Modern supply chain management professionals have placed emphasis on defining the distinct differences between strategic sourcing and procurement.
The term "strategic sourcing" was popularized through work with a variety of blue chip companies by a number of consulting firms in the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s.
[citation needed] A United States federal memorandum issued in 2005 emphasised the collaborative and structured nature of strategic sourcing for government departments, defining the process as one of "critically analyzing an organisation's spending and using this information to make business decisions about acquiring commodities and services more effectively and efficiently".
This change is due to the heightened importance of market intelligence in modern strategic sourcing plans, and its ability to deliver value by improving both pricing and contract terms when leveraged against the identified suppliers.
As strategic sourcing is put in place and practiced over time, many large, sophisticated organizations will modify the process to better meet their individual corporate needs.
Furthermore, it allows internal stakeholders in the buying organization to impose constraints on the award or specify preferences to favor certain non-cost objectives such as limited switching, reduced supplier numbers or higher quality outcomes.
Strategic sourcing from a professional standpoint is lampooned in the American syndicated comic strip Sally Forth, in which the titular character's husband Ted Forth is employed within this field for the duration of the series's run.
Sally Forth is currently written by the writer-illustrator team of Craig MacIntosh and Francesco Marciuliano and frequently lampoons many aspects of business and procurement culture and new trends in purchasing innovation.