Procurement information systems: Collaboration to fight against crisis

Abstract

The length and sheer scale of the current economic crisis has surprised managers, who were completely unprepared to deal with such an unanticipated situation. Standing at the heart of their businesses and providing a link between executives and employees, these managers need to limit the impact of the crisis in an environment in which various constraints, unexpected events and social tensions are on the increase. Restructuring and cost-killing are the first port of call, which makes buyers very busy people. However, some buyers are pioneering a new kind of collaborative management which, instead of increasing the pressure on suppliers and reducing risk-taking to a minimum, advocates taking new initiatives that are not aimed solely at maximising profits in the short-term. This article offers an overview of this new, foresight-based Procurement practice. After highlighting recent Procurement function developments, which were largely responsible for the consequences of the crisis, our constructivist methodology proposes to interview 12 buying experts in order to develop scenarios and identify the features of the Collaborative Procurement. The final section then presents: (1) new forms of internal and external collaboration; (2) the roles and specific skills of this type of the "buyer of the future"; and (3) how the globalised economy is becoming an increasingly community-based, collaborative virtual environment. © 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.