Insights from action research: implementing an innovative lean procurement framework for global sourcing

The stressing worldwide competition moves organizations to global sourcing to take advantage from foreign markets. However, distance and complexity of cooperation and coordination may lead companies to increase their level of stocks. Supply process can apply lean production pillars, overcoming the JIT principle of supplier proximity, to design an innovative lean procurement process for enhancing operations’ performances. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we present a set of lean practices, suitable to the procurement process, developing a specific framework for global sourcing. Second, we show results of an action research performed to test the framework with real global outsourcing requirements of an Italian company, operating in the electro-mechanical industr