پویایی مبادلات خدمات کسب و کار : دیدگاه هایی از برون سپاری تدارکات

This paper offers insights about the dynamics of business service exchanges. We draw on the interaction approach, contracting theory and the notion of qualification from economic sociology to develop an analysis frame for such dynamics. We then apply this frame to a single, longitudinal case study. Contrary to the extant service supply literature assuming that service definitions remain (or should remain) fixed throughout the purchasing process, our findings suggest that, under high uncertainty conditions, the service exchange object is (re)shaped through iterative cycles of stabilisation and destabilisation. This study also reveals a connection between service definition and relationship governance dynamics—uncertainty and opportunism risks related to service destabilisation can be managed through dynamic deployment of relational, contractual and economic mechanisms. This paper also contributes to our understanding of the contract as basis for interaction and openness and offers an extension of qualification theory to complex business-to-business (B2B) service settings.

The continuing trend towards specialisation and outsourcing of goods and services is well documented (e.g. McIvor, 2005; Domberger, 1998) and business services such as accounting, management consulting, information technology/system (IT/IS) and logistics form a large proportion of firms’ acquisition of external resources (Axelsson and Wynstra, 2002; Vining and Globerman, 1999). This has become global in scope, with companies shifting service activities to low-cost economies such as India, China and Eastern Europe—hence the terms off-shoring and near-shoring (Youngdahl and Ramaswamy, 2008; Sako, 2006; Jahns et al., 2006; Axelsson et al., 2005). Facing such a global marketplace, buying companies often need to deal with changing decision-making contexts and increasingly complex offerings. Service providers, with different business backgrounds and capability sets, bundle core offerings with value-adding services in their attempt to differentiate from competition and secure higher profit margins. Despite all this, there is relatively little research in business services from a purchasing and supply management perspective (Ellram et al., 2007; Wynstra et al., 2006; Carter and Ellram, 2003).

In the following, we revisit the research questions posed at the introduction in the form of brief conclusions. With regard to RQ1and RQ2, we found that the service exchange object was shaped and reshaped in iterative cycles of temporary stabilisation and destabilisation, i.e. through the process of service (re)qualification. Contrary to much of the extant service purchasing literature assuming that services are defined at the outset and remain fixed throughout the purchasing process in all instances, our findings suggest that service definition in B2B exchanges can be a more iterative and ongoing process. Service characteristics, activities and resources were temporarily stabilised at specific stages of the contracting process (e.g. ITT specification), but revisited as data and design assumptions were refined and operational and commercial requirements changed. The study suggests that the high requirements and market uncertainty, high supplier uncertainty due to lack of information, incomplete assignment specifications and invalid design assumptions led to destabilisation in the pre-contract period. The contractual specification was a means for temporarily codifying the service and making it tradable, but further service destabilisations and adaptations were needed post-contract. In keeping with the critical realist ontological position adopted, in other service definition settings where these contingent conditions exist, we suggest that similar cycles of stabilisation and destabilisation may present an effective way to adapt what is actually done by the service provider for its client, whilst maintaining secure reference points against which the service can be adjusted. Furthermore, our data provide support for Callon’s (2002) claims regarding the importance of writing and re-writing in shaping objects of exchange in service settings. Here, the ITT document, the (revised) service proposals and the (amended) contract served as important tools for service (re)qualification, successive refinement or even transformation of service and associated activities and resources and, finally, as Araujo and Spring (2006) also suggest, temporary stabilisation of the exchange object.