ABSTRACT
Severn Trent is a case study of the developing awareness of the strategic and operational importance of purchasing functional professionalism, without any real recognition of the potentialities that arise from an understanding of procurement competence and supply alignment. Immediately prior to, and after, privatisation the major concern of the company was with internal cost reduction and the more effective management of purchasing spend. By 1990 the company had recognised the need to focus on a more functionally professional approach to external spend, and this coincided with the development of a flirtation with supply alignment and procurement competence. The reason for this relatively hesitant understanding is the fact that the company, while privatised, has not really had to change its way of thinking radically because it retains a geographical, monopoly position within the water industry.
