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<p>Effective strategic purchasing and supplier selection in companies provides businesses with leverage in acquiring goods and services. Thus, companies are in a better position to negotiate prices, discounts, delivery times and logistic channels. Also, strategic purchasing allows for performing a risk assessment to ensure the company’s profitability. This research aimed to identify the key currently deliberated by SMEs for supplier selection, considering such purchasing strategies as (1) cost reduction, (2) risk management, (3) global sourcing, (4) total quality management, (5) sustainable management and (6) supplier management. Also, it aimed to identify the emerging issues related to purchasing strategies. This research work performed a content analysis following a literature review. The Scopus indexation database was selected to conduct the document search. After the refinement process, based on 59 analysed documents, bibliometric assessment tools were applied to identify the key criteria for supplier selection. The TOP6 highest ranked criteria, which corresponds to 80 % of the most referred criteria, include: (1) the quality of goods; (2) compliance with the delivery times; (3) price/cost; (4) supplier reputation and/or market positioning; (5) geographical location; and (6) supplier performance history. The goal of strategic purchasing is to support the companies in achieving long-term goals through its integration into the company’s strategic planning process. It should be identified by the managers as an important resource. Several factors elevate the importance of strategic purchasing, namely, environmental protection, technology advances related to logistics 4.0, and risk assessment related to global sourcing and sustainability. The present research is in line with the findings of the referred literature, i.e., the application of prioritised criteria for the procurement and supplier selection operations in the industrial context, aiming to reduce lead times and logistic costs. The criteria must be aligned with the purchasing strategies adopted by the companies. The manuscript aims to demonstrate that the fundamentals of strategic purchasing strategies can contribute to the improvement of the SME supply process with the application of simple and cost-effective approaches.</p>
</abstract>

Effective strategic purchasing and supplier selection in companies provides businesses with leverage in acquiring goods and services. Thus, companies are in a better position to negotiate prices, discounts, delivery times and logistic channels. Also, strategic purchasing allows for performing a risk assessment to ensure the company’s profitability. This research aimed to identify the key currently deliberated by SMEs for supplier selection, considering such purchasing strategies as (1) cost reduction, (2) risk management, (3) global sourcing, (4) total quality management, (5) sustainable management and (6) supplier management. Also, it aimed to identify the emerging issues related to purchasing strategies. This research work performed a content analysis following a literature review. The Scopus indexation database was selected to conduct the document search. After the refinement process, based on 59 analysed documents, bibliometric assessment tools were applied to identify the key criteria for supplier selection. The TOP6 highest ranked criteria, which corresponds to 80 % of the most referred criteria, include: (1) the quality of goods; (2) compliance with the delivery times; (3) price/cost; (4) supplier reputation and/or market positioning; (5) geographical location; and (6) supplier performance history. The goal of strategic purchasing is to support the companies in achieving long-term goals through its integration into the company’s strategic planning process. It should be identified by the managers as an important resource. Several factors elevate the importance of strategic purchasing, namely, environmental protection, technology advances related to logistics 4.0, and risk assessment related to global sourcing and sustainability. The present research is in line with the findings of the referred literature, i.e., the application of prioritised criteria for the procurement and supplier selection operations in the industrial context, aiming to reduce lead times and logistic costs. The criteria must be aligned with the purchasing strategies adopted by the companies. The manuscript aims to demonstrate that the fundamentals of strategic purchasing strategies can contribute to the improvement of the SME supply process with the application of simple and cost-effective approaches.

Supplier selection and procurement in SMEs: insights from the literature on key criteria and purchasing strategies

Engineering Management in Production and Services

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Effective strategic purchasing and supplier selection in companies provides businesses with leverage in acquiring goods and services. Thus, companies are in a...

Supplier selection and procurement in SMEs: insights from the literature on key criteria and purchasing strategies

Pubblicato online: 19 gen 2023

Pagine: 47 - 60

Ricevuto: 22 set 2022

Accettato: 29 nov 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/emj-2022-0030

Parole chiave
supply chain management, strategic purchasing, supplier selection

© 2022 Ana Cristina Ferreira et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Supplier selection and procurement in SMEs: insights from the literature on key criteria and purchasing strategies

Pubblicato online: 19 gen 2023

Pagine: 47 - 60

Ricevuto: 22 set 2022

Accettato: 29 nov 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/emj-2022-0030

Parole chiavesupply chain management, strategic purchasing, supplier selection

© 2022 Ana Cristina Ferreira et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Parole chiave
supply chain management, strategic purchasing, supplier selection