Purchasing practices in Saudi Arabia – an exploratory analysis

Purchasing practices of 11 Saudi Arabian corporations were analyzed and compared to a similar study of US‐based purchasing managers. Major findings revealed that training is not highly formalized, provided mainly by outside experts and relies on US‐based professional associations such as NAPM and APICS. In terms of coursework, respondents were most likely to take courses in the Basics of Purchasing and Negotiations. Additionally, professional certification through attaining "Certified Purchasing Manager" status was viewed as very desirable. Currently the majority of these purchasing managers were technically educated but expected that a business degree would become more important in the future. Knowledge about quality practices and price/cost issues were more important than electronic commerce. As a group the top trends they forecasted for their profession were comparable to those forecasted by US‐based purchasing managers.