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Article
Publication date: 6 March 2017

Wendy L. Tate, Lisa M. Ellram and Ulrich Schmelzle

The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of how purchasing can become meaningfully involved in complex business-to-business service purchases.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of how purchasing can become meaningfully involved in complex business-to-business service purchases.

Design/methodology/approach

A single in-depth case study method of an exemplar organization was applied to better understand the purchasing function’s role in adding to the value proposition in complex, non-traditional business-to-business service purchases.

Findings

Powerful allies or advocates can mediate purchasing involvement in service procurement. However, once the involvement is initiated, purchasing must make a positive contribution with respect to the specific needs and expectations of the budget owner to retain its influence.

Research limitations/implications

This research extends institutional theory to show how powerful allies or advocates can mediate purchasing involvement in the complex services spend.

Practical implications

This study describes the potential impact of purchasing’s involvement in complex services spend and highlights the opportunities for purchasing managers to improve supplier management and drive out additional costs.

Originality/value

For the business practitioner, this research provides evidence regarding how individual functions can gain influence in the organization. A conceptual model describes the meaningful involvement of purchasing in complex business-to-business service purchases.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 May 2018

Rocío Rodríguez, Göran Svensson, Sergio Román and Greg Wood

The purpose of this study is to examine the actions and interactions that take place before and after purchase between a service provider (service seller) and its customers…

1022

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the actions and interactions that take place before and after purchase between a service provider (service seller) and its customers (service buyers) in complex business relationships. Specifically, it is to examine customers’ expectations of the service provider’s service offer before purchase and the same customers’ perceptions of the service solution offered after purchase in a business-to-business (B2B) context.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a mixed methods design, which combined data generated through in-depth interviews (both with service buyers and key informants from the service company), an online customer survey, analysis of textual documents and structured observations of buyer–seller interactions and actions. Both objective and subjective points of view at different stages of the investigation were collected.

Findings

The authors’ results show that, contrary to previous evidence in B2C service research, the customers’ perceptions of the service performance were not significantly related to their previous expectations. In this context, characterized by dynamic and constantly evolving processes and many parties (both from the buyer and the seller company) involved in the implementation process, service complexity may cause a lack of well-formed expectations regarding how the service will perform and its relevant performance attributes.

Research limitations/implications

This study suggests that the service models traditionally used to describe and explain customer service expectations and perceptions in relatively simple service contexts with final consumers are difficult to apply in B2B complex business relationships. Rather, scholars need to take a holistic, continuously evolving and adapted perspective when examining the formation of customer service expectations and their perceptions in B2B complex services.

Practical implications

There should be a teleological balance between sales and purchase approaches in B2B contexts to optimize the outcome of complex business relationships between service providers and service receivers. The authors suggest several recommendations to service providers to ensure that their salespeople do not create unrealistic and unachievable expectations in the minds of the service receivers. Service providers are also encouraged to develop formal cross functional teams (e.g. consisting of salespeople, service technicians and service support) based on mutual understanding and information sharing.

Originality/value

This study provides an alternative time-oriented understanding of the way customer expectations before purchase and their perceptions after purchasing a complex software solution in industrial markets formed through the lens of teleological framework. As such, this is the first empirical inquiry with this specific framework in B2B contexts making a relevant contribution to literature.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 33 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 June 2021

Pricivel Carrera, Sükran Katik and Fredo Schotanus

Little is known about actual price savings generated by cooperative purchasing and nonmonetary advantages, disadvantages and impediments for the cooperative purchasing of complex

Abstract

Purpose

Little is known about actual price savings generated by cooperative purchasing and nonmonetary advantages, disadvantages and impediments for the cooperative purchasing of complex or high-risk purchases. This paper aims to explore these topics by studying joint purchasing of pacemakers in The Netherlands.

Design/methodology/approach

To evaluate the magnitude of price savings, data on individual and collective prices for 18 hospitals was analyzed. In addition, 16 interviews were carried out with representatives of hospitals that participated and did not participate in the joint purchase.

Findings

Based on quantitative and qualitative data, the authors found large differences in price savings which can be attributed to scale, but mostly to knowledge of the group and renewing a contract in a technology-driven and developing market. Limited product choice – because of an organization joining a cooperative – constrained the attractiveness of cooperative purchasing, as end users may have specific product preferences. The consideration of preferences of end users is important toward successful joint purchasing of complex items.

Social implications

The authors argue that price savings because of scale are about 7% for smaller organizations and 4% for larger organizations. For smaller organizations with low specific knowledge and capacity for buying complex products, economies of process and knowledge are more important reasons for joining a purchasing group than scale. For large organizations with high specific knowledge and capacity, scale is the most important reason.

Originality/value

This study combined qualitative and quantitative perspectives, using actual spend data, to investigate cooperative purchasing of high-risk or complex purchases. On the one hand, more insight into the magnitude and reasons for price savings is provided than in earlier literature. On the other hand, more insight is given in qualitative reasons for joining a group and challenges for cooperative purchasing of complex items.

Details

Journal of Public Procurement, vol. 21 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1535-0118

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 June 2018

Ilias O. Pappas

In the complex environments of online personalization, multiple factors have been considered to explain consumers’ online behaviour, but largely without considering the role of…

5831

Abstract

Purpose

In the complex environments of online personalization, multiple factors have been considered to explain consumers’ online behaviour, but largely without considering the role of specific configurations of variables and how they may affect consumer behaviour. This study aims to show how trust towards online vendors, privacy, emotions and experience combine to predict consumers’ purchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on complexity theory, a conceptual model followed by research propositions is presented. The propositions are empirically validated through configurational analysis, using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on 182 customers with experience in personalized online shopping. Predictive validity analysis is also performed.

Findings

Five solutions of trust, privacy, emotions and experience increase intention to purchase, and six solutions inhibit it. The findings verify the importance of trust and happiness in successful personalized online shopping. Their absence inhibits purchase intentions. Also, high experience may help to overcome low trust or negative emotions, whereas low experience requires the combination of high trust and happiness. None of the examined factors are indispensable to explain purchase intentions.

Research limitations/implications

The study uses fsQCA, differentiating from traditional studies in the area that use variance-based methods and identifies multiple solutions explaining the same outcome. The proposed approach contributes to theory development in the field.

Practical implications

The multiple solutions lead to new ways on how companies may approach their customers, as each one covers a specific part of the sample, adding to the fact that in personalized marketing there is not one single optimal solution explaining customer purchase intentions.

Originality/value

This study contributes by extending existing knowledge on how trust, privacy, emotions and experience combine to increase or mitigate intention to purchase towards the development of new emotion-centric theories and the design and provision of personalized services and presenting a step-by-step methodological approach for how to apply fsQCA in e-commerce studies.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 52 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2016

Yamen Koubaa

– The purpose of this paper is to highlight the strategic role of purchasing and model its transformation process based on a case study of a military firm.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the strategic role of purchasing and model its transformation process based on a case study of a military firm.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews the existing literature to highlight the strategic role of purchasing and put forward the transformations the function is undertaking. The model system dynamic approach is then detailed and applied to model the transformation of the purchasing function of a military firm. The modeling software Analytica is then used to run the model and get to results.

Findings

The shift of purchasing toward a more strategic function is complex and multidimensional. Implementing these transformations requires flexible designing approaches such as the system dynamic modeling that incorporates both quantitative and qualitative variables to model the function’s changes. The paper details the methodology of applying the system dynamic approach. It recommends a new structure of the purchasing function as well as new and upgraded indicators of purchasing performance and suppliers’ management.

Research limitations/implications

A single-case study research. Even though, the objective is not to generalize the findings but to enrich the existing literature as regard the system dynamic modeling in a specific domain, the one-case research setting can be seen as a limitation against generalizeable findings.

Practical implications

A clear step-by-step action plan of conducting the transformation of the purchasing function using the system dynamic modeling approach. The paper gives ways to upgrade existing measures of purchasing and policies of suppliers’ management.

Originality/value

The application of the system dynamic modeling approach to the specific domain of military purchasing.

Details

The International Journal of Logistics Management, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-4093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 August 2011

Nizar Souiden, Frank Pons and Marie‐Eve Mayrand

The pupose of this paper is to investigate consumers' behavior in emerging countries. In particular, it simultaneously assesses the effects of country image and…

4743

Abstract

Purpose

The pupose of this paper is to investigate consumers' behavior in emerging countries. In particular, it simultaneously assesses the effects of country image and country‐of‐origin's image on consumers' uncertainty, aspiration and purchasing intention of high‐tech products.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a sample of 479 Chinese consumers, structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

Results show that compared to country‐of‐origin, country's image is a more effective tool in reducing consumers' uncertainty and increasing their aspiration to purchase high technology products. Contrary to country's image, however, country‐of‐origin's image plays a considerable role in influencing the product image.

Research limitations/implications

The major role of a country‐of‐origin is to influence product image while that of country's image is to increase consumers' aspiration to acquire its product and diminish their uncertainty and hesitation about buying the product. In other words, the image of a product is much more prone to the effect of country‐of‐origin's image than country's image.

Practical implications

Marketers should understand that consumers in emerging countries are ambivalent when they consider the purchase of complex products. On the one hand, highlighting the country image can contribute in alleviating consumers' uncertainty and increasing their aspiration to purchase sophisticated and complex products. On the other hand, promoting the country‐of‐origin's image can prove an effective means to improve product image in emerging markets.

Originality/value

Most of the previous studies have focused on one of the two concepts (i.e. country's image or country‐of‐origin), interchangeably used both of them, and relatively ignored their simultaneous impact on consumer behavior. The present study has tried to address this shortfall through simultaneously studying their influences on product image and consumer purchase intention; and highlighting their differential impacts.

Article
Publication date: 11 September 2017

Nikolaos Pappas

This paper aims to examine the complexity of attribute configurations affecting tourism decisions related to peer-to-peer accommodation and the sharing economy in destinations…

2329

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the complexity of attribute configurations affecting tourism decisions related to peer-to-peer accommodation and the sharing economy in destinations affected by recession.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on chaos and complexity theories this non-parametric research examines the perspectives of 352 peer-to-peer accommodation holidaymakers in Athens, Greece. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study examines the complex relations between social and economic aspects, benefits, risks and consumer trust with regard to purchasing intentions. The paper also compares fsQCA with the dominant linear methods of analysis (regression; Cramer’s V) and highlights fsQCA’s suitability when dealing with tourism complexity.

Findings

The results reveal three configurations explaining the attributes of holidaymakers’ tourism decisions characterised by socio-economic orientation, trust formulation and price sensitivity. They also highlight the superiority of fsQCA towards conventional linear analyses in complexity aspects.

Research limitations/implications

The examination of the complexity concept using fsQCA can provide a better understanding of the influence of attributes which affect tourism decisions especially for countries suffering from deep recession such as Greece. Still, due to the lack of fsQCA implementation in tourism studies, its full potential needs to be further examined.

Originality/value

In terms of the literature, the study provides an understanding of the complexity formulation of tourism decisions during recession, with special focus on the sharing economy. It further explores the attributes that affect tourism decisions and associated linkages. Methodologically, the study highlights the value of fsQCA and its advantages compared to conventional methods of correlational analysis. It also progresses from fit to predictive validity for the models suggested.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 29 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1982

M.T. Cunningham

Purchasing operates at the interface between a company and its supply market environment. Its activities are essentially concerned with securing the resource inputs of materials…

Abstract

Purchasing operates at the interface between a company and its supply market environment. Its activities are essentially concerned with securing the resource inputs of materials, components and equipment into the business, and in the selection and handling of suppliers of those inputs. Many earlier studies have described and analysed buying decision‐making from a marketing perspective, in order to predict and influence the eventual sourcing decisions in a manner favourable to the supply company. For example, studies have identified the stages in buying, the roles and influence of individuals on buying decisions and the criteria used by buyers in choosing between alternative sources of supply. This has led to purchasing being viewed as a process in which the focus is primarily upon specific buying episodes or discrete purchasing decisions, such as the choice of new suppliers or the exercise of source loyalty to existing ones. An overall strategic view of the range of purchasing activities from the buyer's perspective has been neglected. Obviously, purchasing is not confined to isolated decisions and short‐term operational episodes. Indeed, recent work in the subject has emphasised that specific buying decisions are better viewed within the context of the overall relationships between buying and selling companies. Each supplier and customer is interested in the other's resources and capabilities. Consequently, the exchange of goods is but one part of a broader exchange of services, information and value systems between the two parties to a transaction. Clearly, buyers and sellers are active participants in the transaction process and are influenced by the actions of the other. Complex relationships develop between individual buyers and marketers in any dyadic interaction but they occur also between the members of the customer's decision‐making unit and a supplier's team of marketing; technical, manufacturing and managerial personnel. This “interaction approach” to industrial purchasing and marketing proposed by the IMP group of researchers, focuses attention upon the influence of four groups of variables on buyer‐seller relationships. First, the parties involved (individuals and organisations); second, the atmosphere surrounding the relationship (co‐operation, trust, exercise of power, dependence); third, the environmental context (market structure, competition), and fourth, the exchange process (the exchange of technological expertise, products, services, information etc).

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Materials Management, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0269-8218

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2001

Lambros G. Laios and Socrates J. Moschuris

This article reports on the influence of the enterprise type on the purchasing decision process within selected product types and phases by using analysis of variance on data from…

5939

Abstract

This article reports on the influence of the enterprise type on the purchasing decision process within selected product types and phases by using analysis of variance on data from Greek manufacturing and utility enterprises. Our study examined the influence of enterprise type on four parameters of the purchasing decision process, across two different product types and four phases of the purchasing process. The results suggested that all but one parameter varied considerably among the different types of enterprises, and that companies adopt an appropriate structural configuration, which fits to the attributes of the purchased items and the mission of the enterprises.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 21 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1998

Evangelos Xideas and Socrates Moschuris

This article reports on the influence of product type on the purchasing structure within selected phases of the purchasing process by using regression analysis on data from Greek…

3610

Abstract

This article reports on the influence of product type on the purchasing structure within selected phases of the purchasing process by using regression analysis on data from Greek manufacturing and utility enterprises. Our study examined the influence of two different categories of items, namely product incorporated items and MRO (maintenance, repair and operating) items, on various aspects of the purchasing cycle. The results suggested that parameters of purchasing structure varied considerably between the two product types and that their configuration depended on attributes such as product complexity and environmental uncertainty.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 32 no. 11/12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

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