Identify the scenario you selected.
A local school system is seeking to upgrade its computer systems for its middle school classrooms. This means new hardware and software for every classroom. It may also require new classroom configurations, desks, lighting, additional electrical service, and cable or T1 data support. Who is likely to be included in the purchasing decision?
Provide a list of stakeholders (e.g., person, department representative) who have an influence on buying center decision making and why. Explain the types of influence each person (e.g., person acting individually) might have on the decision and why.
Initiator (Students/Teachers): This is ideally the person who will use the product or service and feels the need. So a machine operator might initiate the requirement for a particular tool, or a salesperson might show interest in getting some leads from website visitors (Perreault Jr., Cannon, & McCarthy, 2014). In this case, we could use either students or adults for the UAT testing of the software and hardware.
Decision maker (School Superintendent): Among the members, the marketing person must be aware of the deciders in the organization and try to reach them and maintain contacts with them. The formal organizational structure might be deceptive, and the decision might not even be taken in the purchasing department (Perreault Jr., et al., 2014). Generally, for routine purchases, the purchasing executive may be the decider. However, for high value and technically sophisticated products, senior executives are the deciders. People who decide on product requirements/specifications and the suppliers are deciders.
Controller/Finance (County Director of Finance): Should be able to confirm that there is money in the budget for the purchase.
Purchasing Agent (County Procurement Director): This could be a Commodity Manager/Supply Manager in the Supply Chain function who for higher value items develops an RFP, seeks bids, negotiates, places...
