Procurement Management

Author: Shen Xiaoqing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: With the advancement of science and technology and the development of social productivity, the world's political, economic, and social environment has undergone significant changes. Especially with the arrival of the WTO and the era of micro-profit, market competition has become increasingly fierce. Facing this new situation of both opportunities and challenges, corporate procurement management must break through traditional thinking patterns and adopt a higher perspective and brand-new approaches to create a new landscape for procurement management. The fundamental idea of traditional procurement management lies in: procurement being a business transaction process of the enterprise, i.e., through comparative shopping and competitive bidding. The purpose of procurement management is to "spend less and achieve more" to meet the enterprise's material needs. In other words, procurement is merely considered as a function of enterprise management. The situation faced by modern procurement management is much more complex. First, the contribution of procurement management to enhancing corporate competitiveness has been recognized by an increasing number of entrepreneurs, as reflected in: after "improving production processes and reducing raw material consumption" and "increasing sales volume and improving sales profit margins" as ways to boost corporate profits, "strengthening procurement management and reducing procurement costs" has become an important profit source for enterprises; second, procurement behavior, as the primary link in the supply chain management system, is now viewed as a strategically oriented activity, playing roles such as price discovery and strategic partner positioning; third, diversified procurement methods (e.g., centralized procurement, tendering procurement, online procurement, just-in-time procurement, global procurement, and procurement from distributors) are closely linked with enterprise informatization, and procurement models based on ERP environments have evolved into an indispensable primary component in the transformation of manufacturing management systems. Therefore, we have organized the writing of the book "Procurement Management." This book not only includes the author's own insights and reflections on procurement management but also introduces new theories, perspectives, and methods of international procurement management. More importantly, it disseminates practical operational methods based on the experience of excellent domestic and foreign corporate procurement management, providing valuable references for corporate procurement managers to use.