Coping with deviations in delivery times A case study of a Swedish wholesaler managing the late and early deliveries from suppliers

Abstract: Companies are dealing with excessive amounts of data nowadays which is due to the recent developments in the field of IT. Many systems and tools exists to manage the data and transform it to valuable information, if the data is not correct these systems will not be of any help. As a result of this Solar Sverige AB has experienced deviations in their delivery times from the suppliers which is costly, time-consuming and may hurt the firm in the long term. In order to understand what the problem is and to cope with deviating delivery times, performance measurement is suggested as a good approach. The purpose of this study is to investigate how coping with deviating delivery times can be handled at a Swedish Electronics and HWS wholesaler. The research approach for this study is qualitative and the empirical data composes primarily of interviews and observations. The challenges with understanding and managing the deviations in the delivery times will be examined by looking at the purchasing process. The findings provide several solutions for how deviating delivery times can be managed, namely by involvement and evaluation in the form of measuring the performance. Additionally, it is important to involve several functions in this process and not isolate it to one department.