Organizational participants in the make-or-buy process

Understanding the make-or-buy process is increasingly important to industrial marketers and researchers. Yet, there is a lack of research dealing with organizational participants in this process. Drawing on existing theories, this study investigates the degree of involvement of key organizational participants in the make-or-buy process as well as the impact of contextual variables. The research involved 10 depth company interviews followed by 85 completed mail questionnaires. Results indicate that the technical function, the production function, the financial function, and an ad hoc make-or-buy committee are mainly involved in the make-or-buy process. Moreover, organizational participants in make-or-buy issues vary considerably among companies, depending on organizational characteristics (size, operations technology) as well as on characteristics of the item/service under make-or-buy investigation (type, commercial uncertainty). Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed along with suggestions for future research.