DELPHI STUDIES ON FUTURE COMPETENCES FOR INNOVATIVE AND SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT
The Delphi study aims to identify future skills and competencies for PSM to contribute effectively to innovation and sustainability. Based on the findings of the first intellectual output (IO1) Theoretical Framework and second output (IO2) Expert Discussion, the Delphi Study validates and completes the emerging skills and competences framework.
The first round of the study consisted of eleven open-ended questions that were distributed to senior PSM professionals spanning multiple sectors, including professionals in manufacturing and service organizations as well as academic institutions, consultancies and non-governmental organizations.
The results of the first round of the Delphi Study show that the anticipated changes in the future business environment most significantly concern the application of digital technologies, increasing supply chain flexibility and transparency, sustainability impacts, and the need to develop internal and external business skills to be able to master these predicted changes.
The second round for the Delphi study comprised only closed questions, with the final question being the exception, which allowed for any further comments from the participants. The questionnaire consisted of eight questions, the first four of these asking again for demographical details. Questions five to seven were comprised of three different scenarios developed to help the participants to envision a potential procurement situation in the future and how they would rate 17 different skills identified in round 1 for each scenario on a 5 point Likert scale.
The results reveal that the anticipated changes in the future business environment predominantly concern the application of digital technologies, increasing supply chain flexibility and transparency, sustainability performance, and a need to build soft skills related to interpersonal relationships, as well as hard skills, related to supply chain design.
