Marketing Seminar

MARKETING SEMINAR

(BUS459)

HOMEWORK ANSWERS and SUMMARY

SUMMARY:

In this chapter, the various types of buyer behavior were presented. The chapter is divided into two parts: consumer behavior and organizational behavior. In the case of consumer behavior, the discussion began with six stages in the consumer decision-making process. These stages include need identification, information search and processing, evaluation of alternatives, product/service/outlet selection, purchase and post purchase behavior. In this chapter we learnt about the issues that show how organizations make buying decisions compared to how consumers make buying decisions. This began with a description of the characteristics of organizational buying. The section concluded with a description of the stages followed in organizational buying. These stages were problem recognition, general need description, product specification, supplier's search, proposal solicitation, supplier selection, order-routine specification, and performance review. Also, it went on to explain how Organizational buying is heavily influenced by derived demand, that is, demand for an end product or for a product or service sold by the buyer’s customers.

The buying decisions of organizations are influenced by environmental factors, organizational factors, social factors and personal factors. Participants in the organizational buying process play as many as seven different roles, namely those of initiator, influencer, user, decider, approver, buyer and gatekeeper. Although organizations differ significantly from each other in their purchasing process, the various stages of industrial buying comprise problem recognition, general need recognition, product specification, value analysis, vendor analysis, order routine specification, multiple sourcing and performance review. Marketers need relevant information about the characteristics of the industries for marketing their goods and...