New phenomena and trends in procurement logistics

• an increase in costs associated with material procurement resulting from the outsourcing phenomenon
• the emergence of many new organizational concepts based on systemic assumptions, including in logistics areas
• the availability of new technical means, especially in the field of data processing and communication
• recognizing the purchasing process as one of the strategic areas of business activity and a significant source of cost reduction, quality improvement, and streamlining the production process
• growing international competition, which, in the face of opening new opportunities for increasing enterprise efficiency, triggers entrepreneurship
• the increase in employee qualifications, including managers capable of understanding and evaluating the benefits of new management concepts.

The listed causes have meant that the development of procurement logistics has been marked in the following directions:
• managing a global supply network
• developing the concept of relationship marketing and strategic partnership with suppliers
• developing information systems and technologies.

Managing a global supply network stems from the fact that companies are increasingly looking abroad for sources of supply and markets for their finished products. The increasingly progressive standardization and normalization of the subject of exchange in terms of production, transport, or warehousing means that there is no need to source from the local market, as a given product with the same parameters can be obtained elsewhere on the globe. The phenomenon of globalization is not a new one. It is the result of the homogenization of societies, which has its causes in the cultural, technical, and political spheres. However, it is an effect of the development of communication channels, which will be discussed below. It should be kept in mind that no enterprise is an island. By having a supply market, it also has a sales market, which is a supply market for other entities, not necessarily operating in the local market. By developing export markets, companies from various countries feel the need to create effective logistics systems and networks, while simultaneously expanding the reach of their procurement and logistics activities. Companies that have adopted a global development strategy can be divided into three types:

1. companies whose task is to move large quantities of raw materials from countries where there are surpluses to countries where there is a shortage of these raw materials,

2. companies that, thanks to low labor costs, can maximize production capacity,

3. companies that have decided to concentrate investments in the sphere of research and development and production.

Globalization has encouraged companies to rationalize production and reduce the number of production plants and

has led to the centralization of inventories. However, it is often noted that greater benefits are brought not by physically grouping inventories in one place, but by locating them close to the buyer or production point. Central management and monitoring of inventory flow seem much more important. This is the basis of the “virtual” warehouse idea. The concept is based on the assumption that a company can achieve the same savings it would have obtained from centralizing inventories through information, while using existing flexibility (a warehouse near the recipient).