A portfolio approach in the e-purchasing of materials

Abstract By improving the procurement process purchasing departments are becoming more and more strategic in order to increase overall companies performances. In the last years, web-based tools have effectively supported this trend by offering to buyers useful tools in order to help their activities. Purchasing departments have now to choose the right tool for the right purchase in the right supply market; for this reason it is important for them to adopt a portfolio approach exploiting all the different solutions offered by the technology according to the different situations. In this perspective, this paper identifies four most common purchasing approaches adopted by companies, which drivers are considered to choose among these, and which level of performances companies achieve through the identified approaches. Empirical evidence is based on a survey research involving 162 US companies.