Global sourcing: linking categories to the geographical scope of sourcing

One of the key debates in purchasing management today relates to the decision to source products on a global basis. However, there is little research that goes beyond asking what are the drivers and barriers to global sourcing. This paper attempts to address part of this gap by asking whether variables associated with a category’s strategy, characteristics and supply markets are related to specific sourcing location choices that range from a purely local to a global basis. This is done by testing whether there are significant differences among these variables across a range of sourcing scenarios.