Do you think global procurement can sometimes be disadvantageous to a firm? Give reasons to support your answer.

Answers will vary. Global procurement of goods and services is not always the cheapest option, and often it is not as cheap as it might seem on paper. Transportation costs for goods and communication challenges between parties can absorb significant time and money, and in the process supply chains often become long and convoluted. As the supply chain lengthens, inventories can become larger and less efficient.
From a strategic standpoint, excess inventory isn't the only problem companies may face when they engage in global procurement. Some firms lose control of their operations when they purchase goods and components around the world because maintaining quality and punctuality standards becomes more difficult. A delay anywhere along the supply chain can quickly escalate and prevent companies from filling orders.
Another potential drawback is that procuring from suppliers may have the unintended consequence of helping suppliers become future competitors. When a business allows external companies to manufacture parts of their products, those companies begin to develop the capabilities necessary to copy and produce the product themselves. For instance, when Dell Inc. was first founded, it manufactured its entire product line in-house. Later, to achieve production efficiencies, it decided to outsource the simpler parts of its computers to ASUSTek, a vendor in Taiwan. Outsourcing brought increased margins and enabled Dell to focus on the most complex portions of the product-where the most value was added. Over time, Dell continued to outsource to ASUSTek more of its end product, such as the whole computer, until Dell was essentially a brand name and the company focused on design and marketing and did no manufacturing at all. It initially chose to outsource because it could cut costs without cutting revenues, increasing profitability over the short term. However, ASUSTek learned everything Dell had to teach it and started putting those new competencies to work. It eventually developed its own products, and now it competes with Dell directly in the United States. By aggressively outsourcing, Dell inadvertently created a new competitor.
Last, a business practice called offset agreements may force companies to practice global procurement in a way that reduces their competitiveness. In an offset agreement, a supplier agrees to buy products from the party to which it is selling, in order to win the buyer as a customer and "offset" the buyer's production costs. Usually the seller is a foreign company and the buyer is a government that requires the foreign company to buy products from local companies. For example, if Japan-based All Nippon Airways purchases aircraft from Boeing, the Japanese government may ask Boeing to offset this order by purchasing parts for or assembling portions of the aircraft in Japan. This allows some of the value Boeing will create to directly affect the Japanese economy.
The section "Disadvantages of Global Procurement" on pages 329-330 discusses the disadvantages of global procurement. Students can use this section to make their own interpretation and answer this question.