{"id":1334,"date":"2025-10-13T19:43:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T17:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/what-is-a-purchasing-strategy\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:19:19","slug":"what-is-a-purchasing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/what-is-a-purchasing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a purchasing strategy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_flex_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et-last-child et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_24_24 et_flex_column_24_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>To fulfill the missions assigned to the purchasing department (buying products, services, or solutions under the best market conditions\u2026), a purchasing strategy must be established. Without a strategy, a successful supplier relationship cannot be expected, and the department will likely be at the mercy of events within those relationships. <\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The purchasing strategy<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <strong>purchasing strategy<\/strong> is guided by the pursuit of the function's greatest contribution to the company's overall <strong>competitiveness<\/strong>. Furthermore, it is fully aligned with the general strategy and focuses on the following points, which constitute complementary areas of action:<br \/>\u2022 establishes and validates purchasing-specific objectives; <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Establish the objectives and action plan specific to the purchases<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The aim is to <strong>synthesize company objectives<\/strong> and translate them operationally across all managed purchasing categories.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While easy to say, doing it is a lengthy and relatively complex exercise. Indeed, objectives must be translated into concrete terms based on available resources as well as numerous constraints (market trends, operational emergencies, required and available performance levels, etc.). In practice, this will involve following these steps, some of which may already have been established:  <\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Collect historical expenses by supplier (and if possible by item\/service)<br \/>\u2022 Establish a consistent segmentation for all expense categories. Specializing in Trading: Analyze sales strategy (needs\/constraints\/trends)<br \/>\u2022 Analyze the supplier market by type using Porter's Five Forces<br \/>\u2022 Create a Kraljic matrix for each segment (family and\/or type level)<br \/>\u2022 Create a SWOT analysis for each type<br \/>\u2022 Generate and evaluate improvement initiatives based on given objectives<br \/>\u2022 Create an Effort\/Benefit matrix for each type<br \/>\u2022 Develop a detailed action plan with a schedule, indicators, and reporting <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Supplier policy<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Our company's<strong> supplier relationship<\/strong> policy is geared towards fostering supplier loyalty. To achieve this, the long-term relationship created by this policy must be managed using a performance measurement system for the existing and future supplier panel. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The communication policy<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It operates on two levels:<br \/>\u2022 <strong>Internally, the purchasing department <\/strong>is a key forum for discussion where various stakeholders within the company can participate.<br \/>\u2022 <strong>Externally, the purchasing department<\/strong> implements all necessary measures to ensure the company projects a strong image of ethics and competence in the field of purchasing.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Human resources policy<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In today's economy,<strong> the act of purchasing has become complex<\/strong>, and therefore the profiles of those working in this field are constantly evolving. The required skill level for this profession is increasingly high; we're looking for a rare breed: someone capable of being analytical, communicative, a leader, a negotiator, and comfortable in technical, financial, legal, and quality environments.  <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Therefore, a development plan must necessarily be built with each member of a purchasing team in order to meet all these challenges.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Supplier quality policy<\/h2>\n<p>\u2022 The organization must ensure that the purchased product meets the specified procurement requirements.<br \/>\u2022 The type and extent of control applied to the supplier and the purchased product must depend on the impact of the purchased product on subsequent production or the final product.<br \/>\u2022 The organization must evaluate and select suppliers based on their ability to provide a product that meets the organization's requirements.<br \/>\u2022 Selection, evaluation, and re-evaluation criteria must be established.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Purchasing ethics<\/h2>\n<p>It is structured around three main axes:<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Establishing rules and procedures<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Corruption is a <strong>risk in the purchasing function environment<\/strong>, hence the need to put in place rules, charters and procedures, in order to bring more transparency and maintain the trust of suppliers and customers.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>code of ethics<\/strong> must be formalized with the following founding principles:<br \/>\u2022 supplier evaluation and selection,<br \/>\u2022 upstream supplier involvement,<br \/>\u2022 communication and information exchange with suppliers,<br \/>\u2022 intellectual and industrial property,<br \/>\u2022 frequency of supplier consultations,<br \/>\u2022 contracting principles,<br \/>\u2022 main contractual clauses,<br \/>\u2022 principles for challenging suppliers,<br \/>\u2022 procurement policy,<br \/>\u2022 general terms and conditions of purchase.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2 . Relationship with suppliers<\/h3>\n<p>Fairness must be ensured between suppliers throughout the procurement process:<br \/>\u2022 submission of similar files,<br \/>\u2022 similar requests for information,<br \/>\u2022 equal access to information,<br \/>\u2022 identical negotiation process,<br \/>\u2022 summary of contacts, offers, and negotiations for each case.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. The ethical charter<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Purchasing ethics <\/strong>encompasses all the rules of conduct that we impose on ourselves or our suppliers. This document, distributed to all stakeholders in the supplier relationship, describes not only purchasing procedures but also sets out the ethical rules to which they must adhere. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Transparency is as important as integrity and responsibility. The core principle of the code of ethics is to reiterate certain rules of good conduct. The purchasing department is committed to ensuring these preventative measures are respected.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Some fundamental rules of the charter to be respected:<\/strong><br \/>\u2022 Avoid contempt and cynicism towards suppliers and subcontractors,<br \/>\u2022 Customer\/supplier relationships are established over the long term after numerous and sustained mutual efforts,<br \/>\u2022 These relationships are constantly reassessed through economic and technical vigilance,<br \/>\u2022 Work for the long term and avoid short-term gains that may seem gratifying but jeopardize the future of the relationship,<br \/>\u2022 Keeping your word and demonstrating honesty are attitudes that ensure the longevity of relationships,<br \/>\u2022 Do not build the prosperity of your company on the ruin of others.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evaluate-the-performance-of-your-companys-purchasing-processes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1335,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334\/revisions\/1335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}