Page 218 - Foundations of Marketing

Business Markets and Buying Behavior | Chapter 7 185

who make business purchase decisions. They include users, influencers, buyers, deciders, and
12
gatekeepers. One person may perform several roles within the buying center, and partici-
pants share goals and risks associated with their decisions.
Users are the organizational members who will actually use the product. They frequently
initiate the purchase process and/or generate purchase specifications. After the purchase, they
evaluate product performance relative to the specifications.
Influencers are often technical personnel, such as engineers, who help develop product
specifications and evaluate alternatives. Technical personnel are especially important influ-
encers when the products being considered involve new, advanced technology.
Buyers select suppliers and negotiate terms of purchase. They may also be involved in
developing specifications. Buyers are sometimes called purchasing agents or purchasing man-
agers. Their choices of vendors and products, especially for new-task purchases, are heavily
influenced by others in the buying center. For straight rebuy purchases, the buyer plays a
major role in vendor selection and negotiations.
Deciders actually choose the products. Although buyers may be deciders, it is not unusual
for different people to occupy these roles. For routinely purchased items, buyers are com-
monly deciders. However, a buyer may not be authorized to make purchases that exceed a
certain dollar limit, in which case higher-level management personnel are deciders.
Finally, gatekeepers, such as secretaries and technical personnel, control the flow of infor-
mation to and among the different roles in the buying center. Buyers who deal directly with
vendors also may be gatekeepers because they can control information flows. The flow of
information from a supplier’s sales representatives to users and influencers is often controlled
by personnel in the purchasing department.
The number and structure of an organization’s buying centers are affected by the organiza-
tion’s size and market position, the volume and types of products being purchased, and the
firm’s overall managerial philosophy on who should make purchase decisions. The size of
a buying center is influenced by the stage of the buying decision process and by the type of
purchase (new-task, straight rebuy, or modified rebuy). The size of the buying center is gener-
ally larger for a new-task purchase than for a straight rebuy. A marketer attempting to sell to
a business customer should first determine who the people in the buying center are, the roles
they play in the buying center, and which individuals are most influential in the decision pro-
cess. While it may not be feasible to contact all those involved in the buying center, marketers
should contact a few of the most influential people.

Stages of the Business Buying Decision Process

Like consumers, businesses follow a buying decision process. This process is summarized
in the lower portion of Figure 7.2 . In the first stage, one or more individuals recognize that a
problem or need exists. Problem recognition may arise under a variety of circumstances—for
instance, when machines malfunction or a firm modifies an existing product or introduces a
new one. It may be individuals in the buying center or other individuals in the firm who ini-
tially recognize that a problem exists.
The second stage of the process, development of product specifications, requires that buy-
ing center participants assess the problem or need and determine what is necessary to resolve
or satisfy it. During this stage, users and influencers, such as engineers, provide information
and advice for developing product specifications. By assessing and describing needs, the orga-
nization should be able to establish product specifications.
Searching for and evaluating potential products and suppliers is the third stage in the
decision process. Search activities may involve looking in company files and trade direc-
tories, contacting suppliers for information, soliciting proposals from known vendors, and
examining various online and print publications. It is common for organizations, particu-
larly those with a reputation for having open hiring policies, to specify a desire to work
with diverse vendors, such as those owned by women or by minorities. During this stage, value analysis An evaluation of
some organizations engage in value analysis, an evaluation of each component of a potential each component of a potential
purchase. Value analysis examines quality, design, materials, and possibly item reduction purchase

Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.