ABSTRACT

Specification is one of the most strategic areas in the supply chain. Research has supported the argument that a firm is as good as its products, to support this notion an organization without a competent specification, its competitive edge in the supply chain is hampered significantly (Lysons and Farrington, 2006).

This abstract provides a preview of a paper which documents the assessment of the impact of specifications on procurement performance and show cases why procurement can act as a catalyst for economic development. Information about this is obtained from books, magazines and journals that report on impact of specification on procurement and most important on a case study of Kenya Power Company (KP). The later was chosen due to its high volumes of purchases for both goods and services.

Kenya Power limited procurement department has been using various specifications so as to be able to source the right materials. Use of appropriate specifications has led to some improvements in procurement performance but they have not yet realized the full impact of specification on procurement performance.

The key findings are presented based on respondents in two categories, category A and Category B. Category A been those directly involved in procurement. In regard to the impacts of specifications on procurement performance, 87% and 90%, of respondents in category A and B respectively advocated that performance specification led to quality improvement, supplier innovations, additional value adding services and short lead times hence improvement of procurement performance while 91% and 93% of respondents in category A and B respectively advocated that conformance specification discourages innovations, increases cost and causes difficulties in preparing specification documents thus affecting procurement performance negatively. Both categories concurred that hybrid specifications have a positive impact on procurement performance while brand specification has negative impact on the same.

Keywords: Specifications, performance specification, conformance specification, hybrid specification, brand name specification

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