Supplier Relationship Management Practices of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA’s) in Ghana (Supplier Perspective): (A Case of Ghana Highway Authority)

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Date
November 2015
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Abstract
There are different dependence structures within the supply chains of most business entities ranging from adversarial through transactional to long-term strategic partnership agreements. Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) is a form of strategic collaboration that creates synergy by achieving vertical and virtual integration between two supply chain actors. Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) in Ghana are required to take advantage of opportunities that are available in adopting Supplier Relationship Management Practices as a concept for business growth. The concept is about determination to communicate the needs and expectations to a supplier and, measure performance to invoke actions for compliance. Buyers try to develop suppliers by supporting them technically and financially by first rationalizing their supplier base, involve them early at product design stage and continuously measure their performance. Several developing countries have realized that a well-organised SRM system contributes to good governance. The study therefore seeks to investigate Supplier Relationship Management practices in the Ghana Highway Authority; a department under the Ministry of Roads and Highways in charge of the construction and maintenance of reliable trunk road network to support economic activities, minimize road accidents and save lives. The survey was carried out on eighty (80) respondents, made up of personnel from GHA, Private road contractors and consultants who are in charge of GHA projects. The study used primary and secondary data collection methods for the research. A three section questionnaire was designed and distributed to the respondents, after which unstructured interviews were conducted to classify doubts about answering to some question. The following specific objectives were expected to be achieved; To identify means of making SRM part of GHA’s organizational goals and objectives, benefits to achieve and limiting factors against successful SRM implementation. The study revealed that most people from the GHA did not understand the concept and a large number were not aware of Supplier Relationship Management. Some respondents were even not in support of the idea of investing in the suppliers business. The following recommendations were made among others: That Top management gives the concept that support required to provide influence and direction. Formal training needs to be provided and career development programmes be put in place which in the long term can help both parties. Suppliers are supposed to be contacted at the engineering phase of designing before starting pre-production. It further recommends that for a start a small portion of the company’s business should be considered for SRM programmes. It is also recommended that those suppliers who produce superior performance that exceed targets must be rewarded.  
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A dissertation Submitted to the Department of Building Technology, College of Art and Built Environment in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in Procurement Management, 2015
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