Core Concepts of Marketing

ORGANIZATIONALBUYERBEHAVIOR 95

TABLE4.1 IndustrialBuyerInformationSources

Source Description

Salespeople

Technical sou rces
Personnelinbuyer'sfirm
Purchasingagentsinothercompanies
Tradeassociation

Advertisingintradejournals

Articlesintradejournals

Vendorfiles

Traderegisters

Productliterature

Salespersonnelrepresentingmanufacturersordistributorsoftheproductin

question.

Engineeringtypesofpersonnelinternalorexternaltothesubject'sfirm.

Peergroupreferences(e.g.,otherpurchasingagentsinthesubject'sfirm).

Peergroupreferencesexternaltothebuyer'sfirm.

Cooperativesvoluntarilyjoinedbybusinesscompetitorsdesignedtoassistits

membersandindustryindealingwithmutualproblems(e.g.,National

AssociationofPurchasingManagement).

Commercialmessagesplacedbythemanufacturerordistributorofthe

productinquestion.

Messagesrelatingtotheproductinquestionbutnotunderthecontrolofthe

manufacturerordistributor.

Informationpertai ningtothe valuesofvarioussourcesofsupplyasdeveloped

andmaintainedbythebuyer'sfirm.

Buyerguidesprovidinglistingsofsuppliersandothermarketinginformation

(e.g.,Thomas'Register).

Specificproductandvendorinformationsuppliedbythemanufacturingor

distributingfirm.

6. Supplierselection.Atthisstage,thevariousproposalsarescreenedanda choice
   ismade. Asignificantpartof this selectionisevaluatingthevendor. Onestudy
   indicatedthatpurchasingmanagersfeltthatthevendorwasoften moreimportant
   thantheproposal.Purchasingmanagerslistedthethreemostimportantcharac-
   teristicsofthevendorasdeliverycapability,consistentquality,andfairprice.
   Anotherstudyfoundthattherelativeimportanceofdifferentattributesvarieswith
   thetypeofbuyingsituations.
   Forexample, forroutine-orderproducts,delivery, reliability, price, andsup-
   plierreputationarehighlyimportan~.Thesefactors canserveasappealsinsales
   presentationsandintradeads.


7. Order-routinespecification.Thebuyernowwrites thefinalorder withthecho-
   sensupplier,listingthetechnicalspecifications, thequantityneeded,thewarranty,
   andsoon.


8. Performance.review.Inthisfinalstage,thebuyerreviewsthesupplier'sper-
   formance.Thismaybea verysimple ora verycomplexprocess.

NEV.fSLINE:THEFUTJREOFTHECONSUMER

Expertssayconsumersinthenewmillenniumwillthrowsomesur-

pris ingtwistsandturnsintothebusinessoftargetmarketing,over-

turningsomeofthetraditiona lthinkingaboutwhatwe'llbuy,how

we'lllive,andwherewe'll work.''The21stcenturywillbethecentury

oftheconsumer,"saysRogerBlackwell,aprofessorofmarketing.

"Marketerswillhavetopushtheirunderstandingbeyondknowing

what peopleb u y toknowingwhytheybuy."The 2010 s willbethe

"Lin kedDecade,"definedbyabusy,mature,ethnicallyheterogeneous