How Should Organizations Manage the Decentralization of Procurement?

What is the best way for an organization to acquire goods and services? Should it be centralized into a functionally-specialized procurement function? Or should authority be pushed down into the organization so that line managers control purchasing? What would a hybrid approach to sourcing look like? How should organizations manage the decentralization of procurement?

The answer to these questions is increasingly moot. Line managers are inserting themselves into sourcing and procurement decisions more aggressively, especially in areas like IT.