Sourcing Strategy like a Shopping List? Here’s How to Fix It.
Most companies don’t have a sourcing strategy. They have a shopping list and a cost‑down target. That’s not the same thing.
I’ve spent over 15 years in industrial procurement. Most of it inside Fortune 500 manufacturers. Some of it inside a massive Chinese private company.
Across both worlds, I kept seeing the same pattern: companies spend enormous energy on supplier execution — negotiating, firefighting, chasing deliveries — but very little time on the thinking that should come before it.
What’s the actual category strategy?
Which suppliers are truly strategic, and which are just transactional?
Are we building a supplier portfolio that reduces risk, or concentrating it?
Is dual sourcing being used for resilience, or just to beat suppliers down on price?
These aren’t tactical questions. They’re strategic ones.
And when they go unanswered, the result is predictable: suppliers that fail, costs that creep back up, and procurement teams stuck in endless firefighting mode.
This series is my attempt to pull together what I’ve learned about sourcing strategy — not from textbooks, but from real projects, real mistakes, and real recoveries.
Here’s what’s coming:
- Why Some Sourcing Strategies Fail Before They Even Start The category strategy mistake — and a story about a strategic supplier that walked away.
- Beyond Price — How to Compare Suppliers When Quotes Look Similar Why the cheapest quote often leads to the highest total cost.
- How to Build a Supplier Portfolio That Reduces Risk The supplier portfolio that keeps your production line running when things go wrong.
- Dual Sourcing Done Right — More Than Just Splitting Orders The difference between dual sourcing for resilience and dual sourcing for cost pressure.
- Why Supplier Development Is a Procurement Strategy When to help a supplier improve — and when to walk away.
- Building a Sourcing Strategy That Survives Disruption The five elements every sourcing strategy needs to outlast the next crisis.
Each article stands alone. Together, they form a framework for thinking about sourcing as a strategic function — not just a buying function.
If you’re managing suppliers in China, or anywhere else, I hope there’s something here you can use.
Share your stories on sourcing strategies in comments.