Centralization of procurement – essence and current trends

The aim of the article is to evaluation of the idea centralizing procurement, its advantages and disadvantages and to indicate practical examples of the application of this strategy in the conditions of development of modern ICT technologies. At the beginning of the article the basic definitions are given: purchasing, procurement and sourcing, to contrast them. Next, the characteristics of the centralization of procurement were indicated by comparing it with decentralization. This part of the work also defines the advantages and disadvantages of procurement centralization. The next part of the article presents practical examples of the application of this strategy both in enterprises and in public administration. The conclusions were formulated at the final part of the article. The paper uses the methods of literature review, analysis, synthesis and case study. Article refers to studies aimed at assessing the validity of the application of the centralization of procurement in enterprises with many departments using modern ICT. The use of this form of purchasing organization brings positive results, as the analyzed examples of Orlen Capital Group or Gaz-System shown.