Advancing purchasing organisations and processes : Current research discussions and their business impact

Trends such as newly available data, higher degrees of supplier involvement, new work and digital technologies require transformative action in purchasing organisations and processes to further establish purchasing as an integrated business partner. Currently, Chief Purchasing Officers (CPOs) and supply managers face opportunities as well as challenges that have been unknown so far — at least to such an extent. They are often uncertain about the potentially disruptive impact of these developments on their daily business and require support also from the scientific community. Therefore, this paper consolidates current scientific discussions on purchasing trends and provides a first indication on how they support current problem sets of the purchasing practice. Do the two perspectives match or differ? Does the scholarly debate also cover current practical problems? The topics identified include traditionally established ones, such as new product involvement of suppliers and green supply management, as well as initial publications on customer-centricity and creative methods; however, there is an evident gap. Comprehensive answers and concrete solutions to questions around the impact of digitisation on purchasing are not yet provided by the scholarly debate, but the discussion of current trends becomes noticeable. Therefore, the scope of research should be further widened in order to generate applicable and relevant knowledge, thereby achieving business impact.