ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT AND COST MANAGEMENT IN THE TELECOM INDUSTRY IN UGANDA: A CASE STUDY OF AIRTEL UGANDA

Abstract

The study sought to examine the relationship between electronic procurement management and cost management in telecommunication industry using a case study of Airtel Uganda. The specific objectives were to examine the effect of e-procurement planning, e-supplier selection and e-contract administration on cost management and find the moderating effect of e-procurement environment on e-procurement management and cost management. The study was carried out using cross sectional case study design employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The sample size was 202 respondents from a study population of 360 but response was got from 134 respondents, which was a 66% response rate. Simple random sampling, stratified sampling and purposive sampling were used to select the respondents. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (correlation, coefficient of determination and regression). Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Findings revealed a positive strong relationship between e-procurement planning and cost management, a weak positive relationship between e- supplier selection and cost management, a moderate positive relationship between e-contract administration and cost management and that e-procurement environment weakened the effect of e-procurement planning on cost management while it strengthened the effect of e-supplier selection and e-contracts administration on cost management. It was concluded that e-procurement management had a significant effect on cost management at Airtel Uganda. It is recommended that to improve cost management at Airtel Uganda, the telecommunication company should improve its e-procurement planning, e-supplier selection, e-contract administration, internal environment, market environment and in conjunction with the government and Uganda Communications Company (UCC) improve the legal environment and political environment.