Category Management in Purchasing: A Strategic Approach to Maximize Business Profitability

Category Management in Purchasing is a comprehensive guide to strategic category management which provides a step-by-step guide to its implementation and use, and enables readers to deliver value and cost savings when sourcing and purchasing. Now in its fourth edition, this text has cemented its place as the essential reference for category management practitioners.

In this new edition, Jonathan O'Brien shows how a strategic approach needs to integrate with other approaches, such as supplier relationship management and how the procurement function negotiates. Additionally, this new edition includes some new insights, based upon the experience of senior practitioners in industry, on how to make category management a success in the organization. It also includes some general updates and contextualizes the future procurement function and an ever increasing digitally enabled, de-globalized, post Brexit world. There is also additional material on the effect of international developments on procurement, updated tools and templates, and examples of how these have been successfully used in industry. Category Management in Purchasing, 4th edition connects theory and practice and provides readers with the tools to analyze complex sourcing situations quickly and clearly, and so develop innovative and creative proposals for sourcing.

Jonathan O’Brien is the CEO of Positive Purchasing Ltd, the international procurement and negotiation consultancy and training provider. With over 27 years of experience working in purchasing, he has worked all over the world to help global organizations increase their purchasing capability through training, education and working directly with practitioners and executive teams to drive in the adoption of category management and other strategic purchasing methodologies. He is also author of Supplier Relationship Management, now in its second edition, The Buyer’s Toolkit and his award-winning title Negotiation for Procurement Professionals, all published by Kogan Page.