via the buyer agent
3. both sides continue to negotiate the content and the price of the contract
4. both sides agree with the condition of sale and sign the contract
5. the contract is subject to lawyer’s review
6. buyer places 10% earnest money deposit to the escrow account of the seller attorney
7. buyer applies for the mortgage
8. after two to four weeks, buyer gets the mortgage
9. both sides with their agents, went to closing at the seller lawyer’s office
10. At the closing, buyer gets the deed of the house and everyone gets paid

For the MIS Project, it is important to gain knowledge in procurement, supply chain and e-business in
the global environment, see Table 3. Kung and Gordon (2007) were used to learn the supply chain
management. Sheller (2008) gave a talk in this class, on global supply chain using his firm as the example.
Final projects were done, by focusing on these issues of nine companies: 1. Cisco, 2. Dell, 3. IBM, 4. Intel,
5. GE, 6. Microsoft, 7. Oracle, 8. SAP, and 9. Sybase. They did excellent jobs. Student assessments were:

1. Overall course rating, excellent 4 and good 5

2. Instructor rating, excellent 5, good 4
3. Instructor has a great sense of humor.
4. Instructor always shows up on time.
5. Instructor uses personal experiences.
6. Instructor is very knowledgeable on the subject.
7. Instructor gave great examples.
8. Instructor was very clear in explanations.
9. Instructor made the class very interesting.
10. Sheller, the guest speaker, did a good job.

CONCLUSION

With the down economy, many students were interested in learning real-life management practices.
International Management, Global E-Commerce, Project Management and Contract Procurement
Management courses were taught at two different firms to 67 people. Hands-on approach, in-class team
exercises, homework assignments, role play, use of MS Project 2007, MS Visio and other software,
 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

Harvard case studies, internet search, final projects using oral presentation by a team or by an individual,
will have the best chance of success.

*** Full time position

* Part time consultant

REFERENCES

CNBC, 2008, “Recession Proof Jobs”, http://www.cnbc.com.

Fisher, R. and Ury, W., 1991, “Getting to Yes”, Penguin Books, New York, NY.

Garrett, G. A., 2007, “World Class Contracting, 4th Edition”, CCH Incorporated, Chicago, IL.

Gido, J. and Clements, J. P., 2006, “Successful Project Management”, Third Edition, ISBN#0324594546.
Thompson South-Western, Florence, KY.

Hsu, D. K., 2006, "Global Ethical Leadership", Refereed Program of the E-Leader Conference at
Bratislava, Slovakia, http://www.g-casa.com, ISSN 1935-4819, Chinese American Scholars Association,
New York, New York, USA, June.

Hsu, D. K., 2006, “From Project Management to Project Unlimited”, Proceeding ISECON conference,
Volume 23, $3134 (refereed paper), 9 pages, ISSN 1542-7382, Dallas, Texas, November.

Hsu, D. K., 2007, “Competing with FaceBook, IPod, YouTube: Recruiting Business and Computer Women
Majors; Case Studies and Jobs Review”, Proceeding of ISECON conference, Volume 24, $3313, ISSN:
1542-7382, November.

Hsu, D. K., 2007, “Retraining Engineers for New Skills”, at the “Meeting the Growing Demand for
Engineers and Their Educators 2010-2020” conference, sponsored by IEEE, Munich, Germany, November.

Hsu, D. K., 2008, “Case Studies in Organizational Behavior and Development”, presented at the 10th
Global Leadership Forum, sponsored by the Siberian Academy for Public Administration, Novosibirsk,
Russia, June.

Kung, D. S. and Gordon, L. C., 2007, “e-Transformation: The Restructuring of the Supply Chain of Mature
Business Industry via e-Technology and Strategic IT Deployment in the Automobile Industry”, Refereed
CD-ROM of the E-Leader Conference at Hong Kong, China, ISSN 1935-4800, Chinese American Scholars
Association, New York, New York, USA, January.

PMBOK, 2004, “Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge”, http://www.pmi.org.

Sheller, H., 2008, “China Business Supply Chain”, http://www.chinatownsourcing.com.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Dr. Clare Pennino, Director Business Division; James Ryan, Accel Director; and Business faculty at
Dominican College provided encouragement and support. The faculty research grants and two sabbatical
awards from Dominican College are appreciated. Thank Dr. Michael Hamlet and Brian Porter, MBA,
Campus Dean, Keller Graduate School Management, DeVry University, for the opportunity to teach their
MBA students. It has been a very gratifying experience.
 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

MG 355 International
Table 1 Management
Final Group Project
chart

Group A Topic Group B Topic

Hill Annika Falkengren Guzman Ambani brothers

Ivascu SEB, Sweden Sakvarelidze Reliance, India

Group C Topic Group D Topic

Burgess Ho Ching Johnson Albrecht brothers

McMullen Temasek, Singapore LaRose Aldi, Germany

Group E Topic Group F Topic

Herrera Linda Cook Hamilton Bernard Arnault

Radha Royal Dutch Shell, UK Perrin LVMH, France

Group G Topic Group H Topic

Piasecki Gulzhan Moldazhanova Schmidt Prince Alwaleed

Kingdom, Saudi
Vaccaro Basic Element, Russia Stewart Arabia

Group I Topic Group J Topic

Almonte Carlos Slim Helu Matchett Amancio Ortega

Cruz Telmex, Mexico Slesinski Zara, Spain

Group K Topic

Ciaravino Berlusconi family

Whitney Fininvest, Italy
 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

Table 2 MG 366 European Airlines Case Studies

Group Names Country Project

1 Guzman Germany Lufthansa

Sakvarelidze Air Berlin

2 McKeon Ireland AerLingus

Tekeoglu Ryanair

3 Ieppariello Italy Alitalia

Schmidt MyAir

4 Douyon Czech Republic Czech Airline

LaRose Smart Wings

5 Azuri Spain Iberia Airline

Berrios Air Madrid

6 Craig Poland LOT

Yavaldakis Wizz Air

7 Almonte Belgium VLM Airline

Coaxum Virgin Express

8 Murphy UK British Airway

Smith EasyJet

9 Lunham Finland Finnair

Malchett Blue 1

10 Bernard Hungary Hungarian Airline

Tejada SkyEurope

A. Start with a country, pick two airline firms, one traditional and one e-commerce.

B. Compare the two firms: CEO/founder, company VPs, board members, location,
annual sales, core business, # employees, e-commerce advantage, sample
routes,
fares, major competitor, how is the firm doing today, future trend.

C. Written paper: 9 - 12 pages, doubly spaced.

Oral Presentation using MS Power Point, 13 - 18 slides
12 minute presentation, 4 minute Q& A
 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

Table 3 PM 598 Contract Procurement Management

MIS Project Guideline

1. Research on _______________. Get info on:

a. Company CEO and Senior VPs

b. Company location

c. Company annual sales

d. Company core business

e. Number of employees

f. Stock price and investor relations

g. What are the major products in procurement contract and/or supply chain
management?

h. Is there an E-business that uses #g?

i. What are the features and pricings of these products?

j. How is the company doing today?

2. Write a ten-page (3000 word minimum) paper to include the above items.

3. Use MS PowerPoint, make a 10-15 slide presentation to summarize these key

points.
 E-Leader Kuala Lumpur, 2009

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