A brief from a group project on organisational buying behaviour. This was my part of the project

1. Organisational buying process is about the steps that the company take when buying a
product for the company. (Fredrick, 1991)States that “Buying is not an event. It is an
organisational decision making process the result of which is a contractual obligation. As part
of the process, individual participants in the process must each arrive at their own conclusion
and decisions with respect to the purchasing problem”. In ordinary terms this means that
when a department in an organisation sets out to buy a product for the company, it involves a
lot of individuals in the company coming together to voice their views about buying certain
product. Everyone will have their own different views but the decision needs to be made in
respect to the purchasing problem for e.g. if the product was an ordinary product like pencils
well then it would not involve a huge amount decision making whereas if it was a very
important specialised product this would involve a lot of decision making.
(Fredrick, 1991)The process to an organisation buying a product has 8 different steps
Problem recognition- This is the first process of the organisational buying process
when the company releases that there’s a need to improve the company’s efficiency with
a new product. This may be brought up in the company e.g. unsatisfactory conditions or
outside the company, an external marketer understands the company’s need and
convinces the organisation of its ability to improve company performance.
Quantity of needed item- This is when the organisation carefully analysis what they
need out of the product e.g. is it good quality or cheap quality, how much of the product
do they need.
Description of needed item- This is the stage where the company prepares the
product specifications and who will receive the order. This is why a good relationship
between the buyer and seller is essential as the organisation, the buyer will go straight to
the vendor, the seller which will eliminate competition for the seller.
Search for potential suppliers- This is when the organisation starts looking for
alternative sources of supply. The purchasing department has the most influence here as
they have most of the information needed for possible vendor sources.
Acquisition and analysis of proposals- This is when the company makes requests
for the product to possible vendors. This could takes months before a final decision is
made as the vendor’s reliability and past efforts will be reviewed.

2. Evaluation of proposal and selection of suppliers- This is when the proposals are
analysed and matched against what the company needs. The proposal that matches
closely to the organisations needs e.g price delivery time ect will be chosen, negotiations
may also be needed with the vendor to reduce the price further.
Selection of order routine- This is when the order or forwarded on to the vendor,
reports and status updates on order are then posted to the relevant departments
Performance review- This stage is critical to the vendor as the company will review
the product that they bought and see did it meet there needs and improve efficiency in the
company.
To match this process with our product the high visibility jacket we have to show originations
that there is a need for the jacket in there company. The companies we would be targeting
would be Construction Companies. This is a very competitive sector to be in as there are
many competitors, so we will have to match the organisations needs closely with the product
as this is what will get us the contract as stated in the selection of order routine.
The vital stage in the process for company is the first stage, trying to convince the customer
that our product is better and that there is a need for change. How we hope to do this is by
emphasising our unique selling points to the customer that will differentiate ourselves from
our competitors.
During the evaluation and proposal stage if there is a need for negotiation we will negotiate
the best we can as this could have an effect on the final stage the performance review. If the
performance review goes well for our company, we could gain a close customer and begin a
relationship with that customer.
References
F. E. (1991). The Buying Decision Process. In F. E. Jr, Industrial Marketing Strategy Third Edition (pp.
28-36). United States of America: John Wiley and Sons.