New Trends in the Supply Environment

Present‐day competitiveness has brought about a marked evolution in supply management, imposing on firms an increasingly close interaction with suppliers. The achievement of high‐level performances in terms of cost, quality and time to market appears ever more dependent on the quality and effectiveness of the supply network. This transformation modifies the traditional adversarial model of the buyer‐supplier relationship and fosters the reconfiguration and integrated management of the supply chain. At the same time, competitive dynamics and current global competing models encourage the extension of traditional sourcing areas. Analyses these evolutionary aspects of the current supply environment and examines the new role of the purchasing function.