Buying Business Services


By Björn Axelsson and <link people finn-wynstra _blank>Finn Wynstra 

Abstract 

Purchasing is a function of growing interest and importance within most companies and organisations. We also live in a society where services are being produced and consumed as never before. This book aims to discuss the procurement of services in the context of the company as a whole, looking at both the integration of purchasing within the companies flow of activities and the system of supply chains which can affect the conditions for purchasing behaviour. 

Contents 

Foreword 
Acknowledgements 
About the Authors 

PART I: INTRODUCTION 

1 The Increased Importance of Buying Services 
2 Business Services, their Providers and Customers 

PART II: BUSINESS SERVICES AS FUNCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

3 Business services in terms of activities, resources and actors
4 Outsourcing and insourcing of functions and activities 
5 Buyer-Supplier Interaction in Business Services Exchange Processes 
6 The Impact of E-commerce 

PART III: APPLICATIONS: THE PROCESS OF BUYING BUSINESS SERVICES 

7 Specifying Business Services 
8 Selecting and Evaluating Business Service Providers
9 Contracting Business Service Providers: Pricing, Negotiations and Payments 

PART IV: REFLECTION 

10 Transaction-oriented and Related-oriented purchasing 
11 Buying business services: the market perspective versus the network perspective 
12 Summary 

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