ABSTRACT
Cooperative purchasing has been practised for a long time, but it was not until the 1990s that its potential was generally recognized. Cooperatives have been used mainly in the public and retailing sectors, but recently industrial purchasing consortia have also emerged. The traditional form of cooperative purchasing mainly covers materials and its essence is a joint request for proposal. The partners then jointly accept the best proposal for each group of materials. Most Finnish purchasing consortium organizations are satisfied with this level of cooperation.
