Purpose

This paper aims to explore how small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) purchasing is shaped through supplier–buyer relationships to extend product lifetimes.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative single case study design is adopted, involving a workwear manufacturer, a service-oriented distributor and four SME customers in Sweden. Drawing on the industrial network approach (INA), the study examines how structured decentralised purchasing models evolve through high-involvement supplier relationships.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that high-involvement supplier relationships enable SMEs to overcome internal resource constraints by leveraging internal and external capabilities. Structured decentralised purchasing models, coordinated by a service provider, balance operational efficiency with user safety and satisfaction and contribute to extended product lifetimes. The study highlights the underexplored role of users in sustainable purchasing.

Practical implications

The study provides guidance for both SMEs and suppliers seeking to balance operational efficiency with sustainability. It emphasises the value of service-oriented intermediaries in facilitating high-involvement relationships that improve SME purchasing and product lifetimes.

Originality/value

This paper advances sustainable purchasing literature by applying the INA in the context of SMEs. It provides a novel understanding of how supplier interactions, particularly those involving users, can support structured decentralised purchasing models and extended product lifetimes, contributing to improved outcomes with regard to sustainability.

Consumer deviance and misbehaviour delve into the darker, often overlooked aspects of consumer behaviour in retailing, encompassing actions that deviate from societal norms and commercial expectations. Understanding these behaviours is crucial for comprehending the full spectrum of customer interactions and their impacts on businesses, employees, service quality, and consumer satisfaction. This entry explores consumer deviance and misbehaviour’s intellectual and social context, from its historical evolution to its interdisciplinary nature, drawing insights from psychology, sociology, and management. It highlights diverse dimensions of customer misbehaviour and examines contextual factors influencing customers and those affected by it. Theoretical frameworks such as justice theory and behavioural economics shed light on cognitive and moral underpinnings. Additionally, it discusses preventive and management strategies, emphasising employee training and organisational support. Lastly, the entry suggests future research directions, including AI, environmental considerations, and the application of big data analytics in addressing customer misbehaviour.

This paper examines the impacts of AI tools on customer service recovery responses, with a focus on the customer experience and the well-being of service recovery staff. We find that the tools themselves are neutral in terms of their effects but can be implemented in helpful or negative ways. Based on our analysis we propose a series of research questions 

The purpose of this study is to extend current understanding of disabling marketplaces by substantiating embodied interaction, between service providers and disabled consumers, as interlinked multimodal activities in a material environment. The study is based on three extensive datasets on service production and provider-consumer interactions, gathered from several public sector markets containing private service providers. Using different qualitative and semi-ethnographical methods, the study makes three contributions: i) a more embodied construct of disability, materialised in a conceptual typology of embodiment and materiality, advancing research into what disables consumers from being active members of marketplaces; ii) identifying themes of disabling marketplace interactions which contribute a more fine-grained understanding of the relationship between embodiment and how consumers experience vulnerability – an explanation of how consumers with disabilities appropriate space and ascribe meanings to a place; and iii) substantiating previous research into ‘bodily dys-appearance’.

Under de senaste åren har vi sett ett ökat behov av att engagera aktörer från de ekosystem vi studerar. I denna presentation utforskade vi strategier för hur dessa aktörer framgångsrikt kan involveras under olika faser av forsknings- och projektgenomförande.

Vi inledde med en genomgång av varför det är viktigt att engagera ekosystemets aktörer och vilka fördelar det medför för både forskning och praktik. Därefter presenterade vi tre fallstudier där vi framgångsrikt hade samarbetat med ekosystemaktörer. Varje fall belyste olika metoder som hade använts för att främja engagemang: från samarbete vid projektansökningar, involvering under genomförande och fältarbete, till fullt engagemang från idéstadiet till implementering.

I den avslutande delen av presentationen ledde vi en diskussion kring utmaningarna med att uppnå meningsfullt engagemang från ekosystemaktörer. Deltagarna delade med sig av sina egna erfarenheter, och vi bidrog även med exempel på utmaningar vi stött på för vidare diskussion.