The original text was written over 40 years ago by Peter Baily and David Farmer and was in its day one of a very small number of specialised texts relating to the field of purchasing and supply. Since that time, purchasing and supply chain management has become recognised as a crucial strategic activity by those concerned with organisational management and as a recognised academic discipline with a growing number of university professors dedicated to the subject area. It is reassuring to note that the literature on the subject continues to expand, as does the amount of academic and practitioner interest in it, reflected in the now substantial number of university degrees available at both under- and postgraduate level. As we also said, the visionary and pioneering work that Peter and David took part in, probably to some extent as a gesture of faith, is now fully justified.

原文是40多年前由彼得·贝利和大卫·法默撰写的，当时是与采购和供应领域有关的极少数专门文本之一。从那时起，采购和供应链管理已被那些关注组织管理的人视为一项重要的战略活动，并被视为一门公认的学科，越来越多的大学教授致力于这一领域。值得欣慰的是，有关这一主题的文献不断增加，学术界和实践者对这一主题的兴趣也在不断增加，这反映在目前大量的大学本科和研究生学位上。我们也说过，彼得和大卫所作的有远见和开创性的工作，可能在某种程度上是一种信仰的姿态，现在是完全有道理的