Increasing the proportion of goods (and services) which are sourced locally by multinationals and other large companies in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has long been advocated as an employment generator. To enable this to happen requires as Harri s on and Brady (1993) state ‘ an understanding of what factors influence the buying process and how this process can be influenced to the advantage of potential supplier businesses in both parts of Ireland’. For some time now large manufacturing companies have been moving toward the incorporation of the purchasing function as a key component in manufacturing strategy whereas previously it was regarded as tactical/operational in nature. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which large firms within Northern Ireland are moving in this direction and the likely implications of such movement for local suppliers. This is an important issue since it is necessary to determine if large firms are adopting new ideas so rapidly that local small companies which one would have expected to be suppliers cannot deliver in terms of the more collaborative and complex relationships of modem purchasing. This has important implications for the local economy in terms of maintaining competitiveness to ensure employment and in identifying strategies for the development and growth of local suppliers.