Which barrier to global competition limits global procurement and achievement of economies of scale?

Global procurement gains scale when items are standardized. Large cross-country differences in product needs force firms to vary designs, parts, and suppliers, preventing volume consolidation and the cost advantages of scale purchasing.

A. Direct sales‐force requirements affect distribution costs, not the ability to pool worldwide purchases.
C. Resource impediments concern capital or expertise shortages rather than fragmentation of demand.
D. Lead-time sensitivity raises logistics risk but does not inherently prevent consolidating worldwide volume.

1. Trent, R., & Monczka, R. “Understanding Integrated Global Sourcing,” Journal of Supply Chain Management, 39(4), 2003, p. 9-10 (DOI:10.1111/j.1745-493X.2003.tb00156.x).

2. MIT OpenCourseWare, 15.220 Global Strategy & Organization, Lecture 9 slides 6-7, 2013: “Customer heterogeneity limits economies of scale in procurement.”