An Examination of the Purchasing Function in a Sales‐oriented Company

This article reports on an examination of the activities of a purchasing department in a sales‐oriented company. Amongst the main findings are: a company which has always based its strategy on increasing sales to facilitate competitive advantage should undertake a close examination of the purchasing function in view of its importance to corporate health; the behaviour and attitudes of other departments towards the purchasing function in a sales‐oriented company is one of the biggest obstacles towards improving purchasing department effectiveness and efficiency; and user departments often exacerbate the problems of purchasing by misuse of procedures. It is also pointed out that the reduction in numbers, and the control and evaluation of the supplier companies is fundamental to an organisation′s process of continuous quality improvement.