Purpose – According to the most recent theories, the competitiveness of organizations is based on the development of competencies. Core competencies result from greater mastery than competitors of organizational abilities valued by customers. This paper seeks to investigate how a more thorough...

Purpose – The article deals with issues such as the size of a purchasing group, the types of benefits aimed for, and the real beneficiaries of purchasing groups. Design/methodology/approach – The observations are based on the literature, as well as on interviews, mostly with Canadian and US...