Relevance of Buying Center Analysis in Industrial Markets

This work deals particularly with the analysis of the buying company in the context of the purchasing process in industrial markets. Additionally, the study addresses the question of whether and how companies conduct these analyses on a practical level.The first section explains the specific characteristics of the industrial goods markets and depicts the influences on the buying- and selling center.The second section includes the buying types which strongly influence the size and the composition of the buying center.The third section deals with the buying center and the buying process as well as the buying center models from the literature. These models are verified in terms of their practical application at the end of the study based on expert surveys.

In section four, the sales process as well as the members of the selling company are discussed. Section five represents the most important criteria for a buying center analysis and shows the possibility of a practical implementation by using an example.The last section finally links the previous theoretical fields and displays the results of the qualitative expert interviews.