Buying business services: towards a structured service purchasing process

Emerald - Tập 23 Số 1 - Trang 3-10 - 2009
Wendy van der Valk1, Frank Rozemeijer2
1Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Tóm tắt

PurposeThis paper aims to uncover the specific difficulties associated with buying services and proposes a structured purchasing process which can help organisational buyers to overcome the problems associated with services purchasing.Design/methodology/approachThe authors investigate the supposed differences between goods and services procurement by means of literature research and a questionnaire distributed among Dutch purchasing managers. Additionally, they draw on experiences from additional case study research and business practice to better understand the results of the survey and to further explore the actual process of buying services.FindingsThe results of the literature review and the survey show that developing a proper specification is an important prerequisite for purchasing services successfully. Based on these findings, an expansion to the traditional purchasing process is proposed which incorporates the steps of pre‐selecting suppliers and detailing the initial specification.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey is limited to The Netherlands. Furthermore, the questions in the survey consider the respondent's perception and not the “truth”.Practical implicationsFor organisational buyers, the importance of a proper specification implies that they should involve service providers early on in the service purchasing process. The service providers consequently can exercise the appropriate resources to develop a high quality solution, but need to be able to demonstrate this added value in these early phases of the services purchasing process.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the discussion on buying services and tries to find out why this is perceived as complicated. It highlights three problem areas and proposes a solution to tackle these.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Akkermans, H. and Van Oppen, W. (2006), “Offensive KPIs: improving buyer‐supplier collaboration in interorganisational service supply networks”, presented at the International System Dynamics Conference, Radboud University, Nijmegen. Axelsson, B. and Wynstra, F. (2002), Buying Business Services, Wiley, Chichester. Bales, W.A. and Fearon, H.E. (1995), “Purchasing of non‐traditional goods and services”, CAPS Report, CAPS/NAPM, Tempe, AZ. Burton, S. (1990), “The framing of purchase for services”, The Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 55‐67. CAPS Research (2003), Managing your Services Spend in Today's Services Economy – Narrative Summary, Purchasing Performance Benchmark Study, CAPS Research, Tempe, AZ. Carter, C.L. and Ellram, L.M. (2003), “Thirty‐five years of the Journal of Supply Chain Management: where have we been and where are we going?”, Journal of Supply Chain Management, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 27‐39. Day, E. and Barksdale, H.C. Jr (1994), “Organisational purchasing of professional services: the process of selecting providers”, The Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 44‐51. Day, E. and Barksdale, H.C. (2003), “Selecting a professional service provider from the short list”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 18 Nos 6/7, pp. 564‐79. Ellram, L.M., Tate, W.L. and Billington, C. (2004), “Understanding and managing the services supply chain”, Journal of Supply Chain Management, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 17‐32. Ellram, L.M., Tate, W.L. and Billington, C. (2007), “Services supply management: the next frontier for improved organizational performance”, California Management Review, Vol. 49 No. 4, pp. 44‐66. Fitzsimmons, J.A., Noh, J. and Thies, E. (1998), “Purchasing business services”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 13 Nos 4/5, pp. 370‐80. Ford, D. (2002), Understanding Business Marketing and Purchasing, Thomson Learning, London. Grönroos, C. (2000), Service Management and Marketing: A Customer Relationship Management Approach, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. Gummesson, E. (2000), “Evert Gummesson: Stockholm University”, in Fisk, R.P., Grove, S.J. and John, J. (Eds), Services Marketing Self‐Portraits: Introspections, Reflections, and Glimpses from the Experts, American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL, pp. 109‐32. Håkansson, H. (1982), International Marketing and Purchasing of Industrial Goods: An Interaction Approach, Wiley, London. Håkansson, H. and Snehota, I. (1995), Developing Relationships in Business Networks, Routledge, London. Jackson, R.W., Neidell, L.A. and Lunsford, D.A. (1995), “An empirical investigation of the differences in goods and services as perceived by organisational buyers”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 24, pp. 99‐108. Kasper, H., Van Helsdingen, P. and Gabbott, M. (2006), Services Marketing Management: A Strategic Perspective, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. Lovelock, C.H. (1983), “Classifying services to gain strategic marketing insights”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47, pp. 9‐20. Mitchell, V.W. (1994), “Problems and risks in the purchasing of consultancy services”, Service Industries Journal, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 315‐39. NEVI (2002), Nederlandse Bedrijven op weg naar Purchasing Excellence: Resultaten Project 1, NEVI, Zoetermeer. Patel, R. (2005), “Walking a tightrope”, CPO Agenda, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 44‐9. Rozemeijer, F.A. and Van Weele, A.J. (2002), “Mirror, mirror on the wall … Let suppliers guide you towards improvement”, DILF Orientering, No. 4, pp. 12‐18. Schiele, J. and McCue, C. (2006), “Professional service acquisition in public sector procurement: a conceptual model of meaningful involvement”, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 300‐25. Sheth, J.N. (1996), “Organizational buying behavior: past performance and future expectations”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 11 Nos 3/4, pp. 7‐24. Smeltzer, L.R. and Ogden, J.A. (2002), “Purchasing professionals' perceived differences between purchasing materials and purchasing services”, Journal of Supply Chain Management, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 54‐70. Soriano, D.R. (2001), “Quality in the consulting service – evaluation and impact: a survey in Spanish firms”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 40‐8. Stenberg, J. and Virolainen, V.‐M. (2000), “A framework for classification of services to gain strategic purchasing insights”, paper presented at the 9th Annual IPSERA Conference, London, Canada. Stock, J.R. and Zinszer, P.H. (1987), “The industrial purchase decision for professional services”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 15, pp. 1‐16. Stradford, D. and Tiura, D. (2003), “Keeping the savings you thought you were getting in services sourcing”, paper presented at the 88th Annual International Supply Management Conference Proceedings, ISM, Tempe, AZ. Van der Valk, W., Hurkens, K. and Rozemeijer, F. (2005), “The art of buying business services results of a survey among Dutch purchasing professionals into the differences between buying goods and services”, in Calvi, R. and Merminod, N. (Eds), Researches in Purchasing and Supply Management, Proceedings 14th International Annual IPSERA Conference, 20‐23 March 2005, Geneva/Archamps, France. Van Weele, A.J. (2005), Purchasing and Supply Chain Management: Analysis, Strategy, Planning and Practice, Thomson Learning, London. Vargo, S.L. (2006), “Service‐dominant logic: clarifications and elaborations”, paper presented at the 15th Annual Frontiers in Service Conference, 29 June‐2 July, Brisbane. Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F. (2004a), “Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 68, pp. 1‐17. Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F. (2004b), “The four service marketing myths: remnants of a goods‐based, manufacturing model”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 6, May, pp. 324‐35. West, D.C. (1997), “Purchasing professional services: the case of advertising agencies”, International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 2‐9. Wittreich, W.J. (1966), “How to buy/sell professional services”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 44, pp. 127‐36. Wynstra, F., Axelsson, B. and Van der Valk, W. (2006), “An application‐based classification to understand buyer‐supplier interaction in business services”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 474‐96. Zeithaml, V.A. and Bitner, M.J. (1996), Services Marketing, McGraw‐Hill Companies, Singapore.
Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Emerald

Tập 23 Số 1

3-10

Thông tin tác giả