Purchasing manager, agent, and buyer career overview and job description Companies hire purchasing managers, buyers, and purchasing agents to find the best merchandise at the lowest possible purchase cost. Purchasers typically buy goods and services for their company or organization to use, while buyers ordinarily buy items in order to resale them for profit. Purchasers and buyers find the best goods or services, choose suppliers, negotiate prices, and grant contracts that ensure that the right amount of the product or service is received when it is needed. Purchasing managers, buyers, and purchasing agents take several steps to reach these goals: they research sales records and inventory levels of current stock, find foreign and domestic suppliers, and stay current on any changes in either the supply of or demand for needed products and materials.

Questions

1 What is the role of the purchasing manager?
2 What are the indirect costs of purchasing that should be added to the direct costs in order to estimate the full cost of materials and services?