To remain competitive today, companies are increasingly looking beyond their own borders to procure components and finished goods. International procurement is so commonplace today that for many products a manufacturer's home country or even point of final assembly gives few clues as to its true origins.

Several years back when "Buy American" campaigns were popular, for some product categories it became apparent that is is actually quite difficult to find a 100 percent home-grown product despite a very American name plate. Take the Ford Contour automobile, which is assembled in Kansas City, Missouri. Its engine comes from Mexico, the wiring systems from Thailand, and transmissions from Europe, and the brake and instrument assemblies can originate either in Europe or the United States. To make things even more fuzzy, some seemingly foreign products turn out to be American. Is a Toyota manufactured in Kentucky a Japanese or American car? You really need to kick the tires and look under the hood these days if you care to know.

While international procurement has exploded, few companies have developed a truly global approach to managing the supply lines that fuel global marketing, manufacturing, and distribution growth strategies. In many cases, a supply chain approach to sourcing has fallen between the organizational cracks - purchasing departments who are not trained in logistics and supply chain management, while the purchasing function is often excluded from the responsibility of logistics managers. As  a result, international procurement has traditionally focused on finding lower-cost sources of raw materials, components, and finished goods - a quick-fix, reactive response to the competitive pressures of the last two decades. But real competitive leverage fomes from a more strategic view of global sourcing - one in which suppliers and their full capabilities become an integral part of a company's global supply chain and a powerful source of competitive advantage. Not just an afterthought, sourcing can be a key driver of a firm's overall global manufacturign and distribution strategy.