An Empirical Investigation Into the Relative Influence of Buying Centre Members in Nairobi's Manufacturing Firms

Abstract

The study contained in this report investigated the relative influence of buying center members in Nairobi's manufacturing firms. The purchasing managers for each firm or any other person of whatever title but performing the purchasing duties in the firms were asked to ~ate the influence of buying center members (as they perceive them) in the purchase decision of different classes of industrial products. After data was collected, mean scores were computed in order to get the relative influence of different buying center members. nuther statistical analysis was carried out using the t-test to investigate whether the scores for diffe,!e-nt product categoriesi were statistically different or Rot. me findings from these analyses led the researcher to make the following conclusions:- (1) That top management, finance/accounting, purchasing, manufacturing, marketing and engineering departments are all represented in the buying center when ~king purchase decisions for industrial products. (2) Since the target audience of marketing efforts (ix) will depend upon who the more influential members of the buying center are, purchasing managers should be called upon irrespective of the product type the marketer is selling, but that top managemanagement, engineering and finance/accounting departments may also be important target audiences when selling capital items and component parts. (3) Since various members of the buying center have different relative levels of influence, product development should perhaps incorporate features that will enhance the attractiveness of the product to the more influential buying center members.