INFS 5091 | IT Procurement Challenges and Recommendations for the Next Decade and Beyond | Research

The first assignment is to develop a research paper of 2000 words in size (excluding reference listing). Review either the retail or finance industry sectors and provide an in-depth analysis of IT Procurement (products and services) challenges within and provide recommendations on how to overcome those challenges. (Quality of discussion is more important than the quantity i.e. marks will be awarded to the depth of your analysis, not to the ‘number’ of challenges identified.)

You should be considering the industry sector as a whole and not an individual business / organisation. When identifying the challenges, your research paper should take into consideration the following aspects:

• Procurement’s role in supporting Business Strategy
• Organisational structures within the industry sector
• Purchasing Procedures specific to the industry sector
• Legal aspects that are important to the industry sector

This assignment is a theoretical paper, not a business report. Ensure that the paper discusses and explains the concepts with supporting examples and real world evidence using relevant and substantiated case studies where possible.

It is expected that the paper will contain at least 10 references from sources such as Journals, Conference Proceedings and Books (Citations from general web pages and white papers should not be used). Your research paper should provide recommendations on how to overcome the challenges with enough forethought into the next decade.

                                                                                                                                 

Structure

Your research paper must be 2000 words in length (+/- 15%), well-structured and must contain ALL of the following headings at a minimum (you may add additional headings as required):

1. Abstract (summary of the whole paper)
2. Introduction (Introducing the industry sector with specific examples)
3. Analysis of IT Procurement’s Importance
   1. Procurement’s role in supporting Business Strategy
   2. Organisational structures within the industry sector
   3. Purchasing Procedures specific to the industry sector
   4. Legal aspects that are important to the industry sector
4. In-depth analysis of IT Procurement Challenges
5. Conclusion
6. References

All papers MUST use IEEE structured formatting.  Please refer to Assessment Useful Links for further details.