Initial purchasing decisions such as make-or-buy decisions and supplier selection are decisions of strategic importance to companies. The nature of these decisions usually is complex and unstructured. Management Science techniques might be helpful tools for this kind of decision making problems. So far, however, the application of outranking methods in purchasing decisions has not been suggeste...

Web-enabled applications for business-to-business (B2B) procurement are not only expected to reduce the cost of purchasing process but also to alter the activities of purchasing, transform the purchasing process from an operational into a strategic activity, and provide opportunities for improving market coordination by reducing asset specificity and by making additional partners available. Fro...

Multi-site organizations must balance conflicting forces to determine the appropriate degree of purchasing centralization for their respective supplies. The ability to garner quantity discounts represents one of the primary reasons that organizations centralize procurement. This paper provides methodologies to calculate optimal order quantities and compute total purchasing and inventory costs w...

Introduction All health systems exercise some form of purchasing, which, in its most basic form, constitutes the allocation of funds to provider organizations. When purchasing goes beyond the simple reimbursement of products and services and is aligned to societal healthcare needs and wishes, it has the potential to play a key role in determining a health system’s overall performance. However, ...

Strategic purchasing is one of the key policy instruments to achieve the universal health coverage (UHC) goals of improved and equitable access and financial risk protection. Given favourable outcomes of Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), this study synthesized strategic purchasing experiences in the National Health Security Office (NHSO) responsible for the UCS in contributing to achieving UHC g...

Increasingly sophisticated consumers have learned to anticipate future price reductions and forego purchasing products until markdowns occur. Such forward-looking or strategic behavior on the part of consumers can have a signi…cant impact on retail margins by shifting a large number of sales from higher, “full” prices to lower, “clearance” prices. Some …rms, however, have become adept at dealin...

value chain. The increasing emphasis on reduced cost and improved quality, on faster product development through cross-functional teams, and on closer buyersupplier relationship, are changing their perception of purchasing. Purchasing has a role in corporate strategy and together with suppliers; it can play a strategic role in achieving sustainable competitive advantage in rapidly changing mark...