全球采购(Global Sourcing)

全球采购是指利用全球的资源，在全世界范围内去寻找供应商，寻找质量好，价格合理的产品。

全球采购的主要趋势:
全球采购使国际制造商的采购战略发生了显著变化，具体内容表现在四个方面：
　　第一，集中采购趋势非常明显。许多全球制造商想方设法提高采购批量，以充分发挥其价格谈判的能力。实现这一目标通常有三个途径：1）集中一个公司不同事业部或不同地区的某些特定类型元器件的采购数量； 2）通过一家供应商采购；3）尽可能使各产品的元器件标准化，以实现标准化器件更高的采购批量。但这一做法受到新产品设计阶段元器件选择的限制。
　　第二，整合供应商以获得成本优势。现在，许多全球制造商将供应资源集中起来，只与少数几家供应商打交道。三年前，Palm 公司80%的采购支出分散到150家供应商，去年已经聚集到50家。从这项战略中受益的还有旭电、伟创力等大型EMS公司，它们从OEM那里获得大笔制造业务，对成本非常敏感。通常，为维持采购成本的优势，大型EMS公司对采购条件要求非常苛刻，他们提出的“总成本”模式反映了这一变化。如今，EMS公司不再根据元器件报价选择供应商，而包括物流和废品率的总供应成本管理成为选择供应商的要素。此外，要求供应商不断改进和发展也是EMS提出的新要求。例如，旭电公司对供应商的要求除了低成本之外还包括可靠性、平均故障间隔时间、交货期执行情况、准时送货表现、计划灵活性和降低库存风险等。
　　第三，为与供应商互动，全球制造商迅速采用基于IT系统的采购流程，如在线询价和在线拍卖变得越来越普遍。在线采购给OEM和EMS公司带来的主要利益是：由于供应商彼此竞争，OEM/EMS公司能够快速识别和评估供应商，从而加速采购流程并获得巨大节约。
　　第四，在中国设立国际采购中心。随着在中国采购量的大幅增长，国际大型OEM公司跨越中间商直接进行采购。对它们中的大多数来说，起初，在中国采购只是为了利用设在中国的工厂支持全球组织的元器件采购。然而，其结果并不令人满意，因为全球组织的要求和本地制造公司的考虑总存在不一致。

Global sourcing is a term used to describe strategic sourcing in today's global setting. Most companies now include global sourcing as part of their procurement strategy. Global sourcing often aims to exploit global efficiencies in the delivery of a product or service. Common examples of globally-sourced products or services include: labor-intensive manufactured products produced using low-cost Chinese labor, call centers staffed with low-cost English speaking workers in India, and IT work performed by low-cost programmers in India and Eastern Europe. While these examples are examples of Low-cost country sourcing(LCCS), global sourcing is not limited to low-cost countries.

Global sourcing is often associated with a centralized procurement strategy for a multinational, wherein a central buying organization seeks economies of scale through corporate-wide standardization and benchmarking. A definition focused on this aspect of global sourcing is: "proactively integrating and coordinating common items and materials, processes, designs, technologies, and suppliers across worldwide purchasing, engineering, and operating locations.

The global sourcing of goods and services has advantages and disadvantages that can go beyond low cost. Some advantages of global sourcing, beyond low cost, include: learning how to do business in a potential market, tapping into skills or resources unavailable domestically, developing alternate supplier/vendor sources to stimulate competition, and increasing total supply capacity. Some key disadvantages of global sourcing can include: hidden costs associated with different cultures and time zones, exposure to financial and political risks in countries with (often) emerging economies, increased risk of the loss of intellectual property, and increased monitoring costs relative to domestic supply. For manufactured goods, some key disadvantages include long lead times, the risk of port shutdowns interrupting supply, and the difficulty of monitoring product quality.

International procurement organizations (or IPOs) may be an element of the global sourcing strategy for a firm. These procurement organizations take primary responsibility for identifying and developing key suppliers across sourcing categories and help satisfy periodic sourcing requirements of the parent organization. Such setups help provide focus in country-based sourcing efforts. Particularly in the case of large and complex countries, such as China, where a range of sub-markets exist and suppliers span the entire value chain of a product/commodity, such IPOs provide essential on-the-ground information.

Over time, these IPOs may grow up to be complete procurement organizations in their own right, with fully engaged category experts and quality assurance teams. It is therefore important for firms to clearly define an integration and scale-up plan for the IPO.