Strategic Sourcing Analysis

Identifying strategic opportunities by analysing the current situation

 Strategic sourcing is a core activity in purchasing and supply management which can be defined as…

“Satisfying an organisation’s needs from markets via the proactive and planned analysis of supply markets and the selection of suppliers, with the objective of delivering solutions to meet pre-determined and agreed organisational needs”.

In order to begin the process of strategic sourcing, various stages of analysis should be undertaken including reviewing the current situation (also known as ‘As is’ analysis). This might typically include:

• Processes and competences.
• Spend analysis.
• Supply/value stream mapping.
• The supply base.
• The political scene.

The purpose of this analysis is to identify the current purchasing and supply management position and use it as a starting point, or base line, for developing the strategic sourcing activity.

The final piece of the strategic sourcing analysis is the generation of options for the supply requirements analysed.

James Donlan has provided a coding protocol for you to download. James would welcome any comments or questions about the protocol; click here to contact him.