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The focus of this paper is on purchasing and supplier involvement in the firm. Using the resource‐base view of the firm, hypotheses are developed concerning purchasing/supplier involvement, strategic purchasing and firm’s financial performance. A model of the hypothesized relationships is offered and empirically tested using structural equation modeling. The model is tested using data collected in 1999. Each factor in the model is measured by a number of scale items. Based on the results of confirmatory factor analysis, an overall fit of the model to the data is achieved. Both convergent and discriminate validity is demonstrated. The research findings reveal that the hypotheses tested in the model are supported. Purchasing/supplier involvement has a positive impact on strategic purchasing, and strategic purchasing has a positive impact on firm’s financial performance. The paper concludes with some research implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.

Strategic discontinuities in growth and profitability over the past decade suggest that, for the most part, the traditional planning models employed by American industry are less than adequate. Indeed, both corporate planners and purchasing executives are beginning to recognise that corporate strategic planning must balance a historical concern for product/market decisions with an understanding of and an appreciation for those factors that impact on the supply side of corporate performance. Generally speaking, the purchasing profession has contributed little to our understanding of strategic procurement primarily because the practice and principles of planning have been slow to diffuse to the purchasing function. In addition, academicians have offered little guidance. It is clear that formal planning models either ignore totally purchasing‐related factors or tend to treat them as an after‐thought. Part of the difficulty stems from the fact that the planning literature separates strategy formulation from strategy implementation and the focus seems to over‐emphasise strategy formulation. Although it is useful conceptually to distinguish between the two phases of the planning process, in practice they must be integrated if organisational purpose is to be accomplished.

The purpose of this research is to use a case‐based approach to develop an improved understanding of the conditions under which municipal purchasing departments can be meaningfully involved in acquisition processes for consulting services.

Data were collected at five Canadian municipalities and involved a detailed examination of ten cases where the supply function demonstrated meaningful involvement in the acquisition process.

Findings, along with organizational behavior literature on trust, were used to develop a conceptual model and tentative measurement scales that may be used to test the validity of the theory developed.

This work addresses the problem of low public sector purchasing department involvement in these important purchase decisions and some significant gaps in the public procurement literature.

International purchasing partnerships are becoming an increasingly common and attractive way to procure goods and services in the global marketplace. Yet these complex relationships may require special effort and attention in order to be successful. A review of the relevant literature and case studies of firms actively involved in international purchasing partnerships is used to highlight and discuss the key factors which contribute to international purchasing partnership success and failure. The implications of these factors for purchasing managers are also discussed.

The purpose of this study is to address supplier evaluation and selection in a constrained environment of advance purchasing. The study presents the potential solutions to supplier evaluation and selection issues in the Indian automobile sector where advance purchases are carried out to fulfill the supply chain demand.

Based on the literature review and expert elicitation, nine major factors which are responsible for the successful implementation of supplier selection in a constrained environment of advance purchasing are identified. This paper explores supplier selection in constrained environment issues based on an integrated method based on Shannon entropy, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques and failure mode effects analysis (FMEA).

Analysis of the results of the study suggests that traditional suppliers are not suitable in advance purchasing scenarios; hence, criteria developed in this paper to accommodate the requirement of advance purchasing with possible risk considerations are of high importance. This research paper is an original attempt to develop supplier selection criteria for advance purchasing with special identification of deliverability, flexibility, innovation and productivity factors through a case demonstration.

This study uses data from secondary sources, literature reviews and expert opinions. It formalizes the important factors of successful supplier selection in the constrained environment of advance purchasing in the automotive industry context.

The paper shows how the engagement of suppliers through advance purchasing helps automotive companies in developing a competitive advantage. The integrated approach of Shannon entropy, AHP techniques and FMEA is an effective and useful method that can be applied to the supplier selection process.

The proposed FMEA-AHP method integrated with Shannon entropy used for evaluation represents a useful tool to embrace the suitable functioning tactics for efficient supplier selection. The study is unique as supplier evaluation and selection in a constrained environment of advance purchasing is not investigated much and has good industry applicability.

This empirical research seeks to evaluate purchasing practices in Taiwan based on survey data collected from companies located in that country. A research model is presented and tested using structural equation modeling. The model includes three factors: purchasing risk taking, purchasing knowledge and skills, and strategic purchasing. The research findings indicate that purchasing risk‐taking impacts purchasing knowledge and skills and purchasing knowledge and skills impacts strategic purchasing. Also, the study finds that the relationships among risk taking, purchasing knowledge and skills and strategic purchasing for high performing firms are stronger than for low performing firms.

Research on purchasing managers and their skills requirements supports the training and education of purchasing professionals. This paper offers an in-depth analytical review of the purchasing skills reported in the supply chain management (SCM) literature. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the most important skills and factors that influence these skills.

This paper employs a systematic literature review methodology. Two databases, Scopus and Web of Science, are searched for relevant articles. The selected journal articles are used as sources to obtain a view not only on the relevant purchasing and supply management (P/SM) skills, but also on factors that emphasize certain P/SM skills. This paper also summarizes the ten skills ranked as most important (often described as the “top ten”) among the sample articles.

The paper highlights the essential skills for purchasing professionals, verified both by their frequent appearances in rankings and by citation frequency in the literature. Generic managerial skills, such as communication, cost analysis, teamwork, problem-solving, negotiation, influencing, and persuasion, as well as information technology skills, received the most attention in the literature and rankings of the “top ten” P/SM skills. This paper provides a refined categorization of purchasing skills, which have merged recently with other discussed skills, such as political and entrepreneurial ones, into this categorization. This paper identifies factors that affect purchasing managers’ skills requirements.

This paper presents a structured overview of 57 peer-reviewed articles from high-quality journals about purchasing skills. The review contributes to the purchasing skills literature by showing the most relevant skills and the factors that influence skills requirements. These factors also provide arenas for further research related to purchasing skills.

This study aims to investigate the influence of preschool children at ages 5 to 6 on purchasing decisions among well‐to‐do families and its relation with such factors as number of children, product related criteria (low risk, high risk, used by whole family, used by children) and mother's employment status.

Quantitative analysis was conducted on data from 257 responses to a 26‐item questionnaire from parents of children in 12 private kindergartens in Ankara, Turkey.

Most parents acknowledge that their children do influence their purchasing decisions. Findings also revealed that mother's employment status, child's gender and the number of children in the family are the determining factors for the children's influence on the decision of the family to purchase certain product types.

This is an exploratory study and has limited generalizability as it was conducted solely in one city, Ankara, Turkey. Any further research should contrast perspectives both from other cities in Turkey and other countries.

It is suggested that products for which the child exerts least influence on the purchasing decision of the family are those which carry high purchasing risk and used by the whole family, whereas the greatest influence of the child on the purchasing decision of the family lies on the products with low risk and used by the whole family.

Turkey, is located between Europe and Asia and shares mostly collectivist values. The findings contribute to the understanding of children's influence on family purchasing decisions in this country and provide an opportunity to conduct cross‐national studies. Further, the paper provides insight for marketers about which product advertising is effective on children.

Shopping statistics indicate that online shoppers prefer purchasing products using the desktop website of the retailer, rather than using the mobile website on a mobile phone to purchase products (mobile website purchasing). Therefore, using status quo bias theory, this study aims to investigate mobile website purchasing resistance of those customers using only desktop website purchasing.

To test the conceptual model an online questionnaire was used to collect data from customers purchasing products using only the desktop website on a computer (n = 484) and not the retailer’s mobile website.

Due to cognitive dissonance, customers using only desktop purchasing trivialize mobile website purchasing perceived attractiveness while perceiving more cognitive effort in mobile website purchasing to maintain consonance with their inertia. Further, relative advantage perceptions of mobile website purchasing lead to more trivialization of mobile website purchasing attractiveness perceptions. Desktop purchasing inertia enhances resistance through alternative attractiveness and cognitive effort perceptions, respectively, and cognitive effort and alternative attractiveness perceptions in serial. Desktop purchasing habit has the strongest positive influence on desktop purchasing inertia.

This study was conducted in a high-involvement product context. Replication in a low-involvement product context is necessary to confirm the robustness of the results.

Retailers can use the findings to develop strategies to lower mobile website purchasing resistance in an online-mobile concurrent channel environment.

The study provides novel insights into mobile website purchasing resistance in an online-mobile concurrent channel environment. Further, the study addresses the gap in research on inertia and switching costs in the adoption of concurrent channels.

This paper aims to provide further insight into factors influencing Australian consumers’ purchasing preferences for sparkling wine, including champagne.

Focus groups were conducted and thematic analysis was undertaken to identify factors influencing sparkling wine consumers’ purchasing preferences.

Personal taste was found to influence choice of a sparkling wine rather than another type of beverage, and selection of a particular style and brand of sparkling wine. Country or region of origin was found to be important, often linked to the product being champagne. Brand image, reputation and symbolism were found to influence purchase decisions (sometimes linked to consumption occasion), especially for purchases of gifts. Advice, recommendations and expert reviews, and consumption occasion also were found to influence purchase decisions. Price was found to influence style and brand of sparkling wine purchased. A high price was found to be a barrier for some participants, while other participants were found to avoid sparkling wines priced below some particular level. Thematic analysis enabled development of a preliminary model of purchasing preferences.

Being exploratory in nature, findings cannot be generalised. Further studies are required to confirm the preliminary model and to evaluate the validity and significance of proposed relationships.

Findings suggest a producer could benefit from marketing a range of sparkling wines to cater to different tastes, occasions and gift purchases. Findings also confirm the importance of marketers pursuing opportunities to obtain and promote favourable expert reviews for their sparkling wines, and of identifying and promoting regional distinctiveness.

The first comprehensive model of sparkling wine consumers’ purchasing preferences has been developed. Empirical testing would enable refinement and enhance understanding.