Sourcing Indirect Spend: A Survey of Current Internal and External Strategies for Non-Revenue-Generating Goods and Services‪.‬

INTRODUCTION There has been increasing recognition that the purchasing and supply management (PSM) function may have a significant role to play in an organization's pursuit of competitive advantage (Ellram and Carr 1994; Spekman, Kamauff and Salmond 1994; Carter and Narasimhan 1996; Carr and Pearson 1999). This advantage, it is argued, may be achieved through improvements in the total costs of ownership, in quality, in service levels, and in on-time delivery. In fact, some researchers have argued that PSM can be a significant source of both costs savings and competitive advantage for corporations (Tully 1995; Kapoor and Gupta 1997).