Strategic Procurement Management in the 1990s: Concepts and Cases.

In the rapidly evolving world of purchasing, it is quite difficult to get busy movers and shakers to commit their thoughts and experiences to paper. Richard Lamming and Andrew Cox, two highly respected professors at academic centers of excellence in the United Kingdom, took on this challenge with great vigor and success in their new book. To assess the state of the art in purchasing and promote best practices, Lamming and Cox convened workshops at their universities in 1994 that brought together leaders from both academic institutions and cutting-edge companies. The papers presented at these workshops are being brought to a broader audience through this book.

Directed at senior purchasing executives because of its strategic thrust, this book contains a veritable treasure trove of innovative ideas and approaches that have been successfully implemented by leading organizations. Presenting a fascinating blend of theory and practice, vision and experience, the book delivers even more than it promises by pointing the way toward 21st Century practices.

After an introductory chapter, the book is divided into five parts:

A. The Strategic Approach to Procurement B. Lean Supply C. Partnership and Relationship Sourcing D. Network Sourcing E. EDI and Purchasing

Each section begins with a comprehensive, theoretical review of a key concept by an academic writer, followed by a thorough account of its implementation in a specific company from a leading practitioner's perspective.

The book's strength lies in the thoroughness with which each concept is discussed and demonstrated; unfortunately, however, there are weaknesses. The inadequacy of the proofreading is quite distracting; spelling and grammatical errors should have been corrected to improve readability. Another weakness derives from the fact that the selection of concepts to be covered ...