Table 2 Summary of the SMEs’ purchasing... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Summary of the SMEs’ purchasing before engaging in high-involvement relationships

Purchasing characteristics	Customer A	Customer D	Customer B	Customer C
Purchasing decision-maker	User	User	Manager	Manager
Supplier	Several construction stores	One construction store	One supplier for workwear (centralised) and one supplier for shoes (decentralised)	One supplier for rental and industrial laundry
Relationship with supplier	Transactional	Transactional	Transactional	Close relationship until supplier scaled their business
Purchasing frequency	Based on need	Based on need	Once a year (workwear), based on need (shoes)	Repaired or replaced based on need
Individual budget per user	None	Monetary value	Specified number of garments per employee, monetary value for shoes	Specified number of garments and shoes per employee
Purchasing practice	Decentralised		Hybrid	Centralised

Purchasing characteristics	Customer A	Customer D	Customer B	Customer C
Purchasing decision-maker	User	User	Manager	Manager
Supplier	Several construction stores	One construction store	One supplier for workwear (centralised) and one supplier for shoes (decentralised)	One supplier for rental and industrial laundry
Relationship with supplier	Transactional	Transactional	Transactional	Close relationship until supplier scaled their business
Purchasing frequency	Based on need	Based on need	Once a year (workwear), based on need (shoes)	Repaired or replaced based on need
Individual budget per user	None	Monetary value	Specified number of garments per employee, monetary value for shoes	Specified number of garments and shoes per employee
Purchasing practice	Decentralised		Hybrid	Centralised

Source(s): Authors’ own work