As a Buyer, a key factor in my sourcing decisions was the size of the supplier. While it is arguably the greatest piece of marketing of all time, the fact that "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" was often at the forefront of my mind.

I had a number of reasons for taking this approach – some real, some perceived. In today's Art of Procurement, I explore the reality of working with small and medium sized businesses with Tom Greco and Ed Edwards of THOMASNET.com.

First, Tom and Ed explain which of my fears were based on fact, and which were in my mind only. They then provide guidance on how I could have mitigated the risks that are present to take advantage of the benefits that working with small and medium sized businesses provides.

We then move to the other side of the table. How do small and medium sized businesses feel about working with larger procurement functions.

The answers surprised me. In essence, smaller companies fear working with larger organizations as much as I did with them.

So how can we break the cycle? In the final part of the discussion, Tom and Ed provide their insights into how we as procurement professionals can more effectively facilitate the use of smaller companies to benefit from the innovations – and often lower costs – that they can often provide.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/smb