OPRE 6371 501: Purchasing, Sourcing and Contract
Management
Professor Elena Katok
Term Fall 2014
Meetings Thursday 4-6:45, JSOM 1.101
Course

Professor’s Contact Information
Office Phone
Office Location
Email Address
Office Hours
Other
Information
Teaching
Assistant
Office Phone
Office Location
Email Address
Office Hours

972-883-4047
JSOM 3.201 ekatok@utdallas.edu Monday and Wednesday 4-5:30 and by appointment
The best way to contact me is by email. If you call my phone and I am not there, do not leave voice mail—send email.
Wei Chen
972-883-4807
MC 1.406R wxc103020@utdallas.edu by appointment

General Course Information
Pre-requisites,
Co-requisites,
& other restrictions OPRE 6301 is preferred as a pre-requisite, and should at least be taken concurrently. You should be comfortable using basic Excel.

Costs associated with purchasing materials often account for as much as 80% of the final product cost. This means that even a small decrease in these costs can have a significant impact on the bottom line. Procurement involves a constant tension between decreasing costs and
Course
establishing cooperative relationships. Throughout this course we will be grappling with these
Description
two opposing forces. We will be examining competitive and cooperative situations in a variety of supply chain settings in which performance depends on the interactions between a variety of decision makers, including customers, suppliers, competitors, and government regulators.
After completing this course:
• Students should be able to list the steps of the strategic sourcing process in the correct order.
• Students should be able match the appropriate sourcing strategy to a product or service.
• Students should be able to analyze strategic interactions involved in purchasing and sourcing using simple game-theoretic models.
• Students should be able to apply conceptual models to the make vs. buy decision and use this analysis to propose make vs. buy recommendation.
• In a distributive negotiation, students should be able to calculate BATNA and reservation
Learning
prices.
Outcomes
• Students should be able to name the four major types of procurement auction mechanisms.
• For each of the four procurement auction mechanisms, students should be able to describe
(in writing) the optimal bidding strategy.
• Students should be able to define the following the following components of a procurement auction: o Reservation price o Activity rule o Ending rule o Jump bidding o Proxy bidding

•
•
•

Required
Texts &
Materials

Students should be able to list at least five major metrics for evaluating suppliers.
Students should be able to recognize and name at least three different obstacles to collaboration between buyers and suppliers.
For each obstacle to collaboration, students should be able to propose in writing, a recommended solution.

1. Course packet containing cases available electronically https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/28152880 through

HBS

portal:

2. Course eLearning web site contains lecture notes, readings, and other materials.

Assignments & Academic Calendar
Lecture Content

In-class
Assignments

Wk

Date

1

08/28/14

Course introduction
Strategic Sourcing Process

Simple Games
Survey

2

09/04/14

Understanding strategic thinking
Lesser Case Discussion

Pricing
Simulation
Strategy
Presentations

3

09/11/14

4

09/18/14

5

09/25/14

6

10/02/14

7

10/09/14

8

10/16/14

9

10/23/14

10

10/30/14

Negotiations

Grays.com
Negotiation

11

11/06/14

Managing Long-Term
Relationships

F-100
Simulation

12

11/13/14

Auctions and Negotiations in complex markets

Spectrum

Collaborative Forecasting
Henkel Case Discussion

The
Collaborative
Forecasting
Game

13

11/20/14

11/27/14
14

12/04/14

Before you Source

Strategy Vignettes presentations
Strategic Sourcing process
Eagle Industries case discussion
Sourcing Channels
Supplier evaluation
Make vs. Buy

While you Source

After you Source

Scotts Case Discussion
Cost Modeling