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Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management 14 (2008) 55–68


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The changing role of procurement:


Developing professional effectiveness
Rana Tassabehji, Andrew Moorhouse1
University of Bradford School of Management, Emm Lane, Bradford BD9 4JL, UK
Received 2 August 2007; received in revised form 22 January 2008; accepted 24 January 2008

Abstract

The major objectives of this paper are to explore, from the perspective of 18 senior procurement professionals interviewed, the current
status of their role and identify the skills they need to develop, in order to effectively manage the changes they are experiencing. The
interviews revealed a schism in perception of the procurement role between professionals (strategic) and their organisations
(transactional). Although skills have a direct impact on the ability of procurement professionals to fulfil their role proficiently, the degree
of organisational support and internal acknowledgement of the role’s importance, were found to be a major barrier to the development
and progress of procurement professionals. A Procurement Skills Effectiveness Framework is presented to enable managers to assess the
likely sophistication level of procurement and its impact, given a set of procurement skills and the degree and type of internal support for
the role.
r 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Strategic procurement; Relationship management; Skills development; Training; Procurement effectiveness; Skills taxonomy

1. Introduction Cox et al., 2005). Indeed, Ramsay (2004) highlights the fact
that sometimes academic papers do not represent the
The evolution of the procurement function is well reality of the context in which the practitioners operate and
documented in the literature. There has been a recognised contradicts his previous findings about co-operative rela-
shift away from the traditional administrative and trans- tions in supply chains, as being more fictional than factual.
actional role, towards one which involves strategic It is with this in mind that this paper aims to answer the
partnerships, cooperative alliances and supply network following research questions related to procurement
management (Carr and Smeltzer, 1997; Scheuing, 1997; professionals:
Ramsay, 1998; Lamming et al., 2000; Handfield and
Nichols, 2002; Knudsen, 2003). In the literature, procure-
(1) How do procurement professionals perceive their role
ment is now deemed a core component of many organisa-
within their organisations?
tions and considered to be of major strategic importance
(2) How has their role changed and what challenges have
(Humphreys, 2001; Paulraj et al., 2006). However, others
they had to face as a result?
argue that the procurement role is still essentially a support
(3) What portfolio of skills do they believe will enable them
function and that as a tactical role, it performs essentially
to fulfil their role effectively?
low value adding activities (Kaufmann and Carter, 2004;

The first part of the paper reviews different perspectives


Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1274 233902; fax: +44 1274 546866.
on the changing role of procurement from the literature.
E-mail addresses: r.tassabehji@bradford.ac.uk (R. Tassabehji), From this review, a new taxonomy for categorising
amoorhouse@btinternet.com (A. Moorhouse).
1
Present address. Huthwaite International, Hoober House, Wentwork, procurement skills in the current business climate is
South Yorkshire S62 7SA, UK. Tel.: +44 1709 710081; introduced. The second part of the paper presents the
fax: +44 1709 710065. findings from 18 semi-structured interviews with senior

1478-4092/$ - see front matter r 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2008.01.005
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56 R. Tassabehji, A. Moorhouse / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management 14 (2008) 55–68

procurement professionals across a number of different 1998; Humphreys, 2001; Croom and Johnston, 2003;
industry sectors. A Procurement Skills Effectiveness Giunipero et al., 2005).
Framework is developed, enabling managers to identify These trends have facilitated the necessary transforma-
the knowledge, skills and level of support required in order tion of the role from a tactical to a more strategic level
for the role of procurement to optimise its effectiveness in (Giunipero and Pearcy, 2000; Cousins et al., 2006). Paulraj
achieving organisational objectives. et al. (2006) acknowledge that different firms might be at
different stages of strategic evolution, but that for
2. Literature review organisations to evolve to the final stage of development,
strategic procurement, they need to optimise their perfor-
Over the past decade, there have been notable changes in mance. Unless organisations and their structures change
macro-economic trends influencing the business environ- with the times to accommodate strategic procurement they
ment. Increased globalisation, technological advances in will become dysfunctional (Scheuing, 1997) and the impact
internet based systems, accessibility to complex computa- procurement can have on their competitive position will
tional programmes, increased demands by upper manage- remain unrealised (Carter and Narasimhan, 1996; Cousins
ment, changing consumer patterns, a shift towards et al., 2006; Giunipero et al., 2006). However, the evolution
outsourcing and a greater awareness of corporate social of procurement to the status of a strategic and critical
responsibility have all been influential factors driving this function is not yet complete in the real world (Cox et al.,
change (Giunipero et al., 2005, 2006; Zheng et al., 2007). 2005). Indeed, Ramsay (2006) maintains that senior
These changes undoubtedly impact the procurement management, influenced by the current anti-clerical bias
function, and there is a widely recognised need for a in the literature, fail to understand the contribution the role
developmental shift to keep in line with these changes. Van is making at the administrative level. Although the specific
Weele and Rietveld (1998) identify six stages through details might be contested, the implicit message is that since
which the procurement function must develop: from the procurement professional now operates in a changing
transaction and commercial orientation, to internal and and dynamic environment, there is a subsequent imperative
external integration, to the final stage where purchasing for procurement professionals to update their existing
strategy is focused on delivering value. Lamming et al. skills if they are to contribute effectively to the financial,
(2005) also identified an emerging need for change in the operational and strategic success of their organisation
1990s when business began to accept inter-organisational (Reck et al., 1992; van Weele and Rietveld, 1998; Henke,
relationships, which evolved into value adding collabora- 2000; Giunipero and Pearcy, 2000; Giunipero et al., 2005).
tive relationships. It is now widely acknowledged that
proactive value-focussed rather than passive cost-focussed 2.1. The organisational impact of procurement skills
procurement strategies are a means of achieving competi-
tive advantage and integral to long-term organisational Empirical research is emerging to demonstrate the
strategy (Leseure et al., 2004; Mehra and Inman, 2004; impact of specific procurement skills on firm performance.
Noonan and Wallace, 2004). In a study of the impact of strategic purchasing on supply
This dynamic environment and the call for a develop- integration and performance, Paulraj et al. (2006) found
mental shift, have led to challenges for the procurement that: (1) a more strategic purchasing function leads to
function within organisations, which are well documented better supply integration; (2) executives must understand
in the literature (Zheng et al., 2007). These challenges the key role that purchasing can play in integrating
include increased specialisation, a move from purchasing buyer–supplier dyads by focusing on ‘‘process, relational,
functions to processes and from transaction to relationship information, and cross-organisational teams’’; (3) strategic
management, an increased awareness of and need to purchasing can create a win–win situation for both buyer
manage the supply chain (Carr and Smeltzer, 1997; and supplier firms which impacts positively on overall
Lamming et al., 2000; Handfield and Nichols, 2002; supply chain performance.
Knudsen, 2003). Some of the changes made to the Taking a resource-based view of the firm, Carr and
procurement role, to better cope with such challenges and Smeltzer (2000) found a relationship between specific skills
maintain organisational competitiveness, include: expand- and overall organisational performance. Technical skills in
ing core processes such as supplier coordination; supplier particular were found to be a predictor of firm perfor-
development and market research; cost analysis; strategy mance, while skills techniques (a rather vague term which
formulation and planning; risk management and interna- incorporates skills that are not purely technical or
tional outsourcing (Giunipero et al., 2005, 2006; Cousins behavioural, such as project management, time manage-
et al., 2006). In addition new technology, such as e-pro- ment and communication) predict a strategic purchasing
curement and ERP systems, means that much of the paper- approach, and behaviour skills predict supplier responsive-
based routine tasks have been automated. This allows more ness. Cousins et al. (2006) also demonstrated the impact
time for procurement professionals to focus on new forms of skills on organisational performance. They found
of supplier relationships, supply management, advanced that purchasers with high skill levels and knowledge
planning and value adding activities (Humphreys et al., have a significant impact on financial performance and
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operational efficiency in terms of quality improvement, specific or generic management skills. This summary forms
design and reduction of lead times. the basis of our literature consolidation and is the first
stage in the development of a new taxonomy of procure-
2.2. Changing development needs ment skills to deal with the challenges of the current
environment.
While the degree of transition towards strategic procure-
ment might be disputed, it is clear that the skills and 2.2.1. Consolidating procurement skills
competencies required by professionals in the past are The empirical findings of Kolchin and Giunipero (1993)
not the same as those required today. There is overall underpin a large number of procurement skills studies that
consensus that skills are essential to the productivity and followed. Their main aim was to measure purchasing
competitiveness of organisations (Thurow, 1994; Borghans education and training in US firms and to make predictions
et al., 2001; Briscoe et al., 2001; Keep and Mayhew, 2001). for the future of procurement. Three of the skills groups
(management, interpersonal and individual), can be
Show me an unskilled individual, company or country
broadly applied to other functions and organisational
and I will show you a failure in the 21st century y In
settings and the technical skills group is mainly specific to
the economy ahead, there is only one source of
procurement.
sustainable competitive advantage-skills. Everything
Building on Kolchin and Giunipero (1993), Giunipero
else is available to everyone on a more or less equal
and Pearcy (2000) progressed the research by gauging
access basis. (Thurow, 1994, p. 52)
perceptions of people that do the job rather than focusing
There has been much research into the definition of on recruitment selection criteria for the job which provides
skills, where the concept of a skill is defined as ‘‘the ability a more accurate assessment of the skills required for world-
to carry out the tasks and duties of a job in a competent class purchasing professionals. This study introduced
manner’’ (Elias and McKnight, 2001, p. 511) and the ability strategic skills (not measured in Kolchin and Giunipero’s
gained by practice or knowledge within the workplace (1993) study) into the procurement skills portfolio. To
(Kolchin and Giunipero, 1993; Carr and Smeltzer, 2000). demonstrate the development of the role into one with a
Skills are seen to be multi dimensional and have been more strategic focus, skills such as managing change and
categorised in several different ways that incorporate understanding business conditions, were found to have
educational qualifications, competence, work experience increased in importance. The skill types focusing on generic
and vocational training (Elias and McKnight, 2001). management, such as process management, team-building,
Changes in the procurement function and the environment decision-making, behavioural, negotiation seem to be
in which it operates significantly affect the ideal skill set growing in relation to procurement specific skills (strategic
required for the world-class procurement professional and quantitative) reflecting the changes.
(Giunipero and Pearcy, 2000). There is a need for As a good comparison, Carr and Smeltzer (2000) collate
procurement personnel to update existing skills and 35 different procurement skills, believed essential to
develop new perspectives and abilities if they are to enhance corporate competitiveness, directly from the
contribute effectively to the success of their organisations responses of 85 interviewees. This study was not based
(Henke, 2000; Giunipero et al., 2005, 2006; Cousins et al., on previous skills listings and was conducted in the
2006). Van Weele and Rietveld (1998) have tracked the automotive sector, but still there is much overlap with
changing skills needed at different stages in their procure- previous studies, despite skill categories having different
ment evolution model, from the procurement specific to an names. For instance, technical skills match Giunipero and
inclusion of broader business and management skills and Pearcy’s (2000) quantitative and decision-making skills;
abilities. skills techniques map onto Giunipero and Pearcy’s
Our review of the literature found that there is much negotiation skills, process management, and team skills;
overlap in lists of skills compiled and used in empirical and behaviour skills map onto Giunipero and Pearcy’s strategic
theoretical studies on the role and function of procurement and behavioural skills. Of these, the technical skills in
in organisations, over the past couple of decades. Here, we particular relate most specifically to procurement. Despite
have included the articles which have been highly cited in the similarities, the portfolio of requisite procurement skills
studies focusing on this area of research. The studies is incremented with the inclusion of skills related more to
selected are empirical and include comprehensive lists the strategic approach.
of procurement skills, grouped according to their generic Professional procurement skills listings, are sophisticated
skill type, such as behavioural, strategic, etc. and are further as Giunipero et al. (2005) argue the need for
summarised in Table 1. Despite the similarities, often the flexibility in the procurement role, achieved by incorporat-
same skills are grouped under different typologies and ing entrepreneurial qualities to their skill set. They
given different nomenclatures, which can be somewhat demonstrate that common characteristics already exist
confusing. To simplify this, we have listed both the between entrepreneurial and purchasing skills (18 out of 30
individual skills and skill categories and have further using Denslow and Giunipero’s (2003) more recent list),
classified them according to whether they are procurement and introduce new skills that can provide flexibility.
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Table 1
Summary of procurement skills in the literature

Source Categorisation of Procurement Individual skills


Skills: 1, procurement specific; 2,
generic management

Kolchin and Giunipero 1. Technical  Cost analysis, product knowledge, computer literacy, total quality
(1993) based on division of management and government legislation global sourcing development
18 skills
2. Management  Market analysis, negotiating with partners, managing internal and external
2. Interpersonal/group relationships, change management and planning and organisational skills,
2. Individual risk taking, written and oral communication, conflict resolution, influence
and persuasion, group dynamics, leadership, problem solving and
international and cultural awareness

Giunipero and Pearcy 1. Strategic  Strategic thinking, supply base research


(2000) based on a total of 1. Quantitative  Structuring supplier relationships, technology (planning), supplier cost
29 skills including Kolchin targeting, risk taking/entrepreneurship, salesmanship, computational,
and Giunipero’s (1993) technical, blueprint reading, specification development
skills
2. Process management  Market analysis, negotiating with partners, managing internal and external
2. Team skills relationships, change management and planning and organisational skills
2. Decision-making  Risk taking, written and oral communication, conflict resolution, influence
2. Behavioural skills and persuasion, group dynamics, leadership, problem solving, and
2. Negotiation skills international and cultural awareness

Carr and Smeltzer (2000) 1. Technical skills  Drafting CAD/computer skills, maths skills, technical business writing,
based on a total of 35 skills blueprint reading, forecasting
 Understanding: tool capability, manufacturing processes, MRP, materials,
inventory systems

2. Skills techniques  Analytical, communication, presentation, co-ordination, negotiating (cost)


2. Behaviour skills and issues, cost analysis, problem solving, quality management, programme
management, organisational (paperwork) time management
 People skills (suppliers), internal customers and functions, detail orientation,
proactivity, ability to follow up, flexibility, stress management, team working,
patience, multi-tasking

Giunipero et al. (2005) Skills to achieve flexibility:


 Risk management
 Interpersonal communication
 Influencing and persuasion
 Planning
 Decision-making
 Internal motivation
 Creativity
Cousins et al. (2006) These procurement skills are a subset of the study:
2. Supplier/product market monitoring and interpretation
2. Technical skills to improve products and processes
1. Cost analysis to improve total costs with suppliers
1. Behavioural skills such as perseverance, imagination decisiveness and interpersonal skills
Giunipero et al. (2006) Skills to achieve strategic purchasing:
2. Team-building: leadership, decision-making, influencing; compromising
2. Cross-functional strategic planning: project scoping, goal-setting, execution
2. Communication: presentation, oral, listening, writing
1. Technical skill: web-based research, sourcing analysis
2. Broad financial: cost accounting, business case building

Large and Gimenez (2006) 2. Oral communication Based on ability to:


 Pass on information
 Persuade
 Listen and understand
 Oral capability
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Giunipero et al. (2006) emphasise the emergence of the these basic procurement skills are the foundations for
strategic procurement role and required skills, further building more strategic skills.
suggesting that the role might even be divided into (2) Interpersonal skills (IS): Necessary for interaction with
the strategic and tactical. The differentiation between people in teams and on an individual level including
the strategic role focusing on building relationships and written and oral communication, conflict resolution,
lowering total costs and the tactical role dealing with day- influencing and persuasion, group dynamics, leader-
to-day activities, can be easily categorised into procure- ship, problem solving and interpersonal and cultural
ment specific and management generic skills as applied in awareness. These skills are required at every level for
Table 1. In a similar vein, Cousins et al.’s (2006) effective procurement management.
recommendation for a set of procurement skills and (3) Internal enterprise skills (IE): These skills relate to the
competencies to deal with an intensely competitive overall business and how the different functions
environment, seems to focus mainly on developing generic interaction. IE skills will enable procurement profes-
management skills and improving procurement specific sionals for example, to effectively conduct market
skills such as supplier coordination and research, sourcing analysis, manage internal relationships, global sourcing
strategies, and sophisticated costs analysis. They do evaluation, internal change management and planning
however highlight the importance of procurement skills and organisational skills.
and knowledge by demonstrating its impact on organisa- (4) External enterprise skills (EE): These skills relate to the
tional performance, both financial and operational. supply chain/network and its stakeholders. These skills
Here, Large and Gimenez’s (2006) study is included to will enable for example, the management of external
illustrate the application of generic skills to procurement. relationships, and stakeholder change management.
They show the importance of oral and written commu- (5) Strategic business skills (SB): These skills relate to
nication for the procurement role and its impact on broader strategic issues and how procurement can
improved efficiency and performance. Their study found impact on overall organisational value such as planning
that the largest cluster of purchasing managers were poor and managing strategic partnerships and alliances, risk
communicators who possessed a good oral communica- management and adding value to the organisation.
tion capability but poor ability to listen and under-
stand, pass on information and persuade. This is one area The literature review highlighted the changing skills
that demonstrably needs to be addressed and is thus requirements of the procurement professional, with an
included. increasing emphasis on skills that can be seen as more
generic and management oriented, applied in a procure-
3. Introducing a new taxonomy of procurement skills ment context. This trend can be observed from Table 1, as
over a third of the skills listed in 1993 are procurement
From the review of the literature on development of specific, but the proportion of procurement:generic man-
procurement skills, there is an obvious need to consolidate agement skills has diminished over time as business
the different taxonomies and nomenclatures into a single environments become more dynamic requiring different
consistent and coherent set of categories. Here, we present skills. Applying the new taxonomy, Fig. 1 demonstrates
a new taxonomy that classifies procurement skills into five this differentiation. Procurement specific skills are a core
groupings that more accurately mirror the requirements of requirement for the procurement professional, surrounded
modern day procurement professionals. Definitions of by a whole range of generic managerial skills specifically
these groupings are: honed for procurement, but applicable to other organisa-
tional functions.
(1) Technical skills (TS): These are fundamental and basic
administrative skills necessary for any procurement 4. Methodology
professional in the 21st century. They include product
knowledge, computer literacy, total quality manage- The main aims of this exploratory research were
ment and government legislation. As part of technical threefold: (a) to determine procurement professionals’
skills, we include advanced procurement process skills perception of their role; (b) to identify how their role had
(APP) such as category management, global sourcing changed and the challenges they have had to face; (c) to
development, detailed cost driver analysis necessitating compile a portfolio of requisite skills to enable them to
advanced analytical capabilities essential to create fulfil their role effectively. In order to fulfil these aims, an
value. We include the need to utilise and manage e- exploratory study was conducted by in-depth interviews
procurement technology and processes effectively; and with procurement professionals to obtain details of
optimise supplier selection to ensure that they capitalise experiences, attitudes, needs and ideas relevant to their
on the opportunities e-procurement avails (Croom, organisation and position (Wright, 1996; Rubin and
2005; Ogden et al., 2005; Tassabehji et al., 2006). It is Rubin, 2004). A less directive and semi-structured
acknowledged in the literature (Carr and Smeltzer, approach was adopted to provide a richness of informa-
2000; Cousins et al., 2006; Giunipero et al., 2006) that tion, which has previously been shown to be more effective
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Procurement Other Organisational


Function Functions

Advanced Internal External Strategic


Technical Interpersonal
Procurement Enterprise Enterprise Business
Skills Skills
Process Skills Skills Skills Skills
(TS) (APP) (IS)
(IE) (EE) (SB)

Procurement Managerial
Specific Skills Skills

Fig. 1. New categorisation of skill types required for procurement.

when eliciting information from senior professionals Table 2


(Wright, 1996). Research participants
Purposive sampling was adopted to ensure that the views Sector Interviewees
of a specific profession were elicited about issues related to
their role (Saunders et al., 2003). Procurement Trade Insurance Head of Procurement
Associations were contacted to forward invitations for Senior Purchasing Consultant
interviews to a random selection of their member database. Financial Services Head of Procurement
However, they were unable to co-operate due to prior Head of Procurement Performance
research commitments. A University post experience MBA Improvement
Procurement Director
alumni database was then accessed for initial introductions
to procurement professionals, and in combination with a Professional Services Procurement Consultant
snowball sampling strategy (Atkinson and Flint, 2001), a Government Department Procurement Manager (x2)
total of 22 procurement professionals at senior manage-
Fast Moving Consumer Goods Sector Head (retailing)
ment or director level agreed to be interviewed after a
(FMCG) Network Manager (manufacturing)
guarantee of anonymity and a copy of the research Senior Procurement Manager
findings. This pool of participants all worked for large (manufacturing)
organisations from a range of multinational corporations
Public Health Service Senior Procurement Management
and industries, with candidates representing insurance,
financial services, professional services, local authorities, Telecommunications Head of Procurement
FMCG, public health service, telecommunications, global Global Chemicals Purchasing Manager
chemicals, aerospace and industrial manufacturing mostly Aerospace Purchasing Manager
from the UK and Ireland, but some also represented
organisations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and Manufacturing Procurement Director (Eastern Europe)
Procurement Director (UK)
the Pacific Rim (Table 2).
There are limitations by using this sampling strategy— Consumer Electronics Purchasing Manager
for instance, lack of generalisability and possible sample
bias. Notwithstanding these limitations, some extremely
valid trends and data can still be achieved for an
exploratory approach, by adopting this type of non- in Table 2. The semi-structured questions derived from the
random sampling (Remenyi et al., 1998) as participants literature review and this initial screening process is
were readily available to contribute to the study (Robson, included in Appendix. Eight interviews were conducted
2002). over the telephone, while the remainder were face-to-face.
Four pilot interviews were conducted to scope the Studies examining the differences between these two media,
questions being asked followed by semi-structured depth have either found no difference in the quality of responses
interviews with the remaining 18 respondents summarised (Janofsky, 1971), or that these differences were mainly
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related to disenfranchised and socially vulnerable people Others acknowledged that the procurement function was
and response rates (Holbrook et al., 2003), none of which perceived to be strategic, adding value to the organisation.
are relevant in this case. To further mitigate any potential However, even those deemed to have strategic roles with a
differences, the telephone interviews were pre-arranged and mandate to add value, still struggle to communicate the
the subjects were aware of the topic to be discussed (but value of their role throughout their organisation. In the one
not the questions). The interviewer was aware of the instance where the role was reported to be held in high
potential issue of time pressure over the telephone leading regard within the organisation and seen as an integral and
to respondent satisficing impacting on quality of responses core component, the procurement profession was repre-
(Holbrook et al., 2003), and ensured plenty of time was sented at an executive board level (i.e. CPO):
taken in posing questions and eliciting answers. In a review
of the responses, there was no discernable difference in Procurement’s remit is not to get a 10% discount year
information quality or length of the interviews. The on year, but to work towards a strategic/partnership
interviews were recorded digitally with permission being model where the price may be 5% more expensive but
granted by all interviewees and full transcripts then made. you use y resources for competitive advantage. Our job
Notes were also taken during the interview. These sources is all about added value. However, we are struggling
of data were analysed and major themes identified. Further with the [businesses] misconception of our job. Some
analysis sought to locate these themes within the text. stakeholders feel that we are there just to get the lowest
Meaning was then extracted from the text according to the price. They come to us having just done a deal and state
thematic coding in an iterative process (Saunders et al., ‘‘will you now do the contract’’ our answer is no.
2003). The resulting themes that emerged from this primary (Head of Procurement, UK Insurance Services)
data are presented in Section 5. Whilst procurement is now being seen as strategic by
our company, it is still an uphill battle to ensure early
5. Findings involvement. It is this early involvement that will reduce
the risk to the business of inadequate contracts and
Having reviewed both the transcripts, audio recordings satisfy the shareholders by benefiting the bottom line.
and notes, the semi-structured interviews provided a wealth (Procurement Manager, European Electronics Manu-
and depth of information addressing the research questions facturer)
posed in this study. The participants expressed wide-
ranging views and salient quotations are used to illustrate It is the core of the business, as senior management are
major themes that arose. from procurement. Effectively the most strategic part of
the organisation. If you can lower cost of procurement
the profit is incredible.
5.1. The perception of procurement in organisations
(Group Procurement Manager, FMCG Manufacturer)
The interviewees expressed wide-ranging views on how The procurement professionals unanimously agreed that
the procurement function is positioned and perceived what they did was strategic and did add value to the
within their organisation. Some felt that procurement in organisation. On the whole, they were dissatisfied with the
their organisations was still perceived as an administrative way in which the rest of the organisation perceived their
function, which they were largely unhappy with: role and their lack of involvement. The majority raised the
The professional specialist dictates the specification, issue that the role demands internal recognition for it to
which is passed on so procurement can buy. We can contribute to the organisation’s performance. Involvement
only deal on price and are low down the priority line. upstream via cross-functional teams appears, from respon-
The salary for procurement indicates how unimportant dents, to be the most effective way to get involvement at
the role is. the initiation of ideas.
(Senior Procurement Manager, Public Health Services) Not being used as an expert in commercial matters is
We still feel we are viewed as the Procurement Police. frustrating and costs more in terms of money and risk
We negotiate contracts and are a major cost reducer but because our role is not only to save money but mitigate
are often simply viewed as a process that has to be risk y If we are involved at the start y getting all the
followed and perceived as intransigent and delay departments working with you y then there is a better
causers. We certainly are not engaged at different stages chance of getting a better deal and on time delivery.
of purchasing decisions. (Head of Procurement, Telecommunications)
(Procurement Manager, Local Authority)
Interestingly, some felt that the way procurement
The organisation views procurement as an inconvenient performance is monitored and measured (for instance,
and possibly unnecessary step in the process of securing through inclusion in KPIs) within organisations, seems to
the goods or services required. have an effect on how the function is perceived. If tangible
(Head of Procurement, Financial Services) targets are not achieved, then the professionals are
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considered to have failed impacting negatively on percep- problems for procurement professionals. Some practi-
tions of their role them in the future: tioners highlighted issues relating to the lack of formal
supplier assessment tools; others identified training their
We have targets to achieve and when there are tangible
administrative staff to apply commercially sound business
results this is a good resource, but when it can’t be done,
decisions was a challenge. All except one practitioner
then we lose favour and are challenged by internal
mentioned internal political struggles and a lack of power
customers.
to impact the organisation internally, as real issues. The
(Purchasing Manager, Aerospace)
major challenges faced by the majority of procurement
professionals in their role can be grouped into four main
5.2. The changing procurement role inter-related categories:
On the whole respondents felt that change was occur-
ring, but that this was incremental rather than drastic and (1) Being acknowledged internally: Many practitioners
seems to have been absorbed with very little impact on highlighted the difficulties of being acknowledged by
them. the heads of other departments or sectors and being
involved in investment decisions.
Changes aren’t drastic because our organisation is like
an oil tanker turning so you don’t feel the changes for a We struggle with the concept of advising the senior
long time. directors (budget holders) on where to direct their
(Senior Procurement Manager, Public Health Services) funds. Nobody likes to be questioned or challenged
by procurement.
The role is changing but the core values remain constant (Head of Procurement, Telecommunications)
whatever you are doing.
(Purchasing Manager, Global Pharmaceuticals) People see spend is power—so we find it difficult to
The role hasn’t changed much y the basics never get them to relinquish control.
change. We are trying to get the best deal in terms of (Senior Purchasing Consultant, Insurance)
value for money but not the cheapest deal.
(Purchasing Manager, Aerospace) (2) Early involvement in the decision process: An over-
whelming majority complained that they were not
5.3. Challenges and issues created by the change brought in early enough in the buying process to add
any real value. One practitioner demonstrated the low
All respondents identified technology as one of the major strategic importance of procurement in their organisa-
changes impacting their role. None, however, mentioned tion when they were brought in to negotiation with a
technology or other technical issues as being problematic supplier after the invoice had been received.
or challenging. Here, change was seen to be related to new We need to get in right at the start. We need to get
ways of doing things and introduction of more and more procurement to the table and do things collabora-
new techniques. tively—they (the business) should acknowledge that
We are moving further way from previous techniques. procurement specialists can bring advice and some-
The old purchasing systems are redundant with infor- thing to the table.
mation of MRP. (Purchasing Manager, Manufacturing)
(Purchasing Manager, Aerospace)
(3) Getting internal ‘Buy In’ to procurement strategy: Many
Technology does change your initial approach and now practitioners expressed difficulties getting their strategy
there is more meaningful data mining and collection. accepted by the rest of the company:
(Procurement Director, Financial Services)
The challenge is to get other staff to buy in to our
Most procurement professionals interviewed appear to strategy. The battle is getting in early enough to
manage the implementation of e-procurement. They found make an impact to influence y alignment.
an improvement in negotiation time and relationships with (Procurement Director, Financial Services)
suppliers through the use of e-procurement applications,
such as e-auctions. However, many felt there was a need for The challenge is to get the business to engage with
in-depth cost driver analysis of different e-procurement your initiatives. There is no culture of ‘‘let the
applications to ensure that the right decisions were being specialist do their bit’’—we are not empowered or
made in this new environment. being used as source of expertise. This ultimately
Negotiation was a skill which all procurement profes- costs more with more risk. If we are allowed (to do
sionals were confident with and none identified any our bit), then we would save money and mitigate
problems or challenges related to this. No macro-environ- risk.
mental issues were identified as being real challenges or (Procurement Manager, Local Authority)
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R. Tassabehji, A. Moorhouse / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management 14 (2008) 55–68 63

(4) Cultural barriers and resistance to change: Even those use procurement expertise to analyse market drivers
considered to be in a strategic role face challenges to and estimate the supplier’s cost drivers.
impose change on an intransigent corporation, both
within their own teams and those of other departments. Some practitioners, especially in the financial services
sector, believe that the best way to develop procurement
The walls of silos are huge obstacles and internal
skills within the organisation is to hire new people with a
communications are a big problem resulting in no
‘‘Best of Breed influx of talent’’ and have common
agreement on strategy.
frameworks of tools and processes for measuring their
(Procurement Director, Manufacturing)
performance. For one practitioner, their organisation:
We have Ivory Tower Syndrome y we are devolved y maintain[s] greatness and standards by recruiting the
from the coal face. y Top level consultants hate us best people; high performing teams with a nucleus of
because they are of the opinion that they are the great people with performance metrics to hold them
decision makers. accountable.
(Senior Procurement Manager, Public Health Ser-
Some firms have adopted training programmes accre-
vices)
dited by prestigious Ivy League business schools or
specialist ‘‘world class’’ operations consulting firms.
The potential development areas for procurement
Many respondents highlighted how they are struggling professionals, mentioned by many respondents are sum-
with less commercially minded people with a closed marised in Table 3 and grouped according to our new skills
mindset of, ‘‘I know the market better than you, there is taxonomy. We have included a comparison with the skills
no need for change.’’ Some spoke of their struggle to get identified earlier in the literature, to demonstrate the
board level support for culture change. One individual overlap and clarify differences in skills nomenclature. We
explained how their firm hired a large number of very also summarise the implications and impact of the groups
expensive commercially minded purchasing professionals of skills for procurement professionals derived from the
who struggled with the culture and subsequently all left the interviews.
organisation.
Overall, the major challenges faced by our professionals 6. Discussion
were less focused on macro-economic factors and over-
whelmingly to do with internal role recognition and In this section, we summarise the findings in response to
politics. the study’s research questions.

5.4. Skills development for procurement professionals 6.1. How do leading procurement professionals perceive
their role within their organisations?
Most procurement professionals felt they were strong on
‘‘bog standard’’ negotiation skills but an overarching trend Overall, procurement professionals identified a schism
was to develop internal selling skills so they can commu- between their perception of their role within their
nicate the value they can bring. Other skills mentioned organisation, and the organisation’s perception of their
were: role. While the professionals unanimously agreed that their
role was strategic and added value, the organisations often
(1) ‘‘A core value is influencing skills to get buy in did not hold this view. It was widely acknowledged that
internally or there is zero adoption of strategy.’’ there seems to be an internal politico-cultural glass ceiling
(2) ‘‘Stakeholder management and people management preventing procurement professionals from being involved
skills to communicate and sell benefits of what you do, in organisation-wide business strategic decision-making.
to have joint synergy within the firm and create buy in The main reasons are: (1) a lack of internal recognition of
from different organisation departments.’’ the full impact a capable and skilled procurement profes-
(3) ‘‘Stakeholder mapping: How does the organisation feel sional can have on organisation-wide performance, and (2)
about procurement? Who should be included in a lack of internal support for the role. It appears that even
decisions and ensure contact is taken with relevant when procurement professionals have acquired a highly
stakeholders to find out early enough when things are developed set of skills, their organisational status remained
happening? Procurement must be proactive and not fairly low. This leads to a deep sense of frustration and
wait for people to come to them for help.’’ ultimately disempowerment. If they are unable to demon-
(4) Cost driver analysis: This featured heavily in develop- strate their capabilities, then they will not be able to change
ment discussions especially from the large financial and organisational perceptions. The only way of breaking
insurance firms, without this analytical skill they feel through this glass ceiling, according to the respondents,
that have ‘‘zero leverage’’, as ‘‘only procurement know was demonstrated when procurement professionals had a
what levers to pull’’ and that the organisation should champion and were represented at board level.
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64 R. Tassabehji, A. Moorhouse / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management 14 (2008) 55–68

Table 3
Development of requisite professional procurement skills

Competency required Skill reference Implication/impact

Technical skills (TS)


TS Technical knowledge: computing skills, tool capacity,  Technical skills (Kolchin and Using new technology for effective
mathematical skills, blueprint reading, forecasting, e- Giunipero, 1993) procurement decision-making
procurement applications  Quantitiative, decision-making,
TS Basic administrative skills such as TQM, legislation, cost negotiation skills (Giunipero and Undertaking negotiations and
analysis, product knowledge and negotiation, production Pearcy, 2000) discussions
systems and processes  Technical skills and skills techniques
TS Advanced procurement process skills (APP), e.g. category (Carr and Smeltzer, 2000) Essential skills for creating value,
management, global sourcing development, cost driver  Technical skills (Cousins et al., 2006) improved value focussed and
analysis and strategic sourcing; project planning, project  Technical, broad financial strategic decision-making
management, technical writing, e-procurement, cost driver (Giunipero et al., 2006)
analysis
Interpersonal skills (IS)
IS Oral communication, listening, understanding, passing on  Interpersonal, individual and Effective two-way communication
information, persuading and influencing management skills (Kolchin and
IS Recognise own strengths: creative thinking, analytical skills Giunipero, 1993) Effective personal development,
Investigation, research, problem-solving, stress management,  Behavioural, team, process awareness and management
time management management skills (Giunipero and
IS Leadership: conflict management, decision-making, Pearcy, 2000; Giunipero et al. 2005) Building and managing cross-
organisation, team-building, cross-cultural awareness  Behavioural skills (Cousins et al., functional teams and relationships
2006)
 Technical skills and skills techniques
(Carr and Smeltzer, 2000)
 Oral communication (Large and
Gimenez, 2006)

Internal enterprise skills (IE)


IE Organisation wide financial skills  Cost analysis skills (Cousins et al., Higher level business decision-
2006) making
IE Change management skills and cultural awareness  Management, team skills (Giunipero Managing internal politics and
and Pearcy, 2000; Giunipero et al., barriers
IE Manage internal customers, sales interface, internal 2006) Resolving internal issues
motivation
IE Communicate and sell message/strategy internally Get ‘Buy In’ from different
departments/groups
Relationship influencing skills
External enterprise skills (EE)
EE Work in cross-functional team  Cross-functional, team-building Early involvement in purchasing
(Lamming et al., 2005) decisions
EE Supplier relationship management skills, supply chain  Strategic skills (Giunipero and Collaborating with value-adding
management Pearcy, 2000) suppliers
EE Stakeholder mapping proficiency, supplier evaluation,  Supplier/product monitoring Effective supplier selection and
international buying (Cousins et al., 2006) stakeholder involvement and
management
Strategic business skills (SB)
SB Demonstrate ability to add value throughout the  Management (Kolchin and Recognition of the value of
organisation Giunipero, 1993) procurement
SB Manage strategic alliances/partnerships  Strategic skills (Giunipero and Takes role to the strategic level of
Business skills and risk management Pearcy, 2000) procurement
 Strategic planning (Giunipero et al.,
2006; Lamming et al., 2005)
 Flexibility (Giunipero et al., 2005)

6.2. How has the role of procurement professionals changed operational. They implicitly recognised that their role
and what challenges have they had to face as a result? involved internal and external stakeholder interactions and
managing supply chain relationships rather than transac-
All the respondents in our interviews agreed that the tion management, with a focus on processes rather than
procurement role was now very much more strategic than functions. Technology was widely recognised as one of the
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R. Tassabehji, A. Moorhouse / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management 14 (2008) 55–68 65

major changes to the role, but there were no challenges or manager creating and developing cross-functional strate-
problems related to this. On the contrary, it was felt to gies and must possess internal selling, change management,
release time for the professionals to focus on more value supplier relationship and partnership management skills.
adding tasks. In line with the findings of Lamming et al. Empirical research has demonstrated (Cousins et al., 2006),
(2005), procurement professionals are aware of the need to and this study confirms, that internal status and role
interact with other functional managers to develop integration act as important precursors to achieving
coherent and integrated strategies, but in practice this strategic procurement. The role of procurement can only
seems to be difficult to do, largely because of the cultural achieve high status levels within the organisation, by
and political barriers that exist in organisations. acquiring strong management support which impacts the
organisation’s attitude and consequent allocation of
6.3. What portfolio of skills do procurement professionals resources. By the same token, unless procurement profes-
believe will enable them to fulfil their role effectively? sionals have a highly developed skill set, they will be unable
to achieve high status levels irrespective of organisational
All the respondents identified an awareness for change support. Without either of these two major factors, the
and further skills development. For example, more evalua- procurement role will have limited actual or perceived
tion tools to improve the effectiveness of the role, advanced effectiveness on organisational performance.
negotiation skills, change management, and sound business The extent of effectiveness of the mix of procurement skills
decision-making skills. Some believed this could be achieved is illustrated in the matrix presented in Fig. 2. Before procure-
by investing in training whilst others, notably the financial ment can be elevated to strategic, the professional first needs
firms, preferred to buy in the ‘best of breed’ talent. to posses a strong set of these underlying skills and compe-
Concerns about intra-organisation political challenges, tencies (Carr and Smeltzer, 2000; Cousins et al., 2006). While
were prominent in identifying skills requirements for the skills related to processes and technology (i.e. technical and
procurement role. Internal selling abilities were overwhel- internal enterprise) are important, by themselves they are not
mingly felt to be the most important skill to increase the enough to improve a company’s procurement performance
effectiveness of the procurement role. Although procurement (Reinecke et al., 2007). The list of skills on the horizontal axis
professionals are perfectly aware of these needs, already of the matrix, is based on the classification in Fig. 1, which is
identified in the literature (Giunipero and Pearcy, 2000; largely cumulative where one builds on the core procurement
Vammen, 2005), it seems that these have not had the impact skills, to reach the ultimate level of skills to be able to operate
expected, as it was proving nigh impossible for procurement strategically. In order to optimise the role of procurement to
initiatives on wider business strategies, to be accepted. achieve added value and competitive advantage for the
organisation (top right square of the matrix), the procurement
7. The procurement skills effectiveness matrix professional must develop technical (including advanced
procurement process skills), interpersonal, internal and
The findings from this study suggest that today’s external enterprise and strategic business skills coupled with
procurement professional must be a dynamic relationship a high degree of support and internal recognition.

Fig. 2. Procurement effectiveness matrix.


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66 R. Tassabehji, A. Moorhouse / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management 14 (2008) 55–68

Skilled but disempowered procurement professionals are supply chain management, finance, marketing and strategy
unable to become truly strategic without board level and different sizes of organisation. Murray (2003) criticises
support. Conversely, a board level ‘strategic’ mandate does the procurement literature as being too focused on the
not ensure that the firm acknowledges the value of private sector so further investigation of differences in
procurement if the procurement professionals cannot perception of procurement and its impact on performance
demonstrate their value internally and have the appro- in the public sector may also be relevant.
priate skills to become strategic. To demonstrate a level of The issue of cross-functional working was raised as being
validity of this framework, we can apply Cousins et al.’s important, thus further work can include documenting the
(2006) empirically derived categories of purchasing man- extent of cross-departmental working in organisations, the
agers to our procurement skills effectiveness matrix. This practitioners’ skill level and quantifying this effect on the
reveals a consistent message in terms of the organisational actual performance of the firm. With a more comprehen-
impact of procurement skills sets. Cousins et al.’s (2006) sive and statistically robust study, these findings could be
‘‘strategic purchaser’’ contributes most to firm perfor- used to explore the interaction of other variables on
mance and in our matrix has the full gamut of required acceptance of a strategic position and the performance of a
skills and internal recognition and support. The ‘‘celebrity firm in future work.
purchaser’’ contributes the least, because of the lack of
skills despite organisational support. The ‘‘capable pur- Acknowledgements
chaser’’ has a range of skills, but lacks organisational
support with limited effectiveness and the ‘‘underdeveloped The authors would like to acknowledge the constructive
purchaser’’ requires skills and organisational support to be and detailed feedback of both the anonymous reviewers
more effective. and the kind diligence and support of the guest editor. This
feedback has led to a much improved paper.
8. Conclusions
Appendix. Semi-structured Interview Template
This exploratory study has shown that senior procurement
professionals believe that their role is now strategic. However, Demographic information:
even today, one of the main problems remains that this
strategic role is not acknowledged internally and there are  Company sector/industry
political and organisational-culture barriers to achieving this  Annual turnover (if public)
recognition, which is impacting procurement effectiveness.  Numbers of staff
Our procurement skills effectiveness matrix demonstrates the (a) Perception of procurement in the organisation
impact these barriers can have on the efficacy of the role of 1. How do you think you are seen by your organisa-
the procurement professional given a portfolio of certain tion?
skills. The skills listed here are based on a consolidation of 2. How do you see your role in your organisation?
past literature and responses collated from participants in this (b) Involvement in the overall sales/purchase process
study. They form the basis of a new procurement skills 3. To what extent are you involved in decision-making
taxonomy relevant for the current environment. before the negotiation?
In order to be effective, not all procurement profes- 4. What prevents early involvement?
sionals will necessarily be operating on the same level, and 5. To what extent are you involved in post implemen-
thus will not require all the skills highlighted in the matrix. tation negotiation?
Organisations, however, need to ensure that they have all (c) Changes to the role and challenges faced
the skills identified in this study and incorporated into the 6. Do you feel your role is changing? (probe for
procurement skills taxonomy and matrix, within their strategic purchasing) How and why?
procurement team to ensure that they can attain the degree 7. What challenges do you face?
of effectiveness they require. Whether this will lead to the 8. What is currently disrupting the way you would like
role of procurement professionals evolving into a more to work?
multi-disciplinary supply network management role, or be (d) Procurement technology
divided into strategic and tactical with different procure- 9. What is the impact of technology on your role?
ment professionals adopting different roles (Giunipero 10. Do you currently engage in e-procurement?
et al., 2006), is still unclear. This is one area for future 11. Has e-procurement changed your role? (How?)
observation and research. (e) Portfolio of skills
One of the major limitations of this study is that it is 12. What skills do you think are required by procure-
based on the perceptions of a small sample of procurement ment professionals today?
professionals from mainly large corporations. Future 13. Is the level of training sufficient to cope with
research can build on these findings by examining the changing role of job?
perception of the role of procurement in organisations 14. Is there anything you feel that is important that you
from different functional perspectives, such as operations, would like to add?
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