Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation is to examine the perceptions of managerial practices regarding issues
surrounding strategic sourcing (SS) across different industries. The two industries examined in this study are the
manufacturing and the service industries. Although arguably these industries are different in terms of industry
practices and culture there has been a trend toward convergence of managerial practices. Major items such as
VMI, education, risk assessment, and social responsibility appear to have the same importance in both the
manufacturing and service industry. The findings also indicate some support for the divergence view. Issues such
as diversity, collaboration in reducing costs, and communication with upper management, exhibit some
differences in opinion among manufacturing executives and service oriented executives. These differences may
be attributed to the services industry still being in its infancy stage in the sourcing arena. This can have
implications for both industries as they are becoming more hybrid in nature and at times becomes challenging to
distinguish between a good or a service.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.