Purchasing's Interaction with Customers: The Effects on Customer Satisfaction—A Case Study

Abstract

A significant number of purchasing organizations find themselves working to improve both their image and customer satisfaction. This article describes the experiences of a purchasing organization, in one division of an oil company, that had tried unsuccessfully for ten years to improve customer satisfaction by measuring performance and improving supplier reliability. Management then employed a somewhat broader approach to improving purchasing performance in the area of capital equipment purchases: interacting more closely with internal customers. To evaluate the effects of this approach on customer satisfaction, upper‐ and middle‐level managers in purchasing's two largest internal customer organizations, Engineering and Maintenance, were surveyed—first in the Northern Division, where both past efforts and the current intervention had been implemented, and in a similar division, the Southern Division, where only past efforts had been applied. The results indicate that interacting more closely with customers can improve customer perceptions of purchasing's responsiveness and professionalism, but that technical knowledge may play a greater role in improving perceptions of the value added by purchasing. The experiences of this purchasing organization provide general insights on approaches to perceived performance improvement.

Ensuring corporate travel compliance – Control vs. commitment strategies

“…The authors emphasize that the purchasing manager should create strong external cooperation by establishing a system of communication, and ensure shared goals with suppliers (Stanley & Wisner, 2001) According to a study by Wisner and Stanley (1999), the purchasing units that provide high internal service quality are those that are more proactive, open and ready to flexibly meet internal customer needs and expectations. Rossler and Hirsz's (1995) results further suggest that close interaction with internal customers improves these customers' perceptions of the purchasing unit's responsiveness to their needs. Internal customers of the purchasing unit also rely on the actions taken by other supporting functions such as warehousing and inventory management (Stanley & Wisner, 2001).…”

Service quality along the supply chain: implications for purchasing

“…Based on surveys of purchasing's customers, Cavinato (1987) developed a list of several dimensions of internal service quality performance, including fast delivery of products and services, reliable products and services, and advance information about potential quality and delivery problems. Additionally, Rossler and Hirsz (1995) explored the concept of internal service quality and found that closer interaction with internal customer groups improved the perception that purchasing was responsive to their needs, while technical knowledge was critical to good performance. More recently, Young and Varble (1997) combined 22 items from the SERVQUAL instrument (Parasuraman et al, 1991) and other criteria identified by purchasers (Raedels and Buddress, 1993) into their own survey instrument and identified reliability and responsiveness as the most important dimensions of performance with purchasing's internal customers.…”

The mediating role of key supplier relationship management practices on supply chain orientation—The organizational buying effectiveness link

“…Most purchasing performance models deal with efficiency outcomes based on accounting principles (e.g., Rossler & Hirsz, 1996). Undoubtedly, efficiency is an important purchasing issue; however, it is not sufficient for clarifying the value-adding role of purchasing in the supply chain context.…”