The practice described is most accurately termed Early Purchasing Involvement (EPI) or Early Supplier Involvement (ESI). This strategic approach integrates purchasing professionals into the new product development (NPD) process from its earliest stages. The objective is to leverage purchasing's expertise in sourcing, supplier capabilities, and cost management to optimize design, reduce time-to-market, improve quality, and foster innovation. Option C, "Early purchasing Improvement," correctly captures the core elements of this practice: early engagement of purchasing with the explicit goal of process and product improvement.

A. Service level professionalism: This refers to the standards of conduct and quality associated with service delivery, often formalized in a Service Level Agreement (SLA), not the product development process.

B. Statement of work flow: This relates to the process of creating and managing a Statement of Work (SOW), a document detailing the specific tasks and deliverables for a contracted service.

D. Initializing consent: This is a generic phrase for obtaining preliminary approval and is not a recognized term within supply management for this specific strategic practice.

1. Institute for Supply Management (ISM). ISM Glossary of Key Supply Management Terms (6th ed.). The glossary defines the closely related concept of Early Supplier Involvement (ESI) as "A process of involving suppliers in the design and development phase of a new product." This involvement is facilitated by the purchasing function.

2. Van Echtelt

F. E. A.

Wynstra

F.

van Weele

A. J.

& Duysters

G. (2008). Managing supplier involvement in new product development: a multiple-case study. Journal of Operations Management

26(2)

181-201. This paper defines the practice as involving suppliers in a firm's NPD process to utilize their knowledge and expertise

a process managed and initiated by purchasing. (p. 182).

3. Handfield

R. B.

Monczka

R. M.

Giunipero

L. C.

& Patterson

J. L. (2011). Sourcing and Supply Chain Management (5th ed.). Cengage Learning. The text emphasizes that Early Purchasing and Supplier Involvement in design is critical for influencing cost

quality

and time-to-market for new products. (Chapter 6: New Product Development).