Long-term effects of purchasing: fact or fiction?

Long-term approach to evaluate the performance of purchasing over its entire life-cycle ischallenging. It is especially hard to determine the relationship between the early purchasing actions and the long-term consequences of acquiring complex product-service combinations with a long life-cycle. We carried out an interview study with four companies to explore how the long-term purchasing perspective is perceived in different business environments. The results indicate that practices to create long-term consequences of purchasing activities take many different forms. The study highlights practices of the purchasing function when aiming at creating long-term effects of purchasing.