| dc.description.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. | en |
