When should purchasing be centralised?
3 April 2012
Q: I am head of purchasing in a business within a large group of companies. I met the new finance director and she thinks we should centralise purchasing for the whole group. Is this a good idea?
A: Peter Smith, director of Shreeveport Procurement Services and former group purchasing director at NatWest, writes: The obvious answer is “it depends”. Every organisation is different and each needs an appropriate purchasing organisation that suits the overall business strategy and culture. In my experience, for instance, centralised purchasing won’t work in...