The characteristics of service buying in the business-to-business sector

The purpose this paper is to identify the special features of service buying, with specific reference to Finland, and to describe the organisational characteristics of firms that are more heavily involved in buying services in the business-to-business (B2B) context. The research results reveal an association between the volume of service buying and certain functional aspects of the business. Companies engaged heavily in service purchasing are willing to seek outsourcing opportunities in the area of supply management in order to improve their service-purchasing competence. Furthermore, it was found that the rate of service purchasing indicates the structure of supply management organisation – the more the company is engaged in service procurement the more likely the purchasing is decentralised in various locations. Moreover, successful service purchasing requires continuous and active interaction between all the parties involved in the procurement process.