Combining goods and service-dominant logics in purchasing strategies

Purpose: While goods- and service-dominant logics are separated in most research as alternative and often incompatible paradigms, this paper aims to show how these logics can be and are combined in purchasing strategies in organizations. The paper also illustrates that multiple logics exist in addition to purely goods- or service-based logics. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on empirical data on the purchasing of management consulting services, which represent an extreme context for understanding the combination and intersection of goods- and service-dominant logics. In particular, four in-depth case studies and interviews with 51 sellers and 30 buyers of management consulting services are used to develop a typology of purchasing approaches that combines goods- and service-dominant logics. Findings: The study shows that goods- and service-dominant logics are combined in two main purchasing phases: supplier set selection and assignment selection. In both these phases, parallel and knowledge-based, embedded and experience-based approaches were identified as ways of combining goods- and service-dominant logics in the purchasing context. Research limitations/implications: The research presented in the following adds to our existing understanding of possible purchasing strategies under multiple logics in buying organizations. Future research should explore the conditions under which different strategies are and should be applied in organizations. Practical implications: This paper gives practitioners alternative approaches to choose from in their purchasing and sales of knowledge-intensive services, in addition to transactional and relational strategies. Originality/value: The research adds to existing research on business and industrial marketing by identifying particular purchasing strategies on a continuum between goods- and service-dominant logics.