The Industrial Buying Center
As with the past research on the buying process, there are also a large number of studies on the general
makeup of the buying center in industrial markets. The aim for this study is to review a number of these
studies so as to gain a better understanding of those in the buying center who use certain marketing
communication tools to obtain information for their purchase of a piece of capital equipment. It is of
course recognized that communication can take place internally (within the buying center), as well as
externally, with others within the firm and to individuals/groups outside the firm. The buying center has
been seen as a communication network onto itself (Pettigrew, 1975; Shaw, 1976).
As stated by Johnston andBonoma(1981), "...the buying center exists as a communication network that
does not necessarily derive its configuration nor operation from the formal organization, but rather from
the regularized patterns of communication that reflect the individuals involved and their relationships.
Before we can continue, however, a definition of the buying center is in order: Although Cyert, Simon,
and Trow (1956) are considered the first to recognize that several different managers (other than the
purchasing manager) were involved in buying decision, the term "buying center" was first used by
Robinson, Faris and Wind (1967). Here too it was recognized that a number of actors other than just
those in the purchasing staff were regularly involved in the buying decision process for industrial
products (and services).
The involvement of different functional areas within the industrial firm, like engineering, production, as
well as purchasing has been readily investigated since these early studies. Robinson, et al., defined the
buying center as: "The individuals who are related directly to the purchasing process, whether users,
buying influences, decision makers, or actual purchasers, are members of what can be termed a 'buying
center" (p.101). 32 Webster and Wind (1972a) referred to the buying center as, "all those individuals
and groups who participate in the purchasing-decision process, who share some common goals and the
risk arising from the decisions"(p. 206). In a comprehensive review of the buying center research up until
that time, Johnston andBonoma(1981) provide this definition of the buying center: "...the buying center
refers to all those members of an organization who become involved in the buying process for a
particular product or service"(p. 143, with reference to Robinson, et al., 1967).
The authors add that participants can and do change depending on the type of purchase. They further
state that this area of research has been an "important conceptual contribution ...in the study of
industrial buying behavior" (op. cit.,p. 143). For our purposes, because it refers to the Robinson, Faris,
and Wind definition and was a study conducted on capital equipment, we will use the general definition
of buying center as proposed by Johnston andBonoma(1981). In gaining a better understanding of the
buying center, Wind and Thomas (1980) provide three important aspects from which much the research
to date on buying centers has been based
: 1. The identification of the composition of the buying center.
2. The roles of the buying center.
3. The influence in the buying center. Because the aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of
who within the respective selling/buying centers are involved in the providing/obtaining of information,
it is not considered necessary to review the literature on all three of the aspects brought forth by Wind
and Thomas (1980) as presented above. However, the reasons as to why any of them will not be
extensively covered or utilized should be given.
Because our focus is on the marketing communication tools used by various members of such the
buying center, this study will focus on a selection of studies covering only the first two of these.
According to Baptista and Forsberg (1997), the question of who is the most influential within the buying
center (during specific stages of the buying process or during the entire process) is a central question
with regards to industrial buying behavior. Because influence is itself a form of communication and deals
primarily with influence within the buying center, we choose to not focus on this. Next are the roles
within the buying center, which are extensively covered in the literature (e.g. Webster & Wind, 1972b;
Grönhaug, 1977; Bonoma,1982; 33 Möller,1993).
The industrial buying center is often made up of several different people, each of one taking on a
specific role within the group. An example of what these roles can be is given byBonoma(1982), who
added the role of initiator as a sixth role to Webster's and Wind's (1972b) study. The six roles included:
1. Initiator: Initiates the buying process. 2. Users: Actually use the product. 3. Deciders: Select the
vendor/supplier for the product. 4. Influencers: Add decision criteria or information to the process. 5.
Buyers: Execute the contractual arrangements. 6. Gatekeepers: Control the flow of information into the
buying center. Also, as with what was reviewed at the end of the literature review section on industrial
selling on the industrial selling team, Deeter-Schmelz and Ramsey (1995) also develop the other half of
the industrial relationship: The buying team. These scholars start by stating that although buying center
research has a rich, theoretical foundation, this previous research has portrayed it as an informal group.
By definition, they add, the buying team (as with the selling team) is composed of members who have
different functional experiences and abilities, as well as the fact that members in both teams do indeed
come from several different departments within the organization(Geber,1991).
The core buying team, according to Deeter-Schmelz, et al., can be defined as "a small, permanent team
responsible for vendor relationships, buying strategy, and buying transactions and comprised of buying
organization members who possess complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose,
performance goals, and a buying approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable"(p.49).
Like the core selling team, they add, the core buying team has access to other buying firm members. The
extended buying team, therefore, can be defined as "those buying organization members accessed by
the core buying team, on a temporary basis, to provide necessary expertise to the core buying and/or
selling team during specific transaction" (op. cit.,p.49). The roles of the core buying team match up with
the roles stated for the selling team exactly, except that the responsibilities of course revolve around
buying:
• Buying Team Leader: Responsible for all team actions.
Interacts with all core team members. This person interacts with the buyer to ensure the attainment of
purchasing goals, with the IC (Internal Coordinator) to discuss the composition of the extended team,
and with the EIS (External Information Source) to obtain information needed by core 34 members.
Works with management regarding the alignment of team and organizational goals, and with selling
team members to ensure that buying team performance goals are met.
• Buyer: The primary supplier contact. Receives external information from selling team members and
the EIS. Serves as a key internal and external information link.
• Internal Coordinator (IC): Responsible for the extended buying team. Works closely with the leader,
the buyer, and the various relevant functional departments.
• External Information Source (EIS): Responsible for obtaining relevant information from external
sources.
• External Buying Team: Consists of functional experts possessing the technical knowledge needed to
solve specific problems. Provides information for both the buying and selling teams. What the above
presentation on the roles provides are the descriptions of all of those involved in the actual buying in
industrial markets and the roles they take during the purchase process. However, to use such roles as a
means to discover who is obtaining information on capital equipment via various marketing
communication tools really goes beyond the scope of this study and serves more the study of IBB itself.
In addition, some of the above roles (e.g. influencers and external buying team members) are from
outside the buying firm itself, and, as already stated, this study will focus on those within the selling and
buying centers.
This leaves us with the composition of the buying center, which refers to such variables as the size of the
buying center, the functional areas (i.e. divisions or departments) represented in it, etc., will be covered.
Robinson, Faris, and Wind, (1967) noted that, "As the procurement decision process progresses, the
importance of specific functional activities changes, as do the roles played and the relative importance
of the various buying influences"(p. 20). They added that during the early phases of the buying situation
(or process), during problem analysis and definition, it is corporate staff personnel that may play a key
role (i.e. designers, product planners, finance and accounting people, etc.).
As the requirements of the product in question become more explicit and detailed specifications are
being drafted, purchasing or supervisory personnel in the department using the product may become
the key Influencers. Their basic conclusion, however, was that, "As any buying process unfolds, then, the
significance of any individuals or functions involved in the process changes" (op. cit.,p.21). Furthermore,
Mattson (1988) stresses that "The relative influence of the departments in the firm vary with the type of
product and the buyphase they are in" (p.209). Although each buyphase may have different buying
centers, the Purchasing Department often has more influence during the stages of search, proposal
request, supplier selection, and negotiation then it does in the need recognition, usage, and
postpurchase evaluation stages(Ibid.,with reference to Bellizi, 1981; Crow, Olshavsky, & Summers, 1980;
Wind, 1978; and Woodside & Sherrell, 1980).
Mattson (1988) further noted that the purchase of capital equipment requires coordination with
finance, engineering, production, product research, marketing and/or top management. In the end,
what becomes important is that, within the buying center, there are several roles representing several
different departments within the buying organization. This makes the task of identifying the more
important of these individuals, as well as the departments within the firm they represent, important for
the researcher trying to obtain information from them. Johnston andBonoma(1981) add that, in their
241 interviews with firms purchasing both capital equipment or industrial services, "A minimum of two
individuals were interviewed in each purchase decision"(p. 151), as recommended by Wind (1978a).
Their work provided what is known as the five dimensions of the buying center:
1. Vertical involvement: Deals with the number of levels of the organizational hierarchy involved in
communication and influence concerning the buying.
2. Lateral involvement: The number of different departments and/or Divisions involved in
communication and influence concerning the buying.
3. Extensively: The total number of individuals involved in the buying communication network.
4. Connectedness: The degree to which the members of the buying center are linked with one another
by direct communication.
5. Centrality: The centrality of the purchasing manager in the buying communication network. As for the
purchase of capital equipment in this study, it was shown that:
• For vertical involvement, there was greater depth (i.e. more organizational levels) involved during the
purchase of capital equipment;
• Concerning lateral involvement, there was also a larger number of departments involved when capital
equipment was being purchased;
• There was more extensively (i.e. larger number of buying center members) as well;
There was less connectedness during the purchase of capital equipment It seems for this study, it is the
composition of the buying and selling center that should be emphasized. The justification for this is
based on the study by Moon and Armstrong (1994), which found the selling center to be consistent with
the Johnston and Bonoma's (1981) notion of the buying center. And, it is Johnston and Bonoma's five
dimensions that describe the makeup of these centers, as outlined above. Therefore, we will focus on
the composition of the buying center as outlined above.
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