The Culture of Purchasing Processes in Innovative Production Enterprises

Abstract

The issue of purchasing processes has been analyzed and studied by scientists for several years, and especially the time of the pandemic has shown that activities in the area of procurement require more analysis and focus on creating new values or developing a culture of these processes in organizations.
 The COVID-19 pandemic caused the business world to undermine the reliability of the supply chain and showed that purchasing processes can be unstable. Purchasing functions faced demand-supply imbalances, which often lead to inventory issues, uncertain supply reliability, and high-risk relationships with various stakeholders, particularly suppliers and customers. Opaque supply chains and new realities require flexibility, a certain culture and maturity in sourcing functions to stay in business and succeed as a business in the new era. In order to build effective capabilities in purchasing processes and be able to flexibly respond to the challenges of the business environment, as well as meet the needs of stakeholders, enterprises must protect themselves with new norms, values and principles in this area.
 The article, in the theoretical part, describes the term of purchasing processes, presents elements that can be considered as the basis for building a culture of purchasing processes in innovative production enterprises. The research part describes the research methodology and the results of the conducted surveys as well as the conclusions resulting from the research. The research was conducted on a group of 36 managers who deal with this area in innovative production companies listed on the NewConnect market in Poland. The analysis of the literature and the results of the research showed that the prospects for the development of the purchasing process culture are significantly high. Especially this aspect has become quite important during the pandemic and companies are increasingly including these activities in key business processes.