The document outlines key phases in the business buying process including need recognition, defining specifications, evaluating proposals, and supplier selection. It also discusses the roles of initiators, influencers, users, buyers, and deciders in organizational buying. Higher risk purchases involve more entities and place less emphasis on price as a decision criterion. Types of uncertainty include need, market, and transaction uncertainty. The document also defines new buy, modified re-buy, and straight re-buy situations.

1. Phases in the Business Buying Process Need recognition Defining specifications Search for suppliers Evaluating proposals Supplier selection

2. Roles of entities in the business buying process Initiators Influencers Users Buyers Deciders Gatekeepers

3. Risk assessment and organisational buying Higher the risk, larger the no. of entities involved Greater the risk, lesser the importance of ‘price’ as a decision criterion Greater the risk, higher the information search in the phases of defining specifications and searching for suppliers Higher risk facilitates a collaborative relationship between customer and supplier

4. Types of uncertainty in the business buying process Need uncertainty – customers experience difficulty in expressing the exact nature of need Market uncertainty – differences between suppliers (quality and service) and evolution of the supplier market creates uncertainty Transaction uncertainty – customers are unable to predict the outcome of the transaction

5. Types of buying situations ‘New buy’ – purchase of item/s not previously purchased Modified re-buy – items purchased in the past but not recently or regularly Straight re-buy – purchase of an item that is purchased frequently and regularly