ASSIGNMENT 3: RESEARCH

REFLECTION PAPER

Dung, Nguyen Tien – s3751299

RMIT UNIVESITY VIETNAM  Procurement Management and Global Sourcing
Research Reflection Paper:

Course name Procurement Management and Global Sourcing

Course code OMGT2197

Student Name Dung, Nguyen Tien

Student ID s3751299

Lecturer Irfan Ulhaq

Submission date 21/09/2020

Word count 1420

 Current Sustainable Procurement
Practices in various industries and
sectors, the case of Malaysia, India,
and Canada

Abstract
Sustainable procurement is an initiative which is preferred by many organisations to
improve sustainable performance in environmental, social, and economic factors. This paper will
study the status-quo practice of sustainable procurement in the construction industry and public
enterprises in Malaysia, India, Canada. This study draws a comparison of three research
articles in practices of SP for the mentioned countries. The status of sustainable procurement
practices is analysed and compared. The paper finds that sustainable procurement practice is at
an early stage and is not fully adopted.

Table of Contents
Abstract..............................................................................................................................2

1. Introduction.................................................................................................................3

2. Summarised comparison of articles............................................................................4

3. Comparison of three countries....................................................................................5

4. Conclusion..................................................................................................................6

5. References..................................................................................................................8
Abbreviation:
SP: Sustainable Procurement
GPP: Green Public Procurement
GGP: Green Government Procurement
CPSE: Central Public Sector Enterprise
GLC: Government Linked Companies

1. Introduction

Sustainably operating supply chain is an ongoing requirement for all companies in

different sectors and industries (Aktin et. al 2015). Swartz et. al (2016) addressed the projection
of new-entry consumers in the market (1.8 billion) in the next 10-15 years. Yet, poor
performance in sustainability is the drawback of company’s growth (Swartz et. al 2016).
Therefore, sustainable procurement (SP) is encouraged by many authorities to promote
environmental sustainability in supply chain (Balfors et. al 2009).

Walker et. al (2009) defined SP is procurement that inconsistent with sustainable

development, e.g. ensuring living conditions, social benefits within the environmental barrier.
Other related terms are Green Procurement, Green Purchasing. In this paper, we discuss the
construction and public sectors which have large influences. Public sector is the major
consumer in the market with substantial expenditure, government organisations spends usually
8-25% of GDP on goods and services (Walker 2009). Michelsen et. al (2011) stated the
purchasing power of public organisations can make significant contribution to sustainable
development. Construction industry also has significant impact on sustainability in Canada, they
account 6% of GDP (Ruparathna 2015). Global construction will increase in next decade in key
markets like India, China, US, top three nations add $4.5 trillion to global growth (Global
Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics 2015). So, the paper will investigate the
current practices of SP in selected sectors and countries, Malaysia’s public enterprises, India’s
CPSE, and Canada’s construction industry.

The paper addresses three research articles that focus on SP in three aforementioned
three countries’ sectors. The paper will start first in the summarised comparison between
similarities/differences of three research papers. Next, the paper compares the context of three
countries in the chosen issue, the current performance of SP. The paper will address findings
from articles to support arguments in comparison/contrast of issue in different countries. The
final part will conclude all the findings in the paper.
 2. Summarised comparison of articles

Articles: Topics cover:

 Topic: Practices of GGP in Malaysia Public Enterprises

- Explore the GGP1 performances in Malaysia public enterprises
(statutory bodies, GLCs)
 Sub-topics:
Article 1:
- Indicate the difference in GPP practices between statutory bodies
(Buniamin et.
or non-statutory body (GLCs2)
al 2016)
- Barriers in GGP implementations
 Methodology:
- Self-developed questionnaire
- Population from procurement officers in public enterprises

 Topic: SP disclosure practices in India’s CPSE

- Explore SP3 performances in India’s CPSE4
Article 2:  Sub-topics:
- Understand CPSE’s operation
(Mansi 2014) - Disclose SP practices
 Methodology:
- Content analysis: dimensions of SP

 Topic: SP in the Canadian construction industry

- Review the current practices of SP practices in Canadian
construction industry
 Sub-topics:
Article 3: - Drivers and Opportunities in SP practices
(Ruparathna et.  Methodology:
al 2015) - Multi-method research by combining quantitative and qualitative
methods
- Three research tools: Questionnaire surveys, Review of
documents, Semi-structured interviews
- Data triangulation is used to combine results

Discussion Similarities:

- All three articles focus on the practices of SP. The respondents in

research methods of three articles have a significant impact in the

1
GGP: Green Government Procurement
2
GLCs: Government-linked companies
3
SP: Sustainable Procurement
4
CPSE: Central Public Sector Enterprises
 country’s GDP and implementation of SP.

Differences:

- There are differences in sub-topics of three articles.

- There are differences in methodology of data collection and
analysis. Article 1 uses questionnaire survey while Article 2 uses
content analysis method. Instead of using one method, Article 3
designs multi-model research method, combines quantitative and
qualitative data from three tools: Questionnaire surveys, Review of
documents, Semi-structured interviews. Moreover, article 3 also
uses data triangulation to merge results.

Overall discussion:

The three articles present a review of SP practices in Malaysia, India, and Canada. The
main aspect that the authors focus is SP practices and other sub-topics are drivers,
opportunities in SP implementation or barriers of adoption as the paper highlighted in the table
above. Hence, three articles have different approaches in research method. Article 1 and 2 uses
a quantitative approach by questionnaire surveys and content analysis while Article 3 has a
comprehensive method to research, collect, and combine the results. The findings from the
articles will be discussed in the section below to compare the current practice of SP in context of
three countries.

3. Comparison of three countries

Country: Findings:

 GPP in public enterprises:

- Government has interest in green technology, eco-products
Article 1: - KeTTHA5 and MoF6 play significant part in green promotion for
Malaysia market demand, goods, and services.
- 50% of goods & services will obtain eco-label in 2020
- Other initiatives to promote GPP: IEGM7, MGD 8

5
KeTTHA: Kementerian Tengala, Teknologi Hijau & Air (Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and
Water)
6
MoF: Ministry of Finance
7
IEGM: The Green Technology and Eco-Products Exhibition, promote green technology, eco-products
and services.
8
MGD: Malaysia Green Directory is developed with GPNM (Green Purchasing Network Malaysia), MIDA
(Malaysian Industrial Development Authority), IGPA (International Green Purchasing Association) to
support green procurement practices.
  SP report practices in CPSEs
- SP reporting practices is in initial stages
Article 2:
- Lack of mandatory reporting frameworks for SP
India - CPSE commits to economic development and country growth
- Dissimilar in report patterns

 SP in Construction Industry
- Lack of interest in SP
- SP is not a fully established concept in Canada construction
Article 3: industry
Canada - Lack of information, methods, and tools available in industry for SP
consideration
- Limited number of sustainability initiatives are considered in
construction procurement

- First, the practice of SP in three countries is in the initial stage. SP

(or GPP) is a new concept in Malaysia while India is in initial
stages. The establishment of SP in Canada is shown to be not fully
adopted due to various factors (interest from companies;
information, methods, and initiatives).
- Second, the framework for SP practices is dissimilar or lack of
criteria. India’s CPSEs reporting practices resulted in unintegrated
approach between 50 firms, in qualitative and quantitative of
Discussion reporting. For Canada, consideration in sustainability criteria for bid
evaluation report is not enough. Environmental initiatives are
focused more than social and economical ones.
- Third, government intervention is the core factor to promote
sustainable procurement practice. As the paper mentioned before
the purchasing power of public sectors or GLCs, the governments’
proper guidelines and regulations, which is agreed by all countries,
acts as the element of improving SP practices.
 4. Conclusion

In conclusion, the paper discussed the practices of SP in different industry and sectors in
three different countries: Canada, Malaysia, and India. The explanation of the Sustainable
Procurement concept with insights from industry reports and research articles. Next, the paper
summarised and compared three research articles for the practices of SP. The topics, sub-
topics and methodology of research and data calculation are addressed with similarities and
differences identification. Among the articles, Canada has a comprehensive research method by
using both quantitative and qualitative data through various tools. They also used a triangulation
method to combine collected data. On the other hand, Malaysia and India relied on
questionnaire surveys and content analysis as a primary source. Next, the paper discusses the
topic of SP practice in three selected countries. Malaysia is the early adopter of SP practices
and the public enterprises performed the practice to some extent: purchasing from local
suppliers. The Malaysian government shows substantial interest in SP with many initiatives to
promote green technology and eco-products. India is in the initial stage of SP practices; the
country has a problem with reporting SP practice because of no framework and dissimilar in
CPSEs’ approaches. On the other hand, Canada is a developed country, the country adopted
SP practices sooner than others. However, the country’s initiatives for sustainability
consideration focused on environmental more prominence than social and economics. The
interest of organisations in SP is reported to be insignificant. Next, the paper analysed the
findings from three countries with comparisons.
5. References

 Buniamin, S, Ahmad, N, Rauf, F, Johari, N & Rashid, A 2016,'Green Government

Procurement Practices (GPP) in Malaysian Public Enterprises', Procedia Economics and
Finance, vol. 35, pp. 27-34, viewed 19 September 2020, Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals
Complete.
 Mansi, M 2014, 'Sustainable procurement disclosure practices in central public sector
enterprises: Evidence from India', Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management, vol. 21,
pp. 125-137, viewed 20 September 2020, Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals Complete.
 Ruparathna, R & Hewage, K 2015, 'Sustainable procurement in the Canadian
construction industry: current practices, drivers and opportunities', Journal of Cleaner
Production, vol. 109, pp. 305-314, viewed 16 September 2020, Elsevier ScienceDirect
Journals Complete.
 Aktin, T & Gergin, Z 2015, ‘Mathematical modelling of sustainable procurement
strategies: threecase studies’, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 113, pp. 767-780,
viewed 21 September 2020, Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals Complete.
 Balfors, B, Varna¨s, A & Faith-Ell, C 2009, ‘Environmental consideration in procurement
of construction contracts: current practice, problems and opportunities in green
procurement in the Swedish construction industry’, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol.
17, pp. 1214-1222, viewed 21 September 2020, Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals
Complete.
 Swartz, S & Bové, A 2016, ‘Starting at the source: Sustainability in supply chains’,
McKinsey & Company, 11 November, viewed 21 September 20,
<https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/starting-at-the-
source-sustainability-in-supply-chains>.
 Walker, H & Brammer, S 2009, 'Sustainable procurement in the United Kingdom public
sector', Supply Chain Management, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 128-137, viewed 16 September
2020, ProQuest Central.
 Fet, A, Michelsen, O & Boer, L 2011, 'Green public procurement in practice - the case of
Norway', Society and Economy, In Central and Eastern Europe | Journal of the Corvinus
University of Budapest, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 183-198, viewed 18 September 2020,
ProQuest Central.
 Global Construction Perspectives & Oxford Economics 2015, Global Construction 2030
A global forecast for the construction industry to 2030, Global Construction Perspectives
& Oxford Economics, London.