Procurement or Purchasing?

What do we mean by procurement or purchasing? "While the question might be throwaway to some, the answers can make a real difference. Procurement is often a mysterious world to the uninitiated, with many varied perspectives on what it actually is and what it does" says Karen Moorehouse at Procurment Leaders "The meaning of terms particularly purchasing, procurement, sourcing and buyer often get muddled, and not without consequence. It’s one of the idiosyncrasies of the profession that whomever you ask, they will provide you with a different opinion on their definition" We agree at Beaumont Select, it is good to agree on terminology. Some interesting comments from Karen and she also points to some Procurement Terms definitions provided by Procurian, that you might find useful?