An empirical investigation of interaction processes between buyers and sellers of business services

The authors use this case study to investigate four interaction processes between this customer and four suppliers covering three types of business services. One of these is a semi-manufactured service – a drilling service. Two of these concern instrumental services – one is an engineering/construction service and the other involves the management of a stock of piping materials. The final process relates to a consumption service in terms of waste management. The authors find that the interaction processes in these cases are different from each other in a systematic and predictable way. The authors’ conclusion is that the ongoing interaction is a vital part of the selling and buying of business services and that the process will be closely related to structural aspects such as key objectives, functional representatives and organizational capabilities.