Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of the following have marketers learned with respect to segmenting business
customers?
A) The segment of small and moderate-sized businesses has a lot of potential.
B) The segment of small and moderate-sized businesses has limited potential.
C) The segment of large businesses is the most attractive.
D) The segment of large businesses is the least attractive.
E) Tapping the potential of the small and moderate-sized business segment does not
require adapting the marketing strategy from that used to target larger businesses.
Answer: A Page: 685 Difficulty: moderate
2. Which of the following is FALSE regarding the similarities and differences between
organization buying decisions and family purchases?
A) Organizations generally have relatively objective and clearly articulated criteria
(i.e., profit maximization) that guide purchases; families lack such explicit,
overarching goals.
B) Most organizational purchases are made by individuals unknown to other
organizational members and most purchases have little effect on most other
members of the organization; many family purchases are inherently emotional and
strongly affect the relationships between family members.
C) Businesses often engage in reciprocal purchases, which is not common for
households.
D) Many of the general factors that affect consumer buying also influence
organizational buying.
E) The extent to which emotions influence organizational purchasing is at least as
strong as it is for family decision making.
Answer: E Page: 686-687 Difficulty: moderate
3. The individuals (representing functional areas and management) within an
organization who participate in making a given purchase decision make up the _____.
A) strategic business unit (SBU)
B) decision center (DC)
C) decision-making unit (DMU)
D) strategic decision unit (SDU)
E) functional decision unit (FDU)
Answer: C Page: 687 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
4. Sinclair is from accounting and is a member of a committee to purchase a new
mainframe computer system for his company. Sinclair is a member of the _____.
A) strategic business unit (SBU)
B) decision center (DC)
C) decision-making unit (DMU)
D) strategic decision unit (SDU)
E) functional decision unit (FDU)
Answer: C Page: 687 Difficulty: moderate
5. Decision-making units often function as _____ when they consist of individuals from
various areas of the firm, such as accounting, engineering, manufacturing, and
marketing, who meet specifically to make a purchase decision.
A) buying centers
B) purchasing agents
C) consultants
D) intermediaries
E) opinion leaders
Answer: A Page: 687 Difficulty: moderate
6. Which of the following is a characteristic of a decision-making unit?
A) They are often relatively permanent for nonroutine decisions.
B) Even less important decisions are likely to involve individuals form a wide variety
of functional areas.
C) Large, highly structured organizations ordinarily involve more individuals in a
purchase decision than do small, less formal organizations.
D) Decision-making units are typically a separate permanent organizational
department in large organizations.
E) Small organizations do not use formalized decision-making units.
Answer: C Page: 687 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
7. A difference between large and small organizations when making a purchase decision
is _____.
A) small organizations generally involve more individuals in the decision-making
process
B) large organizations generally involve more individuals in the decision-making
process
C) large organizations typically have less specialization
D) small organizations typically have more specialized purchasing tools
E) all of the above
Answer: B Page: 687 and 698 Difficulty: easy
8. Which of the following influences organizational culture and, thus, organizational
buyer behavior?
A) culture
B) marketing activities
C) organizational values
D) motives
E) all of the above
Answer: E Page: 688 Difficulty: easy
9. Which of the following is an external influence on organizational buyer behavior?
A) organizational values
B) motives
C) emotions
D) reference groups
E) learning
Answer: D Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
10. Which of the following is NOT an external influence on organization buyer behavior?
A) firmographics
B) culture
C) perception
D) government
E) marketing activities
Answer: C Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
11. Carlos is trying to understand the organizational buyer behavior of firms in his sales
territory. Which of the following is an external influence on an organization's culture
that he should examine?
A) organizational values
B) needs
C) desires
D) firmographics
E) motives
Answer: D Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
12. Firmographics, culture, government, reference groups, and marketing activities are
_____ influences on organizational buyer behavior.
A) internal
B) external
C) insignificant
D) primary
E) secondary
Answer: B Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
13. Matt is currently undergoing sales training and is trying to understand the external
influences on organizational buyer behavior. Which of the following is an external
influence?
A) firmographics
B) culture
C) government
D) marketing activities
E) all of the above
Answer: E Page: 688 Difficulty: easy
14. Which of the following is an internal influence on organizational buyer behavior?
A) motives
B) firmographics
C) culture
D) reference groups
E) all of the above
Answer: A Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
15. Which of the following is NOT an internal influence on organizational buyer
behavior?
A) firmographics
B) organizational values
C) perception
D) motives
E) memory
Answer: A Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
16. Maria is a pharmaceutical sales representative that calls on hospitals. She is taking on
a new territory, and she is trying to learn the internal influences on each hospital's
culture. Which of the following is something that she should consider with respect to
internal influences?
A) firmographics
B) organizational values
C) reference groups
D) lead users
E) competitors' marketing activity
Answer: B Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
17. Which of the following is a stage in the organizational decision process?
A) problem recognition
B) information search
C) alternative evaluation
D) outlet selection and purchase
E) all of the above
Answer: E Page: 688 Difficulty: easy
18. Which of the following is NOT a stage in the organizational buying decision process?
A) vendor support programs
B) problem recognition
C) information search
D) postpurchase processes
E) alternative evaluation and selection
Answer: A Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
19. Problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation and selection, outlet
selection and purchase, and postpurchase processes represent _____.
A) external influences
B) internal influences
C) organizational culture
D) the decision process
E) types of buying decisions
Answer: D Page: 688 Difficulty: easy
20. Different functional areas of an organization often do all of the following EXCEPT
_____.
A) play different roles in the purchase process
B) utilize different information sources
C) use different evaluative criteria
D) assign different weights to evaluative criteria
E) all of the above are done by different functional areas
Answer: E Page: 689-694 Difficulty: moderate
21. Members of the decision-making unit play which of the following roles?
A) information gatherer
B) key influencer
C) decision maker
D) purchaser
E) all of the above
Answer: E Page: 689 Difficulty: easy
22. Which of the following is NOT a role played by members of the decision-making
unit?
A) information gatherer
B) key influencer
C) regulator
D) user
E) purchaser
Answer: C Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
23. For which stage of the product life cycle is the size of the decision-making unit
typically large?
A) introduction
B) growth
C) maturity
D) decline
E) fortification
Answer: A Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
24. Bob is an engineer. For which stage of the product life cycle is he likely to be a
member of a key function influencing purchase decisions?
A) introduction
B) growth
C) maturity
D) decline
E) fortification
Answer: A Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
25. For products in which stage of the product life cycle are the engineering and R&D
likely to be key functions influencing the purchase decision?
A) introduction
B) growth
C) maturity
D) decline
E) fortification
Answer: A Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
26. For which stage of the product life cycle is the size of the decision-making unit likely
to be neither small nor large, but medium?
A) introduction
B) growth
C) maturity
D) decline
E) fortification
Answer: B Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
27. For which stage of the product life cycle is the decision-making unit likely to be
small?
A) introduction
B) growth
C) maturity
D) decline
E) fortification
Answer: C Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
28. For products in which stage of the product life cycle is the purchasing function of an
organization likely to be the key function influencing the purchase decision?
A) introduction
B) growth
C) maturity
D) decline
E) fortification
Answer: C Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
29. Madeline works in purchasing for a major corporation. For purchase of products in
which stage of the product life cycle is she likely to perform a key function
influencing purchase decisions?
A) introduction
B) growth
C) maturity
D) decline
E) fortification
Answer: C Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
30. Which of the following is an organizational purchase situation?
A) nominal
B) modified rebuy
C) limited
D) extended
E) routine
Answer: B Page: 690 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
31. Which type of organizational purchase situation occurs when the purchase is of minor
importance and is not complex?
A) nominal
B) modified rebuy
C) limited
D) straight rebuy
E) routine
Answer: D Page: 690 Difficulty: moderate
32. Which type of organizational purchase situation is characterized by low purchase
importance, low choice complexity, level of decision-making unit (DMU) at low
levels of the organization, a very small DMU, very brief time to decision, and very
limited decision search?
A) nominal
B) straight rebuy
C) modified rebuy
D) new task
E) limited
Answer: B Page: 690 Difficulty: moderate
33. Which type of organizational purchase situation is characterized by high purchase
importance and complexity, a large and evolving decision-making unit that includes
the top of the organization, a long time to decision, extensive information search and
analysis techniques, and a dominant strategic focus?
A) nominal
B) straight rebuy
C) modified rebuy
D) new task
E) limited
Answer: D Page: 690 Difficulty: moderate
34. Juan's job as a purchasing agent consists mostly of reordering basic supplies and
component parts. Which type of organizational purchase situation does this represent?
A) nominal
B) straight rebuy
C) modified rebuy
D) new task
E) limited
Answer: B Page: 690 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
35. The College of Business at a major university is considering the purchase of
technology necessary to enable them put their curriculum online. This decision is very
important and includes a very large and evolving decision-making unit. Which type of
organizational purchase situation does this represent?
A) nominal
B) straight rebuy
C) modified rebuy
D) new task
E) limited
Answer: D Page: 690 Difficulty: moderate
36. In high-tech markets, who is most likely to recognize a problem or need to purchase?
A) CEO
B) accounting personnel
C) purchasing manager
D) head of a department
E) consumer
Answer: D Page: 691-692 Difficulty: hard
37. Which of the following can possibly be part of the informal information search
process for organizational buyers?
A) site visits to evaluate a potential vendor
B) laboratory test of a new product or prototype
C) investigation of possible product specifications
D) discussions with sales representatives
E) all of the above are part of informal information search
Answer: D Page: 691 Difficulty: moderate
38. Darryl is a chemist at a pharmaceutical company, and he was asked by the decisionmaking unit at his company to visit and evaluate potential vendors that will supply his
company with the chemicals required to manufacture their products and to conduct
laboratory tests of a new product that can be used in the manufacture of their products.
Darryl is assisting the company with which type of information search?
A) formal
B) informal
C) priority
D) secondary
E) direct
Answer: A Page: 691 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
39. Shawn tries to obtain information that might assist his company whenever he talks
with sales representatives, attends trade shows, or when he reads the journals related to
his industry. Shawn is conducting _____.
A) formal information search
B) informal information search
C) direct information search
D) indirect information search
E) secondary information search
Answer: B Page: 691 Difficulty: moderate
40. Which type of decision rule is very common in the first step of a two-stage decision
for an organizational purchase?
A) conjunctive
B) disjunctive
C) lexicographic
D) compensatory
E) elimination-by-aspects
Answer: A Page: 692 Difficulty: hard
41. Marcus works in operations. Which of the following evaluative criteria is NOT
important to him?
A) ease of maintenance of equipment
B) competence of service technicians
C) vendor offers a broad line
D) time needed to install equipment
E) product warranty
Answer: C Page: 694 Difficulty: hard
42. Payments, warranties, delivery dates, and so forth represent _____.
A) purchase specifications
B) product specifications
C) terms and conditions
D) postpurchase evaluation
E) relationship marketing
Answer: C Page: 695 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
43. Laura's job is to negotiate the payment schedule, warranties, and delivery dates for
major purchases made by her company. Laura deals with the _____ of the purchase.
A) evaluative criteria
B) product specifications
C) terms and conditions
D) postpurchase evaluation
E) relationship marketing aspect
Answer: C Page: 695 Difficulty: moderate
44. Which of the following sources is rated as the most important information source for
purchasers and purchase influencers within organization?
A) online database services
B) B-go-B magazines
C) salespeople
D) television business networks
E) general business press
Answer: B Page: 697 Difficulty: hard
45. The beliefs and attitudes an organization's members have about the organization and
how it operates is known as _____.
A) policy and procedure
B) firmographics
C) lifestyle
D) organizational style
E) organizational culture
Answer: E Page: 698 Difficulty: moderate
46. Organizations have a type of self-concept and lifestyles that the text refers to as _____.
A) organizational ethos
B) organizational culture
C) organizational demeanor
D) organizations structure
E) none of the above
Answer: B Page: 698 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
47. Which term is often used to refer to the organizational culture of a business firm?
A) firmographics
B) lifestyle
C) corporate culture
D) corporate style
E) internal style
Answer: C Page: 698 Difficulty: moderate
48. _____ involve both organization characteristics (e.g., size, activities, and location) and
characteristics of the composition of the organization (e.g., gender, age, education).
A) Firmographics
B) Psychographics
C) Demographics
D) Geographics
E) Behaviorgraphics
Answer: A Page: 698 Difficulty: moderate
49. Which of the following variables represents an organization's firmographics?
A) size
B) activities and objectives
C) location
D) industry category
E) all of the above
Answer: E Page: 698-701 Difficulty: easy
50. Which of the following is NOT a component of firmographics?
A) company size
B) reference groups
C) company objective
D) company location
E) all of the above are components
Answer: B Page: 698 Difficulty: easy
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
51. Which of the following statements is FALSE regarding a firm's size?
A) Large organizations are more likely than smaller ones to have a variety of
specialists who attend to purchasing, finance, marketing, and general management.
B) The same promotional message needs to be targeted to all of the various functions
in the firm.
C) Larger organizations are generally more complex than smaller ones because more
individuals participate in managing the organization's operations.
D) The purchase decision in a smaller firm might involve only the owner or manager.
E) One message would need to address all the key purchase issues when targeting a
smaller firm.
Answer: B Page: 698 Difficulty: hard
52. Organizational objectives can be categorized as _____.
A) commercial
B) governmental
C) nonprofit
D) cooperative
E) all of the above
Answer: E Page: 699 Difficulty: easy
53. Which of the following is NOT a category of organizational objectives?
A) commercial
B) governmental
C) nonprofit
D) cooperative
E) temporal
Answer: E Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
54. Organizational activities can be categorized as _____.
A) routine
B) complex
C) technical
D) a and b
E) a, b, and c
Answer: E Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
55. The American Red Cross participates in fund raising activities all throughout the year.
How would this be classified with respect to general organizational objectives and the
nature of the organizational activity?
A) commercial objective, routine activity
B) governmental objective, routine activity
C) nonprofit objective, routine activity
D) cooperative objective, routine activity
E) nonprofit objective, complex activity
Answer: C Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
56. General Electric commits millions of dollars a year to research and development to
develop new products. How would this be classified with respect to general
organizational objectives and the nature of the organizational activity?
A) commercial objective, routine activity
B) commercial objective, complex activity
C) commercial objective, technical activity
D) cooperative objective, technical activity
E) nonprofit objective, complex activity
Answer: C Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
57. A commercial firm in which stock is widely traded is known as a(n) _____.
A) public firm
B) cooperative firm
C) private firm
D) open firm
E) trade firm
Answer: A Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
58. Roger owns 200 shares of stock in Home Depot. Which type of commercial firm is
Home Depot?
A) public firm
B) cooperative firm
C) private firm
D) open firm
E) trade firm
Answer: A Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
59. A commercial firm in which one or a few individuals owns a controlling share of the
firm is known as a(n) _____.
A) public firm
B) cooperative firm
C) private firm
D) open firm
E) nontrade firm
Answer: C Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
60. Robert Mondovi is a well-known winery in Napa Valley, CA. It is a family-owned
business and is not traded on any stock exchange. Which type of commercial firm is
this known as?
A) public firm
B) cooperative firm
C) private firm
D) open firm
E) nontrade firm
Answer: C Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
61. Which of the following is NOT an objective uncovered through research that drives
the management of privately held firms?
A) building a place for the entire family to work and be involved
B) becoming wealthy
C) avoiding corporations and working for others
D) build a lasting “empire”
E) change governmental regulations
Answer: E Page: 699 Difficulty: hard
62. The types of individuals who work in the organization represent the organization's
_____.
A) size
B) composition
C) macrosegment
D) reference group
E) demographic group
Answer: B Page: 701 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
63. The culture of most organizations is influenced most heavily by which of the
following?
A) government
B) overall membership
C) founder and top management
D) competition
E) customers
Answer: C Page: 701 Difficulty: hard
64. Organizations with distinguishing firmographics can be grouped into market segments
through a process called _____.
A) industry identification
B) infrastructure segmentation
C) conjoint analysis
D) macrosegmentation
E) factor analysis
Answer: D Page: 701 Difficulty: moderate
65. Which of the following statements regarding culture and government is true?
A) Variations in values and behaviors across cultures affect organizations as well as
individuals.
B) In Europe, bribery and similar approaches for making sales are acceptable.
C) In the United States, there is a close working relationship between businesses and
government.
D) Worker welfare is more important than corporate profit in most U.S. companies.
E) Plant closure laws, layoff regulations, and worker benefits tend to be much higher
in the U.S. than in European countries.
Answer: A Page: 701 Difficulty: hard
66. Perhaps the most powerful type of reference group in industrial markets is that of
_____.
A) innovators
B) lead users
C) government regulators
D) market mavens
E) business press
Answer: B Page: 701 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
67. Innovative organizations that derive a great deal of their success from leading change
are referred to as _____.
A) innovators
B) lead users
C) government regulators
D) market mavens
E) opinion leaders
Answer: B Page: 701-702 Difficulty: moderate
68. Which of the following is NOT considered a user reference group in organizational
buying?
A) lead user
B) trade press
C) early adopters
D) followers
E) all of the above are considered a user reference group
Answer: B Page: 702 Difficulty: hard
69. Microsoft is a company that has derived a great deal of success from leading change,
and other computer-related companies look to Microsoft for cues as to where
technology will be heading in the future. Microsoft would be classified as which type
of user reference group?
A) lead user
B) industry leader
C) early adopters
D) followers
E) supportive firm
Answer: A Page: 702 Difficulty: moderate
70. Lead users tend to accelerate market adoption, which is labeled as _____.
A) market pull
B) primary demand
C) market push
D) secondary demand
E) leading indicator
Answer: C Page: 702 Difficulty: hard
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
71. Which of the following is an infrastructure reference group?
A) business press
B) followers
C) early adopters
D) lead firms
E) government regulators
Answer: A Page: 702 Difficulty: moderate
72. _____ refers to the flow of purchase influence within an industry.
A) User reference groups
B) Reference group infrastructure
C) Diffusion of innovations
D) Two-stage decision process
E) Buying centers
Answer: B Page: 702 Difficulty: moderate
73. Which of the following can influence an organization's decision to buy or not buy a
given product, or to buy or not buy from a given supplier?
A) trade associations
B) financial analysts
C) dealer organizations
D) business press
E) all of the above
Answer: E Page: 702 Difficulty: easy
74. Lead users tend to accelerate diffusion of information through infrastructure, which is
labeled as _____.
A) market pull
B) primary demand
C) market push
D) secondary demand
E) leading indicator
Answer: A Page: 702 Difficulty: hard
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
75. Which of the following is a value representative of an innovative organization that
seeks to change, views problems as opportunities, and rewards individual efforts?
A) Risk taking is discouraged.
B) Cooperation is more important than competition.
C) Change is negative and actively avoided.
D) Hard work comes first, leisure second.
E) Rank or status is more important than performance.
Answer: D Page: 703 Difficulty: hard
76. Which of the following is the most important element of the communications mix in
most industrial markets?
A) advertising
B) sales promotion
C) sales calls
D) public relations
E) pricing
Answer: C Page: 705 Difficulty: moderate
77. For which type of industry are average costs per sales call the highest?
A) manufacturing
B) service
C) retail
D) wholesale distribution
E) nonprofit
Answer: A Page: 705 Difficulty: hard
78. Which of the following is a reason for the significant role of salespeople in industrial
markets?
A) Because it is the least expensive form of communication for the selling
organization.
B) Business buyers prefer to do business with firms they know, like, and trust, and
sales personnel are the most common representative of the selling organization.
C) Because advertising has been shown to not have any positive impact on awareness
and sales.
D) Business buyers usually are not allowed to purchase without the assistance of a
sales representative.
E) none of the above
Answer: B Page: 705-706 Difficulty: hard
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
True/False Questions
79. Various factors beyond functional utility influence organizational decisions.
Answer: True Page: 686 Difficulty: easy
80. Buying units (BU) are the individuals within an organization who participate in
making a given purchase decision.
Answer: False Page: 687 Difficulty: moderate
81. Individual power and expertise have virtually no influence on organizational decisions
since it is a group process involving DMUs.
Answer: False Page: 688 Difficulty: moderate
82. Decision-making units are likely to vary over the product life cycle.
Answer: True Page: 689 Difficulty: moderate
83. Organizational purchase situations are known as straight rebuy, modified rebuy, and
new task.
Answer: True Page: 690 Difficulty: moderate
84. Limited rebuy is the approach used in an organizational buying situation when the
purchase is moderately important to the firm or the choice is somewhat complex.
Answer: False Page: 690 Difficulty: moderate
85. Site visits to potential vendors, laboratory tests of a new product, and investigation of
possible product specifications are part of formal information search.
Answer: True Page: 691 Difficulty: easy
86. A conjunctive decision rule is very common in the first stage of a two-stage decision
process with respect to evaluation and search in an organizational buying situation.
Answer: True Page: 692 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
87. Power, prestige, security, and similar noneconomic criteria have no role in business
purchase decisions.
Answer: False Page: 693 Difficulty: moderate
88. People from different functional areas of an organization in a DMU will always use
the same evaluative criteria.
Answer: False Page: 604 Difficulty: moderate
89. Payments, warranties, delivery dates, as so forth are examples of a purchase's terms
and conditions.
Answer: True Page: 695 Difficulty: easy
90. Organizational culture is a concept that is similar to consumer self-concept and
lifestyle.
Answer: True Page: 698 Difficulty: moderate
91. Organizational objectives can be categorized as commercial, governmental, nonprofit,
and cooperative.
Answer: True Page: 699 Difficulty: moderate
92. In Japan and most of Europe, bribery and similar approaches for making sales are
considered acceptable.
Answer: False Page: 701 Difficulty: moderate
93. Early adopters are innovative organizations that derive a great deal of their success
from leading change.
Answer: False Page: 701-702 Difficulty: moderate
94. To process information, a firm must go through the same sequential stages of
exposure, attention, and interpretation as consumers.
Answer: True Page: 703 Difficulty: moderate
95. Emotion plays no role in organizational buying.
Answer: False Page: 706 Difficulty: moderate
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
Essay Questions
96. Identify the internal and external influences on organizational buyer behavior.
Page: 688 Difficulty: easy
Answer:
External influences include firmographics, culture, government, reference groups,
and marketing activities. Internal influences include organizational values,
perception, learning, memory, motives, and emotions.
97. Compare and contrast the organizational purchase situations of straight rebuy,
modified rebuy, and new task with respect to situational and purchasing
characteristics.
Page: 690 Difficulty: hard
Answer:
Table 19-2 summarizes the characteristics influencing each type of purchase. Two
situational characteristics are listed:
a. Purchase importance--low for straight rebuy; moderate for modified rebuy; high
for new task.
b. Choice complexity--low for straight rebuy; moderate for modified rebuy; high for
new task.
Several purchasing characteristics are listed:
a. Size of DMU--very small for straight rebuy; medium for modified rebuy; large,
evolving for new task.
b. Level of DMU--low for straight rebuy; mid-level for modified rebuy; top of
organization for new task.
c. Time to decision--very brief for straight rebuy; moderate for modified rebuy; long
for new task.
d. Information search--none/very limited for straight rebuy; moderate for modified
rebuy; extensive for new task.
e. Analysis techniques--none/price comparisons for straight rebuy; several for
modified rebuy; extensive, complex for new task.
f. Strategic focus--none for straight rebuy; limited for modified rebuy; dominates
for new task.
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
98. Harry is a sales representative for a provider of computer network systems. Part of his
job entails that he understand the firmographics of companies he tries to sell his
company's products and services to. Explain the concept of firmographics, and
discuss the different factors that make up a firm's firmographics and implications for
marketers.
Page: 698-701 Difficulty: moderate
Answer:
Firmographics involve both organizational characteristics–for example, size,
activities, objectives, location, and industry category–and characteristics of the
composition of the organization–for example, gender age, education, and income
distribution of employees. Six firmographic factors were discussed in the chapter:
a. Size--large organizations are more likely than smaller organizations to have a
variety of specialists who attend to purchasing, finance, marketing, and general
management. That there are often multiple individuals involved in the purchase in
a large organization means advertising and sales force efforts must be targeted at
various functions in the firm, each emphasizing issues of concern only to that
function. Marketing communications targeted to a small firm, however, are more
likely to be able to use one message.
b. Activities and Objectives--organizational objectives can be categorized as
commercial, governmental, nonprofit, and cooperative, and the general nature of
organizational activities can be described as routine, complex, or technical. Each
combination implies different concerns for buying organizations (see Table 19-7
on page 699).
c. Location--regional subcultures within the U.S. influence organizational cultures as
well as individual lifestyles. Location-based differences are magnified when doing
business in foreign cultures.
d. Industry Category--firms of similar size, location, activity, objective, and
ownership can still have sharply differing cultures due to being in differing
industries.
e. Organization Composition--the types of individuals who work in the
organization also heavily influence organization cultures.
f. Macrosegmentation--organizations with distinguishing firmographics can be
grouped into market segments through this process.
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Chapter 19 Organizational Buyer Behavior
99. Name and describe the various reference groups that influence organizational behavior
and purchasing decisions.
Page: 701-702 Difficulty: moderate
Answer:
Perhaps the most powerful type of reference group in industrial markets is that of lead
users. Lead users are innovative organizations that derive a great deal of their success
from leading change. Other reference groups such as trade associations, financial
analysts, and dealer organizations also influence an organization's decision to buy or
not buy a given product, or to buy or not buy from a given supplier. Reference group
infrastructure refers to the flow of purchase influence within an industry. Figure 192 combines the concept of lead users with reference group infrastructure to give a
more comprehensive picture of organizational reference group systems.
100. List five of the eight common business values representative of an innovative
organization that seeks change, views problems as opportunities, and rewards
individual efforts.
Page: 703 Difficulty: hard
Answer:
The eight common business values listed in the chapter are (students only have to list
five):
a. Risk taking is admired and rewarded.
b. Competition is more important than cooperation.
c. Hard work comes first, leisure second.
d. Individual efforts take precedence over collective efforts.
e. Any problem can be solved.
f. Active decision making is essential.
g. Change is positive and is actively sought.
h. Performance is more important than rank or status.
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