Strategic changes in purchasing: Two main tracks

Abstract Purchasing is going through an extensive process of change, and facing several challenges. In this study two important strategic tracks are identified and the underlying causes analysed. The first track entails an increased degree of purchasing, following from make-or-buy decisions: so-called outsourcing. The second tract entails decentralization of and coordination within the purchasing function. In three case studies, these two tracks have been found to be dominant aspects of change. They can be implemented simultaneously, but their driving forces are different. The companies examined have been chosen to make comparisons between a company within the automobile industry and two prominent companies within other engineering industries. Comparisons show that automobile manufacturers have unique prerequisites for going very far along the outsourcing track, owing to a combination of mass production and an end-product that contains many modules or subsystems. In terms of decentralization of and coordination within the purchasing function, the companies have more similar conditions and changes are more alike.