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This research is a qualitative study which aims to investigate the intricacies of organisational buying behaviour in the context of the Irish biotechnology industry. Particularly the research seeks to focus on the phenomenon of buying centres as the core decision‐making unit in an organisation and examines the functionality of such a process. The main aims of the research study is to examine key influencers, as well as to examine the decision process itself so as to fully comprehend modern organisational buyer behaviour and to discuss these issues from a practical viewpoint beneficial to both the marketing and purchasing functions.

The research process was conducted through qualitative methods, which formed a combination of focus group and key respondent interviewing. A triangular approach of data was also used to obtain quality information and to achieve a platform upon which to base accurate conclusions. A small number of organisations from industry participated in this study, which was deemed sufficient as the purpose of the study was gaining insight as opposed to proving or disproving previous theories.

It was discovered that users were key influencers in the decision process as were quality control personnel. In addition the business functions were found to be the decision makers in a highly dynamic buying centre process, which is constantly changing in terms of numbers, participation, and structure. Based on the finding of the research newer models of organisation buying behaviour were developed in addition to appropriate marketing strategies being put forward in order to better represent the realities of modern business‐to‐business marketing. This is where the real benefits of this research will be seen as marketing organisations become more efficient, buying organisations develop best practice procedures, and academics can build on this research base to further enhance marketing knowledge.

The paper examines buying centres in Irish biotechnology companies and offers recommendations for future research.

To achieve a full understanding of the role of marketing from plan to profit requires a knowledge of the basic building blocks. This textbook introduces the key concepts in the art or science of marketing to practising managers. Understanding your customers and consumers, the 4 Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) provides the basic tools for effective marketing. Deploying your resources and informing your managerial decision making is dealt with in Unit VII introducing marketing intelligence, competition, budgeting and organisational issues. The logical conclusion of this effort is achieving sales and the particular techniques involved are explored in the final section.

Given that planned marketing strategies and observable behaviors often are contingent on buyer and third‐party (e.g. competitor) responses, deep understanding and descriptions of the thoughts and actions of marketers need to reflect the dynamic interplay of such contingencies. The same view applies to planned organizational buying strategies and observable behaviors: buying behavior adapts through time based on information learned and marketers’ responses to requests made by the customer organization. Consequently, a two‐way, or multiple‐party, approach to theory construction is useful in particular for mapping the “if‐then” responses of the marketer’s thoughts/actions linked with the if‐then responses of buyers’ thoughts/actions through several time periods. Using in‐depth interviews and case histories of one marketing organization and 28 buying organizations related to the office furniture industry, the article illustrates descriptive modeling of the contingency dynamics in the thoughts and actions across the multiple parties involved in marketing‐buying interactions.

Highlights some of the major conceptual and methodological issues involved in organisational buying behaviour. Aims to avoid pitfalls involved in the utilisation of research regarding specified issues — at the same time stimulating research aimed at the resolution of these issues. Reviews the current status of organisational buying behaviour, follows this by identifying five potential groups of users of information on organisational buying behaviour. Goes on to focus on the conceptual and methodological issues involved in organisational buying research. Suggests new research directions which, if implemented, could help advance the relevance and quality of organisational buying research. States that academic studies, directly concerned with a better understanding of organisational buying behaviour can be classified as falling into one of three areas the: buying centre (least studied area); organisational buying centre and process; or factors affecting the organisational buying centre and process. Purports that these three concepts can provide the basis for organising much of the diverse research efforts in organisational buying behaviour and goes on to illustrate findings from each of these areas and discusses them in depth.

Owing to the complexity of the task and the risks inherent in it, the effectiveness of any organizational buying decision largely depends on the information available for the decision‐makers’ use. Within any typical organization, flow of the information needed in the decision‐making process is influenced by the gatekeepers – the people who link the organization with the outside environment. However, despite the important role played by these people, not much is known about their behavior. This research makes an attempt to study gatekeeping behavior and examine factors which may influence this behavior.

Business marketers' sales and promotional costs continue to escalate. These marketers face complex problems in identifying and reaching key influencers in targeted prospect organizations. This article links current developments in industrial buying behavior theory and research to the problem of allocating sales and promotional resources. It defines a customer‐driven approach, specifying that marketer actions be linked to the prospect organization's buying activities. Specifically, the phase or stage of the buying process, the makeup of the decision‐making unit over time, and the roles played by buying participants, particularly stakeholders, should all dictate the content, timing, and targeting of sales and promotional efforts. An outline framework for allocating these resources is proposed and an overview of how buying and selling activities interact is presented.

This paper aims to investigate the dynamics of the organizational buying process of radical software innovations. Acquisition of technology innovations by early adopting organizations has been studied previously with scant attention being given to the actual buying process and the risk mitigation mechanism. This paper addresses these gaps in the literature and this paper finds evidence to support that the organizational buying process of radical software innovations is different from the general models of organizational buying.

Methods from the grounded theory approach were used to conduct 20 in-depth interviews with senior industry practitioners. Purposive sampling was used to identify the participants.

A theoretical model of the organizational buying process of radical software innovations emerged with themes and concepts that explain the dynamics of the buying and adoption processes. The paper challenges the fundamental tenet of organizational buying that needs recognition triggers the buying process. An interesting nuance was found that risk is mitigated within the buying action itself.

An understanding of the buyer behaviour process will help marketers of radical software innovations to formulate the appropriate marketing response. Sales personnel can attune their customer interactions when helping customers to acquire a radical software innovation. Firms that want to be early adopters and innovate can tune their buying process in line with the findings.

This paper develops a typological buying model. It unravels the dynamics of the adoption process by discussing how early adopting organizations buy radical software innovations. New concepts with rich explanatory powers are discussed.

Proposes that grouping industrial market transactions into separate segments can be aided by use of individual dimensions and combinations of dimensions. Examines the idea that knowledge about the composition of the decision‐making unit or buying centre in specified situations helps marketers to design or modify communication programmes – concentrating attention on those market segments to which the competitive advantages are most meaningful. Uses interviews with purchasing personnel (over several years with more than 30 organisations in the USA, of differing products/services, location and size). Says there is a four dimensional classification system for industrial buying situations and these are: buyers' familiarity with the buying task (new or rebuy); product type; importance of the purchase to the buying organisation; and principal type of uncertainty present in the purchase situation. Goes on to discuss these and uses tables for extra emphasis in explanation. Concludes that interview data suggest that the use of situational segmentation, when combined with segmentation based on ability to refine market programmes, select the most promising on which to focus.

The purpose of this paper is to study does the structure of buying centre networks dynamically change between buying situations and during the buying processes. Furthermore, the influence of organizational culture on participation, extensivity, lateral involvement, and vertical involvement of buying centre networks is studied.

A qualitative study with empirical data gathered by semi‐structured interviews with the help of structured questions among Finnish business organizations early in 2007. The empirical data consist of 40 interviews conducted among small and medium sized companies. For the data analyses, the data were separately classified into themes relevant for each of the topics analyzed. The structured questions were used for validating the findings of qualitative analyses.

The structure of buying centre networks was found to be highly dynamic and change significantly between buying situations and phases of the buying process. Five types of networks were identified: expert, inward‐oriented informal networks; extensive, specialist and inward‐oriented formal networks; extensive, outward and more management‐oriented co‐operative networks; specification‐oriented management and responsibility‐led co‐operative networks; and management‐led specialist‐oriented versatile networks. The results also suggest power distance, risk tolerance, and individualism/collectivism are useful measures for analysing the factors influencing the structure of buying centre networks and explaining differences between buying situations and stages of the buying process.

Change in the surrounding business and technology environment means that buying centre networks are forced to follow suit, in order to maintain competitiveness and the efficiency of their buying operations. While cultural differences are commonly known to influence organizational behaviour, the effects of the organizational culture on buying centre network structures have not sufficiently been studied.

With a few exceptions, the extant literature lacks substantive analysis of the ways downsizing and outsourcing impact on organizational structure and the roles and behaviors of organizational members. This is especially true of research focussing on organizational buying behavior. Provides an important step toward increasing our understanding in these areas by proposing a model of some of the conceptual linkages between current organizational downsizing and outsourcing initiatives and organizational structure and buying behavior. Develops theoretical arguments along with a set of propositions concerning the likely effects of downsizing and outsourcing on organizational structure, as well as on buying centre structure, membership, and shared authority, and on purchase participant role conflict, motivation, and risk aversion. Aims to encourage future conceptual and empirical analyses of these important relationships and linkages.