Hello everyone,I want to find alternatives for the purchasing strategy of a Geman retailer. The SWOT seems to be a valuable tool to assess the present situation. But whereas I would do a SWOT about the purchasing department only (strengths, weaknesses of the department, opportunities, threats of the markets it purchases from and possible new markets), my mentor (I am writing my final thesis) wants me to do it for the company at large.What is your advice?

I would recommend that you need to do both, for two reasons.1) A departmental (or division, or business unit, or any other segment of a business) strategy can only make sense if it is supports the strategy of the overall business. For example, a purchasing strategy to focus on relationships with a small number of key suppliers at the expense of the absolute cheapest price from a wider range of suppliers, only makes sense if the company strategy is to commit to services or products that those suppliers help produce. Obtaining components for a set of products that are short term cash cows might be better served by an aggressive multi-supplier lowest possible price purchasing approach that maximises short term profit (valid for a cash cow)2) Many aspects of a purchasing strategy SWOT would be defined by the larger business entity. For example, ability to dominate a sub-segment of the supplier base is not a characteristic of the purchasing department, but of the firm as a whole.

Thank you for this competent answer. Very helpful! I will do it like that now.