Bristol Business School, The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply and Oracle

Welcome to the I-Series of Research

The aim of the I-Series of research is to produce research that is:

  • Independent
  • Topical
  • Aimed at practitioners
  • Available to all
  • Easy to understand
  • Based on sound academic research
  • Accompanied by a toolset where appropriate

Below, you will see the links to the five current I-RESEARCH projects that collectively have been accessed by over 35,000 people in 32 countries around the world. This is the result of over seven years’ worth of cumulative research.

I-SAVE – Independent savings analysis, verification and evaluation including a self-help toolset providing help when trying to assess the savings contribution/ROI from an investment in your procurement ‘environment’.

I-ADAPT – A study to determine the impact of online auctions on the buyer–supplier relationship. Specifically excluding price-saving considerations and looking at what happens post e-auction in areas such as supplier quality, delivery, reliability and account management.

I-EXCHANGE – Qualitative research into the use and perception of e-marketplaces. Assessing how both buyers and suppliers view them and if they have now developed to become a real consideration in an e-procurement context.

I-INNOVATE – An investigation into the emergence of a fifth stage of purchasing development. This research identified key elements that span the purchasing ‘environment’ and produced a toolset that lets the practitioner benchmark themselves against the leaders in both private and public sectors.

I-RELATE – A study to determine the factors that a buyer takes into account when considering a potential supplier and how the strength of these factors varies depending on the nature of the relationship. The research also has an accompanying toolset that allows practitioners to benchmark their approach by supplier of supplier relationship grouping against our research findings.