Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the rationale for choice of suppliers and the influence these decisions have on the firm's capabilities.Design/methodology/approach– The authors examine the choice of in-house operations vs buying maintenance in the Swedish mining industry...

This paper reports the results of a three-year-long research on business relationships, relying on qualitative data gathered through multiple-case study research of four focal companies operating in Australia. The industry settings are as follows: steel construction, vegetable oils trading,...

Purpose of the paper: This article introduces the service function concept, as well as why and how it can be a useful concept for addressing service management challenges in industrial firms. Design/methodology/approach: Two in-depth case studies of global industrial firms enabled a thorough...