A Portfolio Approach to Purchasing Strategies

In the last 30 years the role of
purchasing has changed dramatically, from a clerical,
administrative function into a strategic function that
contributes to the competitive advantage. Companies need a
variety of supplier relationships. In a seminal paper
Kraljic (1983) introduced a portfolio approach for the
development of appropriate purchasing and supplier
strategies. In contrast with an ever increasing adoption of
purchasing portfolio models, there are many unanswered
questions concerning the theoretical foundations and the
practical possibilities. This book reports on an extensive
research to the foundations, the usefulness and the
possibilities of the purchasing portfolio approach. The
book provides a state of the art knowledge on purchasing
portfolio models, informing and (preferably) inspiring a
broad international, academic audience. In addition, the
book introduces and describes a practical (research- based)
outline for the application of the portfolio analysis,
covering the main questions and issues that have to be
addressed in practice. Therefore, the audience for this
book are academic readers and business practitioners.