FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT (OPM554)

ASSIGNMENT 1: ARTICLE CRITIQUE

PREPARED BY:

NAME: AFIQ NAJMI BIN ROSMAN

STUDENT ID: 2020878336

GROUP: NBO4B

PREPARED FOR:
MOHAMMAD ROZAIDI BIN MOHD SHARI

SUBMISSION DATE:

22th MAY 2022

INTRODUCTION

This study is based on the journal article "New Directions for Research in Green Public Procurement:
The Challenge of Inter-Stakeholder Tensions." In conducting this research, this article focused on green
public procurement. Green public procurement is defined as the process by which public authorities
seek to procure goods, services, and work that have a lower environmental impact throughout their life
cycle when compared to goods, services, and work that would otherwise be procured (Commission,
n.d.). Thus, the reader will be able to see how green public procurement practices relate to existing
inter-stakeholder tensions, which create opportunities to improve environmental outcomes, in this
article.

SUMMARY

Inter-stakeholder tension is divided into three categories: internal, external, and bridging. These three
groups have varying degrees of control and influence over procurement. Internal stakeholders have
the advantage over external stakeholders because they have more control over procurement because
they are part of the company. External stakeholders, who have the ability to influence public opinion,
will be able to influence the public indirectly through multiple social and democratic channels. External
stakeholders can also put more pressure on internal specialists to include green criteria in
procurement contracts. Bridging categories are known for representing and engaging with both
external and internal stakeholders, or as the middleman.

Another topic covered in this article is green public procurement practices. Outcome-based
specifications and process-based collaboration are used in practice. They discussed the potential
benefits of combining outcome-based specifications and process-based specifications in this article.
They also include the two dimensions of stakeholder theory, which are the weighting of priorities by
each stakeholder group and the degree of influence in decision making when designing and
implementing public procurement practices. Overall, this article discusses how the involvement of those
three categories in green public procurement creates opportunities to improve environmental outcomes
due to inter-stakeholder tension.
STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS

STRENGTH

This paper addresses a topic that is focused on inter-stakeholder tension, but the authors successfully
present the results of research on how inter-stakeholder affect green public procurement and discuss
chances to improve environmental outcomes. The authors differentiate numerous stakeholder types in
great depth. The nuances in demonstrating the contrasts between these three stakeholder groups
assist the reader in differentiating and comprehending the concept of each group.

As noted in the opening paragraph, this essay also guides the reader by categorizing each issue
presented in this case study into multiple categories. Aside from that, the author has created an abstract
to outline the goal and objective of the research. At the end of this article, the author lists the
conclusions and limitations on each issue of this case study, as well as their thoughts on future research
on the subject. In this article, the authors also provide several comparisons, such as comparing public
procurement groups to state private sector companies, since each organization serves a distinct
purpose.

WEAKNESS

The author mentions in the beginning of this article that green public procurement has encountered a
few challenges, but they do not explain in detail the main difficulties or challenges in applying this
practice in the later paragraph. They do not go into detail about the principles and costing issues that
public authorities will face when purchasing green products because they are discussing green public
procurement. Aside from that, they do not go into detail about the differences and similarities between
outcome-based specifications and process-based collaboration, and how the combination of both
practices leads to advantages in environmental performance. Finally, the authors fail to mention the
source and degree of stakeholder tension.