Buying Center
A group of people who are involved in a purchase decision is referred to as a buying center (in German also purchasing committee ) of a company or organization . This group is mostly made up of representatives from different departments and functions, with the aim of optimizing the result of the decision through shared knowledge and experience. A buying center is therefore a possible form of organizational buying behavior .
For example, a buying center can include members of the specialist department that is to use the purchased product, technicians who are responsible for support, employees from the finance / controlling department who monitor the financing of costs, and experts from the purchasing department who bring legal knowledge of contracts to be concluded.
The following roles (persons with mandate) within a Buying Center can be: a. distinguish:
- User, e.g. B. Production employees / managers, users
- Buyers, collect offers and assess them, e.g. B. Purchasing employee / management
- Influencer, influences the decision-making process, sets standards, e.g. B. Consultant, salesman, designer
- Decider, makes final decisions, mostly management, authorized signatories, decision-makers.
A person can also take on several roles and a role can be represented by several people.
The following functions (people who act autonomously) can also be distinguished:
- Initiator, suggests a new purchase
- Coach, external often advisory function, with very close contact with an employee
- Information selector (gatekeeper), passes on information or holds it back.
The roles in the Buying Center can also be assigned to the various phases of procurement according to their effect, see the following table:
| Procurement phase | User | Influencer | Buyer | Decider | Gatekeeper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Needs recognition | X | X | |||
| Clarification of goals | X | X | X | X | |
| Determination of procurement alternatives | X | X | X | X | |
| Evaluation of the alternatives | X | X | X | ||
| Selection of suppliers and purchase | X | X | X | X |
The three most important questions regarding the Buying Center are:
- Which decision criteria are the most important for the individual roles?
- What weight does the individual role have for the final decision?
- How do the roles behave in conflict situations and which situations are they?
Since members of the buying center can pursue irreconcilable intentions, it is helpful to consider the group dynamics in order to be able to organize a targeted approach. Ways to deal with such conflicts are:
| 1. Fighting (competing) | The desire to achieve one's own goals without considering others |
|---|---|
| 2. Arranging (accomodating) | The desire to accept the goals of the other side and the refusal to enforce one's own ideas. Possibly combined with long-term personal goals as a reward for voting behavior |
| 3. Collaboration | Try to achieve your goals and those of the other side as completely as possible |
| 4. Avoiding conflict | Neither your own nor the other's goals are achieved. Usually associated with postponement. |
| 5. Compromise | Both your own goals and those of the other side are only partially achieved. |
There is a tendency to determine that the buying center decisions become more complex or more intensive when it comes to e.g. B. is a new supplier or a new product ("New Task" according to Webster / Wind), if the product is associated with high investments or risk for the own company or if key positions are filled.
In contrast, a selling center is often used on the seller side, whose members can provide all the information they need about the product.
See also
literature
- Frederick E. Webster and Yoram Wind: Organizational Buying Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1972
- Alois Gröne: Market segmentation for capital goods. Wiesbaden 1977, ISBN 3-409-36772-1
- Ludger Rolfes: The role of the user in the buying center. Wiesbaden 2007
Individual evidence
- ^ Manfred Kirchgeorg: Buying Center. Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon, accessed July 1, 2017 .