158 The Marketing Book
At the most general level we have the
firm’s environment. This comprises the wide
and complex system of institutions that make
up the social and industrial infrastructure. By
dictating needs, norms and laws, this level of
influence affects the practices of the firm and
the individual.
Below the firm’s environment we encoun-
ter the organization’s internal environment.
Decision making occurs against a background
of the firm’s technology, the way work is
organized, the firm’s objectives and goals, and
the character of individuals themselves.
The third level of influence proposed is
that of the decision-making unit. At this level
the roles performed by participants in the
decision make a major contribution to the
eventual outcome. Thus, the roles of the ‘influ-
encer’, ‘order placer’, ‘decider’, ‘gatekeeper’
and ‘user’ may all be present, although we
might presume the buying centre to have a
common set of expectations and the decision
itself may be the outcome of several different
collective processes, such as bargaining, con-
sensus negotiation and game strategy. Several
writers have commented on tactics used by
individuals to promote their own interests. For
example, Strauss (1962) suggests that pur-
chasers may avoid or enforce company rules or
use political or personal persuasion. Walton
and McKenzie (1965) stress the importance of
distributive and integrative bargaining plus
attitudinal structuring in achieving a ‘common
front’.
The fourth and lowest level of influence –
that of the individual – highlights the fact that
all behaviour is ultimately conducted at a
personal level. Thus, motivation, cognition,
personality, experience and learning may all
affect the outcome of the decision process.
Webster and Wind’s model focuses our
attention on a number of significant features
that are particularly relevant in international
marketing. Thus, at the most general level,
foreign trading partners may well come from
very different environments (see Chapter 24).
The organizational environments of buying
and selling firms may also be different or
disjointed. As a result, understanding may be
poor and communication difficult.
At the second level, the model accounts for
the fact that firms in different cultures may
have very different working climates. In addi-
tion, the way work is organized could be
disparate. At the third level, the model recog-
nizes the possibility of conflicts of interest and
the influence of ‘significant others’. Perhaps of
great interest at the individual level of influ-
ence, the model highlights the fact that per-
sonal processes and capabilities will affect the
outcome of decisions. Thus, training and
experience, cognition, personality and motiva-
tion will all affect sales and buying perform-
ance. Clearly, important differences in personal
factors such as these are more likely in different
countries.
In essence, Webster and Wind’s model is
one of the most comprehensive of its kind, and
considers a wide range of decision-related
factors and variables. However, it is still of
limited practical help to the marketer because it
does not concentrate on the units of analysis
that are fundamental to the real-life processes
that are occurring with prospective and ongo-
ing buyer–seller relationships (i.e. the relation-
ship between individuals and the nature of
what is exchanged).
Although it covers a multitude of determi-
nant factors, what is lacking is a focus on the
processes that are most important in the long-
and short-term aspects of a buying decision. No
reference is made to the personal relationships
and the atmosphere of the relationship that
may evolve between buyer and seller. Seeking
to resolve this issue, the International Market-
ing and Purchasing (IMP) group developed a
model of business-to-business marketing and
purchasing as an iterative process based on
long-term relationships.The interaction approach
Theinteraction approach(Turnbull and Cunning-
ham, 1981; Hakansson, 1982) focuses on the