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I look for an undergraduate-level textbook on procurement and supply management that is largely organized around (reasonably simple) mathematical models. The texts I have reviewed so far are all description/discussion-based, with minimal to no mathematical content.

To illustrate the idea, the type of text I have in mind would be similar to Cachon/Terwiesch, Operations Management (the undergraduate book), in the level of math, but covers more procurement and supply management topics, e.g., strategic sourcing, supplier selection, and supplier development. That said, any relevant recommendation are appreciated.

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I checked with a colleague who taught procurement / sourcing / purchasing / supply management / for quite a few years. He's skeptical about there being any heavily OR-oriented books in the field. That said, he mentioned "Better Business Decisions Using Cost Modeling, Second Edition", which he used (along with one or more other books) in an undergrad class focuses specifically on cost models, and "The Purchasing Chessboard: 64 Methods to Reduce Costs and Increase Value with Suppliers", which he thought might provide some ideas of how to (in his words) "fit some treatment of quantitative models into a 'sourcing strategy' framework".

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If you are interested in supply chain management and its related processes, there are lots of textbooks which these concepts have been described in the mathematical form to illustrate and control the behaviour of the supply chain network (e.g. optimization models). Some of them are as follows:

Also, there are many useful references which could be found by googling.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for the suggestions. I have used Snyder and Shen (2019) before and have taken a brief look at Heisig (2002) and Albrecht (2010). It is my impression that the three books are more suitable for graduate rather than undergraduate courses, at least in the setting of US business schools. The Chopra/Meindl book looks like a promising choice. $\endgroup$
    – tvk
    Aug 31, 2020 at 14:16
  • $\begingroup$ On the other hand Chopra/Meindl is still more on general supply chain management rather than a focus of procurement and supply management. $\endgroup$
    – tvk
    Aug 31, 2020 at 14:23
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    $\begingroup$ FWIW, we (Snyder and Shen, plus a third co-author) are currently working on an undergraduate version of our grad-focused book. We're hoping it will be ready within 1 year. It aims to stay mathematically oriented but at an undergraduate level. But like the grad book, it will be focused on general SCM, not procurement specifically. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 31, 2020 at 15:41
  • $\begingroup$ @LarrySnyder610 Looking forward to it! $\endgroup$
    – tvk
    Sep 1, 2020 at 19:33

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