Supply: The Expanding Edges of Purchasing. That's how the seventh edition of The Supply Management Handbook starts out -- offering readers a glimpse into how purchasing has evolved since the 1920s.
For more than three decades of the evolution, The Supply Management Handbook (formerly The Purchasing Handbook) has been offering guidance to purchasing and supply professionals. The latest edition encompasses the ongoing shift from simple purchasing to a new, more technology-based imperative -- identifying and managing supply chain sources and strategies.
To drive the point home, Chapter 4 ("The Three- To Five-Year Outlook") explores chief procurement officers' expectations: "The evolution of the supply management profession is akin to that of the IT boom and IT's emergence from technical support to a strategic seat at the boardroom table.... The evolution reflects the difference between a vocation and a profession."
McGraw-Hill, 2006, 945 pages, $129.95
"Supply management will sit on the most senior strategic decision-making boards in successful companies," says Metty.
Weighing in at nearly 1,000 pages, the book certainly does more than offer theories. Practical advice on strategic sourcing, supply chain self-measurement, developing supply chain skills and talent, negotiations, raw material and commodity supply management and purchasing services are detailed and supported by charts, checklists and conclusions.
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