Organisational buyer behaviour is generally a process of group decision making especially in new task situation. Therefore, and understanding of organisational buying behaviour requires and understanding of the buying centre within the organisation.
THE ROLE OF MEMBERS OF THE BUYING CENTER
Webster and wind 1972 call the decision making of a buying organisation the buying centre. The buying centre is composed of all those individuals and groups who participate in the purchasing decision making process who shares some common goals and the risk arising from the decisions. The buying centres include all members of the organisation who play any of the seven roles in the purchasing decision process outlined below .
Initiators. This refers to those who request that something people chest. They may be use as or others in the organisations.
Users. This refers to those who will use the product or service. It may cases the uses initiate the buying proposal and help define the product requirements.
Influences. This refers to those who influence the buying decisions. They often help define specifications and also provide information for evaluating alternatives. Technical personnel are particularly important influences.
Deciders. This refers to those who decide on a product requirements and on suppliers. Deciders have final authority for a vendor or supplier selection. Decision-making authority is based on the importance of the choice criteria. If cost considerations are predominant, it would be logically give to the purchasing agent responsibility for deciding. If product specifications are paramount engineers must have final authorities .
Approvals this refers to those who authorised the proposed action of deciders or buyers.
Buyers. This refers to those who have formal authority to select suppliers or vendor and arrange the purchase terms. Buyers may help shape product specification, but they play their major role in selecting vendors and negotiating. A most complex process, the buyers might include high level manager participating in the negotiations.
Gatekeepers. This refers to those who have the power to prevent sellers or information from reaching members of the buying centres. For instance, processing agents reception is, and telephone operators may prevent salesperson's from contacting users or deciders.
Within any organisation, the buying centre will vary in the number and type of participants for different classes of product. To target their efforts properly, industrial goods marketers have to figure out who are the major decision participants are, what decisions they influence, what their level of influence is and what evaluation criteria they use.
When a buying centre includes many participants, the industrial goods marketer may not have the time or resources to reach all of them. Small sellers concentrate enriching the key buying influences. Large sellers go for multi level in depth selling to reach as many as buying participants as possible.
