Page 102 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Unit 4: Business Markets and Business Buyer Behaviour

4.6 Organisational Buying Roles Notes

Major task of an industrial marketer is to identify those individuals who are in any way involved
in purchasing decision process. These decision making units are called buying centers. Buying
centers can be an individual, a department or a group of individuals from different departments
in the organizations. Buying center has common goals to achieve, which also includes sharing
the risks arising from the purchase decision. It’s not unusual to encounter groups consisting of
15 to 20 individuals as members of buying centers. These are informal, cross department decision-
making units in which the primary objective is the acquisition, import and processing of relevant
information. Buying centers play seven roles.
Initiators: These are the people who request for something to be purchased. They may be users
or others in the work organization.

Users: They use the products thus, initiating the purchase process. They report on the product
performance e.g. worker.

Influencers: Individuals in the organization, influence the decision-making process by providing
information on criteria for buying e.g. Research and Development specialists inside the
organization and consultants outside the organization.

Deciders: Organizational members with decision-making power who decide about the purchase
e.g. engineers deciding specifications or vice-president (finance) who decides in favor of the
purchase.
Gatekeepers: People in the organization who have the power to prevent sellers or information
from reaching the members of buying centers e.g. purchasing agents, receptionist, secretaries
and telephone operators.
Approvers: People in the organization who authorize the proposed actions of deciders or buyers.

Buyers: These are the people who have formal authority to select the suppliers and arrange the
purchase terms. Buyers help in product specifications, in selection of suppliers and negotiating
purchases and include senior people in the purchase department.

Example:

Buying Center Roles
Role Illustration
Initiator The Vice President of ABC Ltd. company proposes to install CCTV cameras in the
sales, purchase and stores department
Influencer The head of the sales, purchase and stores department have an important say about the
vendors to be short listed and model of CCTV cameras the company needs to install
Gatekeepers The sales manager, purchasing manager and stores manager evaluate the situation
and short list the appropriate vendors and models
Decider The Vice President along with some other members of the management choose the
right vendor and select the best model
Purchaser The purchasing manager negotiates the terms and conditions, price and warranties
and places the order
User The Vice-President and other top officials will use it to monitor the activities of the
employees in sales, purchasing and stores.

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