Global Purchasing Strategy: Conceptualization and Measurement

In this paper we introduce global purchasing strategy (gps) as an explanatory construct of global purchasing performance. Gps is embedded in a contingent resource-based view. The construct is conceived as the driving force behind the strategy-organization alignment. Gps is conceptualized along four dimensions: the configuration of the global purchasing process, the standardization of the global purchasing process, the standardization of product-related characteristics and the standardization of the purchasing staff organization. We develop the gps scale and test it on a sample of 151 internationally purchasing firms. The analytic results show evidence of both reliability and validity. We propose a general model of global purchasing performance with gps as a central mediating construct.