Procurement as a business function: Practice reveals many terms to relate to procurement activities. As a result the view and expectations of procurement differs among managers and procurement professionals. What is the role of procurement, is it strategically relevant, and how to manage it? Are you a procurement hero or a business partner? Category Sourcing: Category management is a corner stone for a successful business strategy. However, many sourcing strategies seem nothing more than well-planned tactics. Procurement is assumed to manage a spend that relates to budgets managed by other disciplines. Not seldomly, category sourcing leads to intra organizational conflicts. How to develop effective sourcing strategies in this context?