NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
NUS BUSINESS SCHOOL
Department of Decision Sciences
DSC3202 Purchasing and Materials Management
Lecturer:
Adjunct A/P Qi Mei
Session:
Semester II, 2007/2008
Course Description
Purchasing and Materials Management (PMM) is a functional area of management that
deals with supply management such as sourcing, pricing, logistics, goods storage and
distribution, as well as suppliers’ requirements, relation and management in enterprises. It
focuses on the supply system/process of the enterprise.
While organisations buy varying combinations and amounts of raw materials, manufactured
parts/components, and services, they all have to perform this procurement function
efficiently and effectively. In many organisations, the value of purchased goods and services
could account for more than 80% of their total COGS. Therefore, PMM represents one of the
most current frontier available for generating competitive advantages.
The primary objectives of the course are to provide students with an introduction to, and an
understanding of, the substantive knowledge which has developed over the years in the
PMM function area, and to highlight the current relevance and strategic significance of this
function within enterprises. We seek to achieve these objectives through a combination of
lectures, interactive business simulation game, case studies, practice problem sets, tutoriallike dialogues, and individual self-study as well as team work.
Basic Text
Purchasing & Supply Management, 13th Edition, 2002, McGraw Hill Irwin, by Leenders,
Fearon, Flynn and Johnson (LFFJ).
Assessment Methods
Final Exam
Case write-up
Case presentation
Simulation game
Class participation
40% (individual)
20% (group)
20% (individual)
10% (group)
10% (individual)
Case study
Each student will join a group of two or three other students to form a team of three or four
team members. The team will engage in a real case study exercise. The team should select
a real company in Singapore and conduct at least one interview with someone who is in
charge of PMM function area(s) of the company. The outcome of such a case study will be
evaluated in two ways – in class case presentation (individual 20%) and a written case
report (team 20%).
In-class-presentation will be for not more than 30 minutes per team, excluding Q&A. Each
team member should be given a chance to present and to answer to questions/comments
raised by the class. The team should seek to motivate the class about its selected topic(s)
with its selected company through a well designed and delivered presentation. This in-classpresentations will be scheduled over the last two or three sessions of the course.
A written case report is also required of the team. This report is an exercise of the case
writing and it should not be more than 20 pages, double spacing, 1” margin all sides, 12
points Times New Roman font size, and not counting any graphs, figures, or references.
This report is due on the last day of the course.
Simulation game
Each team will engage in a commodity purchasing exercise in a simulated environment.
Outcome of such a simulation game will be evaluated. This simulation game will be
scheduled during the 5th session of the course.