tionships for both vendors and government,2 the level, quality, and timliness of technological innovation, weapons system quality, and the potential for for fraud.3
Purchasing always involves the acquisition of goods and services.4 In the public sector, purchasing almost always involves the acquisition of goods and services by an organization for consumption by the organization the discharge of its
1B. G. Brunton, "Industrial Origins of the Military Indus trial Complex," Journal of Economic Issues, 22 (January 1988): 601.
2S. Toy, "The Defense Scandal: The Fallout May Devastate Arms Merchants," Business Week, 4 July 1988, 28 29.
3P. Dwyer, "Nobody's Laughing At Ill Wind Now," Business Week, 23 January 1989, 34 35.
4L. Lee, Jr., and D. W. Dobler, Purchasing and Materials
Management, 5th ed. (New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1989), 7 8.
3mission, or in the servicing of its client group. In private sector organizations, these purposes are also present. In these organizations, however, goods and services are more often acquired as a means of supporting a production process. With respect to major dedicated weapons systems, military organiza tions acquire goods for consumption in the discarge of their missions.
The external environment of an organization provides its reason for existence. Therefore, the purchasing function is intimately involved with the capacity of the organization to fulfill its mission, whether that mission is the servicing of welfare clients, the manufacture of automobiles, or defending the country against armed attack. The external environment of a public sector organization, in addition, involves the general public, and the political funding authority for the organiza tion. Prudent and effective use of the financial resources made available to the organization is essential to the main tenance of harmonious relations in these contexts. The organi zational purchasing function is inte...