Organizational Buying Behavior 

Organizational buying behavior refers to the study of the motives and actions of, and the influences upon, organizations while engaged in purchasing goods and services. The need for an understanding of the organizational buying process has grown in recent years due to the many competitive challenges presented in business-to-business markets. Three key factors are shown to influence organizational buying behavior, these are, types of buying situations and situational factors, geographical and cultural factors and time factors. The decision-making unit in a buying organization consists of the buying centre. This is made up of the decider who gives the 'yes' or 'no' decision, the initiator or the user who initiates the need for the product, the influencer who exerts influence on the buying process, the user who gives feedback on the product, the purchasers or the buyers who formalize the purchasing process and the gatekeepers (such as secretaries and clerks) who control the flow of information in an organization. There are often multiple decision makers involved in organizational purchases. This requires that the marketer is aware of the needs of the various constituencies involved in making decisions. Additionally, there can be constituencies in an organization who do not have decision making authority, but who nonetheless might have some influence over the purchase and consumption process. There is a need to discuss the three kinds of buying situations before they can be applied to the buying centre and the different stages involved in the organizational buying process. The first kind of buying situation is the `new buy' situation in which a company buys a product for the first time and does not have any experience with the vendors or the product it is attempting to buy, The second type of buying situation is a 'straight re-buy' situation in which a buying organization records or repeats the previous order without changes and the third is the 'modified re-buy' situation in which the buying organization brings in changes in its requirements.