‘This book is about a topic of growing importance; companies purchase services to an extent and in a variety as never before. The authors deal with the area in a very comprehensive way, adopting a value-based approach without losing sight of prevailing social behaviour inside and between companies. They help us understand the art of purchasing business services in a variety of contexts, among others by providing a rich selection of illustrations. The book is a must-read for people both in industrial firms and public institutions.’
James C. Anderson, William L. Ford Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Wholesale Distribution, and Professor of Behavioral Science in Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
‘The more important services and a service approach become in business, the more essential it is for managers and researchers to understand the characteristics of services from a purchasing point of view as well. In this book the authors offer a unique approach to the purchasing of services, based on the well-established A-R-A (actor, resources, activities) model of buyer-seller relationships. The book is indeed an important and novel contribution to the purchasing literature as well as to the service management literature.’
Christian Grönroos, Professor of Service and Relationship Marketing Hanken/Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration
‘The knowledge society is fragmented and consists of a large number of different knowledge elements. Successful developments often take place by finding new ways to combine earlier unrelated elements. This book is an excellent example of such a combination. The authors bring together the specific elements of services with the configurations of networks in a text that can be useful both for managers as well as students. The book describes, analyses and gives advice on the procurement of different types of services by utilizing concepts developed in earlier studies of networks and services. The applicability of the concepts is in this way tested but they are also enriched. If you are interested in any of the three areas of purchasing, services and networks you have to read it.
Håkan Håkansson, Professor of International Management Norwegian School of Management BI
‘In writing this book both authors have drawn on their considerable academic knowledge and practitioner networks. This makes this book a unique blend of pragmatic theory and structured application. The reader will benefit from the many case examples that are included in the text. The book generates a host of ideas on how to improve business and purchasing practices - a must read!’
Arjan van Weele, NEVI Professor of Purchasing and Supply Management Eindhoven University of Technology Nyenrode University
Buying Business Services has been written for students taking courses in purchasing and services marketing on MBA or masters level courses. It will also be of great
