Business-to-business marketing: organizational buying behaviour, relationships and networks 149
with the product and consequently lead to a
reduction in risk perception. It can therefore be
logically concluded that a major determinant of
the composition of the buying centre will be the
organization’s previous experience of the prod-
uct and the supplier.
Prior experience of the product or supplier
will be a determining factor in risk perception.
Robinsonet al. (1967) define three ‘buy classes’
which are dependent on previous experience:
new buy, modified re-buy and straight re-buy.
These buy classes influence both the composi-
tion of the buying centre and the buying
process itself.
New buy– In this situation the organization has
no previous experience of the product or
supplier. Consequently, perceived risk will be
high and purchase decisions will be more likely
to be made by senior management. Various
strategies to reduce risk will be adopted by
buyers, such as extended search, asking for
referees, detailed specification and contract
negotiation, and, where possible, trial purchase.
Modified re-buy– The company already has
prior experience of the product but the
particular purchase situation demands some
degree of novelty. This may arise due to
different specifications in a product or through
change of supplier.
Straight re-buy– This usually entails the routine
reordering of products on the basis of
decisions that have been made previously.
There will be little risk perception in these
instances and the purchase decision will be
taken by lower management. In such cases
there may not be a discrete decision at all, but
only in relation to the establishment of the
order routine. It is usually very difficult to
break inertia of routine reordering and a ‘new’
supplier will have to demonstrate strong
reasons to the buying organization to justify
the extra risk and effort of changing supplier.
Robinsonet al. link the buy classes to what they
term buy phases or stages in the decision-
making process. These stages constitute the last
of the variables influencing the composition of
the buying centre. The Robinson et al. buy
classes can be criticized as somewhat simplistic
descriptions of the wide variety of buying
situations which exist in practice. An alter-
native analysis of buying situations is proposed
by Bunn (1993), who develops a taxonomy of
buying situations and patterns. His classifica-
tion defines six prototypical buying-decision
approaches:1 Casual purchase.
2 Routine low priority.
3 Simple modified re-buy.
4 Judgemental new task.
5 Complex modified re-buy.
6 Strategic new task.Bunn (1993) relates these approaches to deci-
sion processes such as search behaviour, use of
analysis techniques and procedural control,
and provides a useful review of research in the
field.Stage in the buying process
Organizational buying decisions are not dis-
crete but result from a variety of stages which
interact and upon which the final decision
depends. As previously noted, the composition
of the buying centre will vary as a result of the
particular activity taking place. Product users
may provide the stimulus for a new purchase.
In specifying the characteristics of a new
product, technologists and finance people may
be involved. The purchasing department may
collect information about new products which
will then be evaluated by the users, technolo-
gists and finance people. In deciding which
alternatives should be short-listed, the finance
department may become involved again and
the final selection may be made at board level,
where all the company interests will be
represented.
Many researchers have attempted to cate-
gorize the stages of the buying process: Fisher
(1969) categorizes three stages; Cunningham