Strategic Purchasing Roadmap

Purchases from external suppliers represent 20% and up to 80% of companies' total revenue and keeping these expenses down is a critical issue for global financial performance and competitiveness.

As a result, the requirements of Executive Management with respect to the Purchasing Function have greatly increased over the past few years. The Purchasing department must prove that it can have a positive impact on product quality and innovation, and also EBIT or working capital, and that it is contributing to decision-making regarding the company's strategic investments.

The argument put forward in this work is clear: the Purchasing Function is no longer a "support function" that simply carries out purchase requests. It is now a " Business & Financial Partner " of Executive Management, and it must substantially contribute to crafting and implementing strategy, and to financial steering, risk management, and value creation.

It must be part in the company's key decisions , which mainly rely on financial criteria , and work across all functions with the other Functional and Operational divisions.

The Purchasing Function should serve as an active contributor to the company's competitiveness, on equal footing with the other functions.

This book is intended for Purchasing departments as well as Executive Management and Finance departments that wish to successfully transform the Purchasing Function into a strategic driver for performance and value creation for their company.

Its aim is to provide the reader with a clear and concrete 7-step method to implement in order to make the changes expected by Executive Management and stakeholders, and thus holds the keys to writing Purchasing’s new roadmap to success.