6 Purchasing and Supplier Selection 83
6.1 Strategic Role of Purchasing 83
6.2 Purchasing Portfolio 85
6.3 Supplier Selection 88
6.4 Tools for Supplier Selection 89
6.5 Towards Knowledge Based Sourcing 91
7 Relationship and Integration 94
7.1 Supply Relationship Defined 94
7.2 Close Partnership 95
7.3 Strategic Alliance 98
7.4 Relationship Dilemma 99
7.5 Supply Chain Integration 103
8 The Future Challenges 105
8.1 Creating Customer Centric Supply Chain 105
8.2 Managing Supply Networks 107
8.3 Watch the Dynamics 109