Recent turbulent months have caught many buyers off guard. While 12 months ago companies had their focus on rising raw material prices and scarce resources, the current economic crisis has now led to a shift towards cost containment. Although market volatility is likely to continue over the next year, one trend is destined to remain: Supplier markets will become more differentiated. What does this mean for companies and industries worldwide? That a “one size fits all”strategy no longer applies.

To cope with these challenges and to provide an answer to the differentiated supply markets, A.T. Kearney developed The Purchasing Chessboard™, a framework to address every possible supply and demand market conditions. With 4 purchasing strategies, 16 levers and 64 methods, the Purchasing Chessboard offers the toolkit to achieve sustainable cost reductions in every situation. Each of the 64 methods is described in the recent book “The Purchasing Chessboard”, which is complemented with case studies.