Vak: Theory of PSM credits: 4

Per theme, the student:
Theme: Purchasing department

• explains the general core concepts of purchasing and uses them to describe the purchasing department's role in the organisation.

Theme: Supplier management

• explains the core concepts of sourcing and supplier management and defines and analyses sourcing and supplier management strategies in simple cases.

Theme: Purchasing process

• identifies the phases of the purchasing process along with their main objectives and obstacles and organises these phases in a simple case.

Theme: Purchasing analysis

• draws conclusions from the results of a simple quantitative and/or qualitative purchasing analysis and supplies recommendations for purchasing policy and purchasing process improvements.

Theme: Purchasing process requirements

• distinguishes between different purchasing organisation forms and advises on the most suitable form in simple situations.
• identifies the purchasing procedures and purchasing information systems customarily used in organisations and what objectives they serve.

Theme: Strategy and policy
explains the concepts of purchasing maturity, purchasing policy, purchasing strategy and purchasing plan, and assesses these for consistency and professionalism in a simple case.