Buying Consortia
Buying consortia is the term applied to groups of companies that collaborate in the sourcing market. As well as achieving better terms, buying consortia may aim at pooling the know-how of partners so as to best fulfill the specific requirements of the project—safeguarding supply security is normally top of the list.
Buying consortia normally take the form of horizontal pooling arrangements—that is, procurement volumes are bundled with those of competitors working jointly on a major project. Special trust between the companies involved is not necessary; it is sufficient for all parties to consistently support the project goals.
Organizationally speaking, various types of buying consortia are conceivable. One promising approach involves internal or external networks of procurement managers who consult and coordinate with each other periodically throughout the project. This enables sub-projects to be distributed among several experts.