An important question is whether the supply base needs to be reduced or expanded and where suppliers should come from, together with what kind of relationship and contract.
Issues that should be addressed by a category sourcing strategy are the following:


-Single vs. multiple sourcing
-Global vs. local sourcing
-Partnership or competitive relationship
-Buying on contract or buying on spot basis
-Price agreement vs. performance agreement

Category sourcing as a concept includes three stages: ‘category planning’, ‘category sourcing’ and ‘category implementation’.
-Category sourcing plan needs a strong link to the overall business goals and strategies. Next, stakeholders must be identified, in order to effectively involve these and in a timely manner in category planning process. The analysis of current and future spends reviewed, together with current and future requirements. This is the basis for defining the targets and objectives. Than the plans will be discussed with the stakeholders. After this the contracting starts (Chapter 2).

A major objective underlying in co-operation is to achieve significant improvements in:
-Logistics
-Quality
-Product and SC cost
-Product development