Organizational size and buying influences

This article evaluates organization size as a segmenting variable and as an influence on industrial buyer behavior. The results demonstrate that organization size is an important factor in predicting certain aspects of industrial buyer behavior.     

Organizational buying in selected Yugoslav firms

Findings from a study of 14 Yugoslav industrial marketing managers support two hypotheses on the behavior of buying centers: (1) membership in the buying center changes through the buying process, and (2) top management playing a ratifying role of choices to maintain long-term, stable relationships between suppliers and customers may substantially affect exchange behavior.     

Organizational buying in the offshore oil industry

A model of organizational buying is advanced based on interview data from the offshore oil industry. The variable linking complexity and organizational participation was the criteria of evaluation in the buying process.     

Industrial buying behavior in Brazil

Many firms in less developed countries (LDCs) make little use of available information when they are considering investing in new production technology. A very small number of alternative suppliers are generally considered and supplier evaluation is often perfunctory. A number of questions concerning the information on alternative suppliers are raised and answers were sought in a field study carried out in Brazil. The factors that influence the degree of search by managers for information on alternatives included the relative cost of the equipment, the familiarity of the buyer with the technology, the cost of acquiring the information, the available resources of the company, and the buyer's expectations concerning quality and price, Implications for industrial marketing in LDCs are discussed and suggestions are made concerning the assistance that LDC governments can provide to firms that import production technology from the industrialized countries.     

Organizational leadership in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Research considerations and directions

This paper reviews the organizational leadership literature in the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus. More importantly, we issue a “Clarion Call” for leadership scholars to focus their attention on the region while also providing key considerations and directions for future leadership research in the region. To help encourage and guide future leadership research, the paper provides a comprehensive research framework that identifies factors that need to be incorporated in future research on leadership in the Central Asia and Caucasus countries. We conclude with a discussion of potential research challenges that can arise, as well as research opportunities that are available, as a result of the unique idiosyncrasies of the region known as Central Eurasia.     

价格和价值的消费者类型划分及其购买行为分析

消费者个性化消费倾向和消费动机的不同,导致消费者需求多样化的趋势加剧.这种顾客消费多样性引起市场需求不断演变和目标商品的市场转移,使企业难以及时制定相应的策略以适应市场的变化.本文根据消费者对商品的价格和价值认知程度的不同,把消费者分为四种基本类型,并按照每一种类型研究相应的购买行为,对企业修订经营策略和提高经营效率具有一定的参考价值.     

Centralized and decentralized buying influences

This article empirically measures the effects of organizational separation on industrial buying in the commercial construction industry. It was reasoned that the relationship between organizations and their buying centers should depend on the separations between organizational buying units. Two types of organizational separation were measured— geographic separation and communication separation. Industrial sellers must relate selling effort to buying behavior and procedures. This study reports on how buying influence varies between firms that operate at various levels of organizational separation. The managerial implications of matching the pattern of buying influence with appropriate selling effort is presented.     

Emergency and routine MRO part buying

This article examines the effect of emergency vs. routine replacement part buying situations on the purchasing criteria used by maintenance and purchasing managers in process industries. Criteria included expediency, distance, part quality, price, and similar factors. Three sources were considered: OEMs, non-OEMs, and in-house production. The study found significant differences between criteria as a function of the buying situation. No significant difference was found between the criteria of maintenence managers and those of purchasing managers.     

Vendor selection and the buying process

This paper reports the results of a study dealing with the vendor selection process in organizational buying. Purchasing managers in two different types of organizations assessed the importance of vendor attributes and buyer information sources in connection with two different buying tasks. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in connection with: (1) the relative importance of vendor attributes and buyer information sources; and (2) the influence that different buying tasks and different buying organizations have on the importance of vendor attributes and information sources.     

Changes in industrial buying: Implications for industrial marketers

Some of the most dramatic changes in organizational buyer behavior have occurred and continue to occur in the industrial purchasing function. Purchasing is becoming less and less a lower-level staff function and more and more a top-level management position. This article examines some of the major changes in the purchasing function and the reasons for those changes. The article concludes by considering some of the major implications of these changes for the industrial marketer.     

Lateral influences and vertical authority in organizational buying

Eight hypotheses are developed to guide research on the prediction of two structural dimensions of organizational buying behavior. The structural dimensions examined are: (1) the extent of lateral influence on buying decisions; and (2) the distribution of vertical authority for buying decisions. Predictor variables include organizational size, environmental diversity, environmental uncertainty, and the scope, complexity, and newness of the purchases themselves. Some implications of the hypotheses for industrial marketing management are also developed.     

The social psychology of industrial buying and selling

New ways to view industrial marketing are offered in order to clarify some currently existing confusion in the area. The dyadic or two party model and the systems model are offered as reconceptualizations leading to a better understanding of industrial marketing management. Action implications for business managers and academic researchers are suggested.     

Utilization of business technologies: Managing relationship-based benefits for buying and supplying firms

There is increasing evidence to suggest that organizations often fail to fully capitalize on the purchased business technologies due to their failure to utilize the new procurement throughout their corporate system. To this end, this study sets out to identify the factors that play a tangible role in facilitating the utilization of procured business technologies. In this context, we not only examine the direct effects of technology and organizational culture on utilization, but also assess the moderating effects of user environments and supplier service orientation on these direct relationships. More importantly, we focus on the impact of utilization in creating the relationship-based benefits for both the technology user and supplier. Using data on purchase and use of customer relationship management (CRM) system, we empirically validate that the user firm's corporate culture, perceived technology attributes, environmental turbulence, and the supplying firm's service orientation are critical in increasing the utilization level of business technologies, which in turn helps to create/sustain relationship-based advantages for both parties.     

Information search in complex industrial buying: Empirical evidence from Brazil

This study develops and tests a model of information search in complex buying. We incorporate three categories of influences of organizational, personal and situational factors that affect information searching efforts. A sample of 96 of the largest Brazilian firms reported their use of the various influences in the decision to purchase integrated business management systems. Findings show that formalization of the organization is a key driver of information search efforts. Situational characteristics of importance, novelty and bargaining power increased the level of information search. Also, conformity of the purchasing agent and organizational centralization reduce information search efforts among the sampled Brazilian firms.     

Online group buying: Some insights from the business-to-business perspective

Extant marketing research has examined online group buying (OGB) from the consumer behavior perspective. The goal of this article is to broaden understanding of OGB by offering insights into the topic from the business-to-business (B2B) perspective. In doing so, it offers insights to help stimulate greater interest in and scholarly work on better understanding and improving B2B relationships and outcomes in OGB. Three discovery-oriented qualitative studies were conducted and analyzed using content analysis with an interpretive approach and contingency theory as a theoretical lens. The findings reveal that marketing exchanges through OGB offers businesses the opportunity to raise corporate and product brand awareness, gain an immediate pool of large groups of customers, expand the customer base, sell other products, contribute to better cash flow, encourage positive word of mouth, and increase sales during non-peak sales periods. However, marketing exchanges through OGB may also be challenging for businesses in terms of maintaining business profitability, managing costs, withstanding competition, obtaining support from OGB website operators, and managing customer expectations of continued discounts. These findings should help businesses that promote and sell their products through OGB to become better informed of the potential benefits and pitfalls of engaging in OGB, and thus improve their navigation in the OGB marketplace to achieve desired marketing outcomes.