For more than 25 years now, Nevi has been supporting scientific education and research in the field of procurement, coordinated by the Nevi Research Committee (NRC). Our joint mission is to raise the procurement profession to the next level for the benefit of society, organisations and individuals. We focus principally on four sectors: the public sector/government, the healthcare sector, industry and the service sector, within which our social themes for the coming period are affordable healthcare, professional commissioning, socially responsible procurement, and future procurement.
Stimulate research and education
We approach the development of our procurement profession from a scientific angle, and for this reason we invest in scientific education and research, academic chairs and doctoral research. Since 1956 Nevi has financed a total of 11 professors, of which Arjan van Weele (Eindhoven University of Technology) was the first. Other former professors: Jan Telgen (Twente University), Jacques Reijniers (Nijenrode University), Sicco Santema (TU Delft), Bart Vos (Tilburg University), Dirk Jan Kamann (Groningen University), Finn Wynstra (Rotterdam University) and Jeroen Harink (UvA). Over the past 30 years, this funding has resulted in about 30 PhD students At the moment, we are involved in funding professorships and PhD candidates at four Dutch universities: Wendy van der Valk (Tilburg University), Fredo Schotanus (Universiteit Utrecht), Frank Rozemeijer (Maastricht University) en Erik van Raaij (Rotterdam University). . Fredo Schotanus and Wendy van der Valk are new in this list. We translate the results of the various studies and the knowledge obtained into applicable theory for procurement professionals and organisations to use in practice.
When allocating funding for PhD research, NRC is guided by Nevi’s social themes, the four sectors mentioned above, and the Nevi Knowledge Roadmap.
Knowledge Roadmap
The Nevi Knowledge Roadmap encompasses four ‘worlds’ based around two axes. The horizontal axis has to do with the future value chain for organisations. Decisions that organisations make in choosing suppliers have a direct impact on matters such as sustainability (Socially Responsible Procurement (MVI)), innovative capacity, risk management, customer friendliness, costs, etc. There is therefore great responsibility and strategic importance involved in organising this well throughout the entire organisation and between organisations (suppliers and chains of suppliers).
The vertical axis concerns the role of procurement and supply management within an organisation. The way in which procurement and supply management are organised will increasingly be determined in a situation-specific manner and will no longer be the role of the procurement department alone (for example, the social domain).
By elaborating upon the four worlds: (1) Buying for better business & world, (2) Smart Supply Chains, (3) Value Chain Innovation & Co-creation, and (4) A New Society/ Economy, we provide insights into and inspiration for the future for both research and practice.
Trends external to procurement
Which external trends do we need to take into account? The change to “Society 3.0” is already underway and we are all already experiencing it on multiple fronts when it comes to digital and communication revolution, globalisation, innovation, changes in standards and values and the new economy. Tomorrow’s successful organisations embrace the changes and assume that today’s world (truth) is no longer tomorrow’s world (VUCA world). They have their sights fixed on their goals and know how to achieve them with the right expertise, information and people. When translated to procurement, this means that agile procurement and other organisations and supply chains will become increasingly important through collaboration and partnerships.
Worlds for procurement and supply chain management
The world of procurement and supply management will therefore need to evolve too. Suppliers play a critical role in this because this flexibility has to be realised together with them through means such as undertaking successful collaborative relationships. In this respect, the capacity of organisations to realise flexible supply chains is an important and strategic success factor for organisations. This is a challenge that we will be tackling in the coming years through scientific research directed towards the practices of organisations and procurement professionals.
IPSERA community
Nevi professors are always present at the IPSERA conference and they consider these meetings very valuable, interesting and inspiring. Check the contribution of Dutch research in the list of IPSERA Best paper awards. Not only Nevi professors attend IPSERA, we also attend the IPSERA Conference to gain inspiration for new purchasing themes.
-
If you would like to know more about our activities or the Nevi Research Committee, please feel free to contact Erik van Assen, e.vanassen@nevi.nl
