SME’s disinclination towards subcontracting in the public sector markets: an attributional perspective

Purpose This study aims to examine the causes of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) disinclination towards subcontracting in public sector markets. Previous studies have revealed that UK SMEs are reluctant to do business with the public sector through the subcontracting route, but the reasons for this lack of enthusiasm have not been widely researched. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on semi-structured interviews with SMEs competing for public contracts in North West England, a qualitative study was performed, from which several themes emerged. Findings The findings were synthesised into a framework underpinned by attribution theory, to portray situationally and dispositionally caused factors that were used to interpret SMEs’ behaviour. Social implications The findings can guide policy development and government interventions in developed and developing countries, aimed at using public procurement as a policy tool to develop the small business sector. Originality/value This paper contributes in a unique way to an emerging discourse on how subcontracting can facilitate the access of SMEs to government procurement spending. It adds to knowledge regarding the explanatory power of attribution theory – from its base in social psychology.

Brazil's GPA accession will involve costs and benefits

Significance The agreement would open a market of USD1.7tn for Brazilian companies to compete for government procurement contracts internationally, but would also render them vulnerable to competition for Brazilian government contracts from foreign suppliers on equal terms. The process of negotiations is a lengthy one, as well as controversial. Impacts Accession to the GPA could facilitate Brazil’s ambition to join the OECD. Domestic companies’ lack of competitiveness within the GPA could aggravate existing problems with industrial performance. Political uncertainties surrounding the October elections could delay the pace of accession.

The role of e-purchasing in government procurement fraud reduction through expanding market access

This study aims to analyze the effect of e-purchasing implementation on the reduction of fraud in government procurements in Indonesia. This study also analyzes the role of market access in mediating the effect of e-purchasing implementation on government procurement fraud. The study was conducted in all Procurement Service Units (ULP) of cities and districts in Indonesia. The questionnaires were sent electronically to 520 ULPs, but only 120 respondents could be used in this study. In analyzing data, the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used with the support of the program Partial Least Square (WarpPLS 7.0) to examine the relationship between variables studied. The results show that the implementation of e-purchasing directly reduces the level of fraud in government procurements in Indonesia. Other findings of the study also indicate that the implementation of e-purchasing expands market access. The rise of market access in implementing e-purchasing will affect the level of frauds relating to procurement practices in the Indonesian government.

The impact of government procurement and anti-poverty efforts on sales format selection in a supply chain

PurposeIn the presence of government procurement, one important driving force behind a poor farmer entering into sales format agreements is to improve profits. In this study, the authors examine two widely used sales formats, namely resale format and agent format, to investigate how parameters influence the optimal sales format selection and decision equilibriums of supply chain members under the scenarios with or without the buyer's poverty alleviation efforts.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts the Stackelberg game-theoretical approach to examine the interactions between the farmer from poor/rural areas and the buyer.FindingsThe authors find that under certain conditions, the optimal sales format of the poor farmer and buyer can be consistent, which eliminates conflicts in the sales format selection. In addition, with the buyer's poverty alleviation effort, the poor farmer and buyer can achieve the Pareto improvement, which is a win–win outcome for them. The authors also find that the market price in government procurement is independent of competition, which is consistent with practical observations.Originality/valueIt is the first study to investigate the optimal sales format selection given government procurement as a poverty alleviation effort which is in competition with a firm's regular channel.

Application of budget allocation models in the management of investment processes in the context of the digital economy development

Within the study, the use of the public-private partnership mechanism in the management of investment processes in the context of digitalization was argued. The methodological basis of the study was a process approach, which allows to study multidirectional investment actions and the interdependent impact of the investment process, which determines the causal links of the development of investment entities at different levels in the collection of resources, in the conditions of the development of the digital economy. Endogenous sources include financial resources of internal and external origin. Exogenous investment resources include financial resources on loan, as well as budgetary allocations. Varieties of budget allocations include government procurement, concession, life cycle contract. Comparativecreativecharacterization of investment resource attraction models was carried out at the expense of budgetary allocations. In conclusion, they highlight the advantages of attracting investment resources at the expense of budgetary allocations, namely the public-private partnership model as a concession. Finally, it carriesout the comparative characteristic of the conditions of the implementation of investment projects in various models of attraction of investment resources at the expense of budgetary allocations.

A Juridical Review on the Enforcement of Criminal Law to the Violations of Tender Conspiracy Practices in the Procurement of Government Goods/Services in Health Sector

Due to the demand for health care services that is getting higher, making business actors engaged in the provision of health services/facilities also seek to further improve the services they have to meet market demand. Hospitals and health clinics are increasingly diverse in offering health services to potential consumers. So that people as consumers also have a variety of choices to fulfill their needs for health services. The health sector is one of the programs that has a fairly large budget item at this time, namely the health equipment procurement program. The large budget allocation from the government opens up opportunities to be misused if there is no strict supervision from the stakeholders themselves or from other institutions. The health budget that should be used to build public health is actually used to enrich oneself and others which can result in poor service and quality of public health. Meanwhile, one of the basic problems related to business competition in Indonesia is the process of procurement of government goods/services. In the process of procuring government goods and services, some believe that there are still many practices of conspiracy to determine the winner in a tender. This clearly contradicts the principles and mechanisms that have been regulated in Presidential Regulation No. 12 of 2021 concerning Government Procurement of Goods/Services and Law No. 5 of 1999 concerning Government Procurement. KPPU was formed based on the mandate of Law Number 5 of 1999. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the limitations and powers of the KPPU are related to the handling of cases of tender conspiracy which have implications for criminal acts.

Classification of Digital Technologies in the Sphere of Public Procurement and corporate Readiness for Their Implementation

The digitalization of public procurement is a popular topic of discussion in both the scientific and business world. Currently, government procurement of goods and services in Russia does not use the full potential of digital technologies and is at the stage of electronization and automation. Technologies such as big data analytics, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and additive manufacturing are not yet widely used. This article examines this problem from two sides. First, the existing and promising digital technologies of public procurement are studied, their classification is given by complexity, level of application and functions. The directions for the development of digital technologies are discussed using examples in Russian and foreign practice. Secondly, attention is also paid to the problem of organizations' readiness for digital transformation in technological and organizational aspects, taking into account the influence of environmental factors.

Human governance a pathway to integrity in counteracting corruption

Purpose Corruption is a global phenomenon. The 2016 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Report and the 2019 Malaysia National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) Report stated that the government sector most prone to corruption is procurement. The purpose of this study is to explore what drives the government procurement practitioners to commit corruption or uphold integrity. The novelty of this research is it focusses on the human aspect based on a human model which comprises both the physical and non-physical dimensions. It incorporated four theories which are the virtue theory, transaction cost theory (TCT), human governance (HG) philosophy and Al-Ghazali theory of the soul to design the research framework. Design/methodology/approach This approach to counteract corruption is through the inner “Self” (spirituality) and is not limited or bound to processes, procedures, rules, regulations, systems and structures. Findings The findings obtained through the phenomenological method suggest that the Inciting Soul is the driver behind corruption. This happens when intellect (‘Aql) becomes submissive to appetition (Shahwa) and self-assertion (Ghadab) resulting in vice characters. In upholding integrity, Soul-at-Peace is the driver where intellect dominates appetition and self-assertion leading to virtue characters. The HG philosophy is what encapsulates the taxonomy of virtue character. Research limitations/implications This research concentrates only on understanding why corruption happens among those with authority. Nevertheless, this research did not delve into the inculcation of HG. Therefore, the authors would suggest for future research is to explore techniques to inculcate the ability of an individual to exercise all the necessary inner “Self” functions (to curb corruption) without having intervention from an external authority. Practical implications Corruption is a global phenomenon. The 2016 OECD Report and the 2019 Malaysia NACP Report found that procurement is the government sector most prone to corruption. Originality/value The novelty of this research is its focus on the human aspect based on the model of a human comprising both the physical and non-physical dimensions. The theoretical framework integrates the virtue theory, TCT, HG philosophy and Al-Ghazali theory of the Soul.

The SMEs Innovation in Europe

In this article we investigate the determinants of SMEs Innovation in Europe. We use data from the European Innovation Scoreboard of the European Commission in the period 2000-2019 for 36 countries. Data are analyzed through Panel Data with Fixed Effects, Random Effects, Dynamic Panel at 1 Stage and WLS. Results show that the presence of Innovators is positively associated with “Enterprise births”, “Government Procurement of Advanced Technology Products”, “Firm Investments”, “Intellectual Assets”, “Sales Impacts”, “Share High and Medium High-Tech Manufacturing” and negatively associated to “FDI Net Inflows” and “Population Density”.