A Study On Purchasing Function In Eskişehir Urban Hotels

Abstract

Apart from their qualities, businesses need a purchasing capability (competency) in order to operate and sustain their existence. This is valid for all sectors and under all conditions. While purchasing was evaluated on the basis of total costs of purchased products in the past, lately impacts of purchasing on customer satisfaction and perceived value has been an important topic of concern, and this fact denotes the changing facets of discussions on the importance of purchasing. Starting from this perception, the current study aims at examining functions of purchasing in urban hotels as an important component of service industries. In this regard, a descriptive research has been conducted. In-depth interviews were used to collect data, and they were analyzed by the content analysis. Study findings revealed that there were five themes that cover purchasing hotels. These themes were: existence of purchasing department, perceived importance, customer satisfaction, decision process and buying center. Study results suggest that the structure of purchasing function highly dependent on the characteristics of the hotels. The findings were discussed in the conclusion section and implications were drawn.