Strategic Sourcing

Procurement is playing an increasingly important role in helping major corporations achieve their savings and profitability objectives. What companies buy has been increasing in importance, size, and complexity, and thus, how companies buy has changed. Leading procurement organizations are exploiting several opportunities to leverage the corporate buy, optimize the supply base, minimize linked costs in the supply chain, and maximize the value of goods and services for the users. These opportunities can be described in a systematic framework of strategic sourcing that is applicable to services as well as materials. With the emphasis on shareholder value growth, industry leaders are turning to new business designs to capture and sustain profitable growth. Strategic sourcing can be taken to new levels and applied to the business designs that will shape corporate revenue realization as well as competitive cost position. By building sourcing process excellence and aligning capabilities with the requirements of the corporate buy, procurement can have a key role in the corporate quest for value growth.