Cross-Industry Approaches to Ambidextrous Procurement: A Comparative Analysis of Innovation, Compliance, and Sustainability in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study examines how Bangladeshi firms handle two opposing needs when it comes to procurement: exploiting using existing methods to stay efficient, follow rules, and control costs, while exploring new technologies, suppliers, and ways to be sustainable. This balance is described as procurement ambidexterity. The article compares 16 well-known Bangladeshi companies across five sectors: Agro, fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and ready-made garments. Firms were assessed using two five-level frameworks: the Procurement Maturity Framework (PMF) and the Vendor Onboarding Framework (VOF). Four additional dimensions were examined: digitalization, innovation, sustainability, and compliance. The analysis used Fisher’s exact test, Spearman’s correlation, Kendall’s tau, chi-square tests, Cramer’s V, Mann-Whitney U tests, and the Kruskal-Wallis test.

The findings are mixed. Procurement maturity is positively connected with digital advancements when the full range is used. Innovation-driven supplier onboarding occurs only among firms at the highest maturity level, although not every highly mature firm practices it. Higher-maturity companies also have a broader focus on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) alignment, but this relationship is not statistically significant. Procurement maturity differs significantly across sectors, while the four individual lens scores do not. Compliance is also connected with procurement maturity but does not independently predict innovation-driven onboarding. Overall, the findings suggest that having a high level of procurement maturity is a necessary step towards achieving ambidextrous procurement, but it's not enough on its own to get there.