Fast technological developments, growing globalisation of markets and higher customer requirements have resulted in ......... competition in many consumer and industrial markets.

Emergent global markets are populated by ......... companies that try to position themselves as local firms by emphasizing local content.

In this continuously changing world, the importance of price is being reduced and quality becomes a significant means of ......... sustainable competitive advantage.

Leenders and Blenkhorn (1988) introduced the term 'reverse marketing' for an aggressive kind of purchasing that they had ......... in the U.S. and Japan.

Reverse marketing describes how Purchasing actively identifies potential suppliers and offers ......... partners a proposal for long term collaboration.

Successful reverse marketing requires a ......... effort.

The upgraded demands and reduced supplier roster lead to the substition of traditional ......... relationships by close and long term partnerships, characterized by mutual trust and interdependence and mutual benefits.

The current development of the purchasing function shows ......... similarities to the development of the marketing concept.

This conceptual ......... between purchasing and marketing can also be found within individual firms.

Purchasing and marketing are basically comparable activities directed at facilitating exchange transactions and relationships with external parties; accordingly, the purchaser's and marketer's tools and methods are more similar than might be expected at first ..........