The New Procurement Playbook

Why Tomorrow’s CEOs Are Coming From the Purchasing Department

A landmark study reveals that elite procurement leaders drive 2% higher revenue growth by ditching cost-cutting for strategic influence. Here’s what separates winners from everyone else.

Procurement chiefs have spent decades trapped in a paradox. They control spending that equals half of company revenue. They touch every corner of the business. They see market shifts before anyone else. Yet only 1% of executive committee time gets dedicated to supplier issues. That disconnect is finally breaking.

A 2025 study from Inverto, a BCG company, surveyed 335 procurement executives across Europe, including interviews with more than 20 CPOs from top companies. The research reveals a stark divide in the procurement world. While most teams remain stuck in reactive, cost-focused roles, the top 22% have evolved into what Inverto calls “Impact Leaders.” These elite teams contribute to 2% higher revenue growth than their peers by proactively engaging with executives, shaping business decisions, and measuring success through company-wide metrics like revenue growth and EBITDA impact rather than just savings.

The Evolution Nobody Saw Coming

Procurement’s transformation didn’t happen overnight. The function evolved through three distinct eras that shaped its current identity crisis.

After the 1970s oil shock, cost optimization dominated everything. Procurement leaders centralized buying, built low-cost country sourcing strategies, and relied heavily on volume consolidation and negotiation as primary value levers.

The globalization and compliance era from 2005 to 2020 added complexity. As global trade expanded, procurement assumed new responsibilities. Regulatory compliance, ethics, social responsibility, and carbon impact emerged as core focus areas, layering new duties onto traditional sourcing practices.

The post-2020 strategic realignment changed the game entirely. Global crises reaffirmed procurement’s strategic importance. CPOs now get called upon to diversify supply, deepen supplier partnerships, mitigate inflation risks, and increase organizational agility. This demands executive attention that procurement isn’t getting.

The numbers tell the story. Despite procurement spend typically accounting for around 50% of company revenue, only about 1% of executive committee time currently gets dedicated to supplier issues.

The Impact Leader Advantage

The Inverto study identifies Impact Leaders through three defining characteristics. They engage proactively with the executive committee, moving beyond execution to influence corporate strategy. They prioritize agility, risk mitigation, and innovation, ensuring procurement contributes to competitive advantage. They measure success using company-wide KPIs, including procurement’s impact on revenue growth and margin, rather than just savings.

The performance gap is measurable. While only 18% of procurement teams currently position themselves as strategic advisors to the board, Impact Leaders take an active role in shaping business decisions. This strategic involvement translates to tangible results. On average, Impact Leaders contribute to 2% higher revenue growth than their peers.

The data connects revenue growth directly to procurement’s positioning and importance within organizations. Teams that combine proactive positioning with strongly rising organizational importance show revenue compound annual growth rates of 8.3% from 2021 to 2023. Teams that are reactive and losing importance show negative growth of 0.4%.

Impact Leaders are 53% more likely than other teams to contribute to innovation strategies through supplier collaboration. Meanwhile, 67% of executives reinvest procurement-driven efficiencies into AI and digital transformation, further accelerating business growth.

Beyond Cost Cutting to Growth Engine

For decades, cost savings defined procurement’s success. The Inverto study shows 51% of teams still define their core contribution as delivering cost savings. Another 59% remain heavily focused on traditional, transactional value drivers.

High-performing teams shifted the focus entirely. They contribute to faster innovation cycles for revenue generation. They enable new market development through agile supply chains and supplier ecosystems. They drive customer value creation through product innovation and quality enhancements.

The shift toward supplier-led innovation shows the magnitude of change. Today 34% of companies already rely on supplier-led innovation to drive product and service development. This signals a fundamental shift. Suppliers are transitioning from vendors to strategic partners, helping companies tap into new technologies, shorten time to market, and differentiate in competitive markets.

Among Impact Leaders, supplier collaboration rates rise even higher. These organizations actively co-develop with suppliers, host innovation days, and build long-term partnerships that go beyond procurement transactions. They recognize that real growth comes from building better with suppliers, not just buying better from them.

One CPO at a European pharmaceutical company captured the mindset shift. “We’ve stopped seeing innovation as something R&D owns alone. Our suppliers have insights and capabilities we don’t. Tapping into that unlocks faster, more efficient innovation and it keeps us ahead of the curve.”

Building Crisis-Ready Operations

Disruption has become the norm rather than the exception. Geopolitical instability, inflation, energy volatility, and regulatory shifts are now part of daily business. The ability to anticipate, absorb, and adapt to shocks has become a defining factor for business success.

The study shows 85% of executives are already addressing supply disruption from rising interest rates, regulatory change, and inflation. Yet 40% say they are not prepared to weather market shocks. Procurement sits on the front lines of this challenge.

The most advanced procurement teams take concrete steps to embed agility into operations. The study highlights three critical levers.

Supply chain diversification and risk management frameworks come first. Some 66% of Impact Leaders have already implemented diversified sourcing strategies, compared to just 49% across all teams. These organizations build resilience through multi-sourcing, dual sourcing, and risk-mapping tools, reducing dependency on single suppliers or regions.

Nearshoring and regional sourcing for stability comes next. Regionalized supply models are gaining traction, with 35% of companies reporting improved supply continuity through nearshoring. This proves especially relevant for industries facing longer lead times or regulatory constraints, like manufacturing, automotive, and chemicals.

Predictive analytics to stay ahead of risks rounds out the approach. Some 41% of Impact Leaders use automated risk monitoring and predictive analytics to identify disruptions before they escalate. These teams track real-time indicators including logistics, geopolitical signals, and commodity volatility, feeding them into dynamic scenario planning models.

A procurement leader in the aerospace sector described the mindset shift. “We don’t wait for the crisis call anymore. Our job is to see it coming and already have a response in place. It’s a mindset shift from managing risk to mastering it.”

The Path to the Executive Table

The shift from cost center to strategic driver requires more than good intentions. Procurement must reposition itself as a strategic partner by aligning with CEO and board priorities.

CEOs today focus on navigating uncertainty, managing inflation, building supply chain resilience, accelerating digital transformation, and delivering sustainable growth. To stay relevant, procurement must speak the same language.

Procurement leaders need to frame their value in terms of business outcomes, not just savings. That means highlighting revenue generation through supplier-enabled innovation, risk mitigation through sourcing agility and supply chain design, and financial performance through metrics that tie into EBITDA, margin, and long-term value.

A group CPO at a European consumer goods company explained the communication challenge. “Procurement has visibility into parts of the business others don’t. That gives us the unique ability to connect supply chain risk, sustainability, and margin improvement. But to make that impact visible, we had to start speaking in terms the CFO and CEO care about.”

The most effective CPOs today are already operating as business leaders. They’re leading transformation, navigating disruption, managing global ecosystems, and collaborating across every function. The same capabilities that define a great CPO, strategic thinking, resilience, cross-functional influence, and digital fluency, are increasingly seen as prerequisites for future CEOs.

The CEO Pipeline Nobody Expected

One of the study’s most provocative findings centers on career progression. As procurement continues to rise in strategic relevance, the next wave of CEOs won’t only come from finance or operations. They will increasingly come from procurement.

A CPO at a multinational infrastructure group captured this evolution. “I used to think my job was negotiating better contracts. Now, I’m in the room when we discuss market entry strategies, innovation roadmaps, and business model shifts. Procurement gives you a 360-degree view of the business and the credibility to lead.”

The logic is compelling. Procurement leaders have visibility into every part of the business. They manage relationships with external partners worth half of company revenue. They navigate complex negotiations requiring financial acumen, strategic thinking, and operational expertise. They build and lead cross-functional teams. They respond to market disruptions in real time.

These are exactly the capabilities boards seek in CEO candidates.

The Bottom Line

The top 22% of procurement teams prove that proactive, strategic procurement directly drives business growth. They influence executive strategy, deliver measurable business impact, and drive innovation in partnership with suppliers. Most importantly, they’ve outgrown the traditional definition of procurement as a cost center.

Their performance validates a new model. Revenue enablers, change agents, and trusted advisors to the C-suite deliver 2% higher revenue growth, deeper cross-functional integration, and stronger resilience in a volatile world.

But these teams are not outliers. They are role models proving that every procurement function has the potential to step into a strategic role if the right actions are taken.

For CPOs, that means claiming a seat at the executive table, measuring success through business-oriented KPIs, investing in innovation and agility, and building future-ready teams with cross-functional and leadership capabilities.

For CEOs and executive boards, the message is equally clear. Strategic procurement isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a competitive necessity. Organizations that empower their procurement teams will be better equipped to anticipate disruption, accelerate growth, and deliver long-term value.

Key Takeaways

The procurement function is evolving from cost center to strategic growth engine. The top 22% of teams, identified as Impact Leaders, deliver measurably better business outcomes by engaging proactively with executives, focusing on innovation and agility, and measuring success through company-wide metrics rather than just savings.

Supplier-led innovation has become a critical competitive advantage. Some 34% of companies already rely on suppliers to drive product and service development. Impact Leaders are 53% more likely to contribute to innovation strategies through supplier collaboration, recognizing that growth comes from building better with partners, not just buying cheaper from vendors.

Supply chain resilience requires proactive design, not reactive firefighting. Impact Leaders are 66% more likely to have implemented diversified sourcing strategies and 41% use predictive analytics to identify disruptions before they escalate. In a world where 85% of executives face supply disruption but 40% admit they’re not prepared, this capability separates winners from everyone else.

How is your procurement function positioned in your organization? Are you measuring success through cost savings or business impact? What’s holding your team back from claiming a strategic seat at the executive table? Share your experience in the comments below.