Future Trends in Purchasing

Solution Preview

Future Trends in Purchasing

E- business (electronic business), derived from such terms as "e-mail" and "e-commerce," is the conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. Today, major corporations are rethinking their businesses in terms of the Internet and its new culture and capabilities. Companies are using the Web to buy parts and supplies from other companies, to collaborate on sales promotions, and to do joint research. Exploiting the convenience, availability, and world-wide reach of the Internet, many companies have already discovered how to use the Internet successfully.

Long-term veterans of supply chain management likely recall the days 30 years ago when they were called "purchasing agents" or "traffic managers" and did nothing but "buy stuff." Today, of course, that has all changed. In fact, there is very little that takes place in organizations today that supply management professionals aren't involved in. The future holds even more changes and advances for people involved in the sourcing and procurement functions, especially in the areas of globalization, supply chain technology, and supplier relationships. If there's one fact on which nearly every business publication, management scholar, and consulting firm can agree, it's that e-business has become a competitive imperative.
E-business is changing nearly every business process across all industries and services in such diverse functions as building brand power, reducing costs, improving efficiency, and servicing and understanding end users. It's widely recognized that, whatever industry they're in, organizations that fail to consider the impact of electronic channels on their buying, selling, manufacturing, and distribution, communications, and management processes will fall behind their competitors as the global marketplace changes.

The rapid growth of the internet commerce in recent years presents established businesses with a serious dilemma. On the one hand, they can stick with the business model that has worked for them for the last number of years. On the other hand, they can make the shift to serious eBusiness. Choosing to stand pat is usually much easier in the short term. But in the longer term this almost certainly means they will be left behind by technology, and lose many of their most important clients to more aggressive competitors.

Shifting to eBusiness may involve committing substantial resources to developing a new game plan. That usually means refining product lines to make them easier to sell online, upgrading computer systems and websites, and training personnel at all levels to be more web savvy. It also means developing or hiring staff to handle the administration of new marketing, sales, and delivery systems, and working with outside consultants and service providers to handle the technical aspects of the new ...