The importance of a supply chain perspective in procurement decisions
The concept of procurement, the acquisition of goods or services, have been around for thousands of years. While the objectives have not changed dramatically, the ability to acquire a product or service at lowest possible costs while meeting the buyer’s needs in terms of quality, quantity and time, has become increasingly complex. Similarly, the fundamentals of the supply chain have been deployed since prehistoric hunter/gatherer times although the objectives have moved well beyond survival and are now congruent in many ways with those of procurement namely to meet customers’ needs in terms of quality, quantity and time whilst minimizing, transport, storage, and working capital costs.
