The Pattern of Evolution in Public Sector Purchasing Consortia

This research is concerned with how and why public sector organisations implement purchasing consortia. Case-based research was conducted at four public sector purchasing consortia in Canada, consisting of 18 separate public sector organisations. While cost factors were found to be an important reason why the consortia were created, other factors, such as the ability to attract new suppliers, support specialisation of staff, and provide supply with greater resources and stronger management capabilities were also seen as attractive features. A five phase life cycle model is presented to explain the evolution of the public sector purchasing consortia in the study. This research also observed high levels of organisational change in the public sector purchasing organisations studied, consistent with previous research on purchasing organisations in the private sector.