B2B Buying Situations

● Situation 1 – Mahavir Diaries – Abdul Rehman Street

Mahavir Diaries is a small single owner run manufacturer & printer of all kinds of diaries.

Mahavir Diaries has a store in Abdul Rehman Street, near Crawford selling diaries and other
stationery products.

They are interested in purchasing a desktop computer for their billing and cash counter purposes

Identify the Buying Centre for this purchase

Situati Initiat User Indenter Influencer Purchas Gatekee Decider Trouble- Fixer
on or er per Maker
1 Owner Billing - Competitor Owner - Owner - -
person s
or
owner
2 The Compa Technical Competitor Compan - Functio - -
compa ny Department y nal
ny purchas heads
e dept
3 NGO Village NGO Environme NGO - NGO Can be -
rs ntal villagers
weather
4 School student Administrat Students, School Students School Can be -
s ion Infrastructu admin Bank
ral needs staff
compared
to other
schools
5 Housin Colony - Themselve - - Housing Member -
g membe s colony of colony
colony rs
6 Busine - Competitor - - Busines Governm Governm
ss s s itself ent, ent, MLA
itself People
7 Mid Custo Own Competitor Mid size Can be Mid size Outsource -
size mer department , compan the & d
compa & the Customers y outsource outsourc company
ny outsourced increasing d ed
one requiremen company compan
t y

● Situation 2 – Light Engineering Unit in Coimbatore wants to buy 10 lathe machines

A light engineering unit in Coimbatore has an installed base of about 100 lathe machines

As a part of their annual replacement /upgradation policy they want to replace 10 lathe
machines this year

Identify the buying centre for this purchase

Situatio Initiator User Indenter Influence Purchase Gatekeep Decider Troubl Fixe
n r r er e- r
Maker
 1
2 Maintenan Operat Maintenan Competit Company - Function - -
ce dept or ce or / purchase al heads
Departmen competito dept
t r of the
lathe
machine
itself /
Productio
n dept
3
4
5
6
7

● Situation 3 – NGO wants to purchase pumps

A well known NGO has adopted 20 villages in the interior of Maharashtra, which has severe
drought and water shortage

To augment the water supply they are digging wells, laying pipes and want to purchase about
150 pumps for installing in these 20 villages

Identify the buying centre for this purchase

Situatio Initiato User Indenter Influencer Purchas Gatekeep Decider Trouble- Fixe
n r er er Maker r
1
2 The Compa Technical Competitor Compan - Function - -
compan ny Departme y al heads
y nt purchase
dept
3 NGO Villager Consultan Environmen Purchasi The CSR Village -
Project s ts, CSR, tal weather, ng dept person head moneylende
officer, Project pump who will rs,
Donati officer, manufacture prevent politicians
ng rs the flow
compan of
y level informatio
n to NGO,
Electricity
, lack of
network
4
5
6
7

● Situation 4 – B-School wants to purchase laptops for students

A reputed B – School has an intake of 360 students per year.

They plan to buy 250 laptops on behalf of their students.

It is not compulsory for the student to take the laptop from the college, but the institute is only
enabling the same.
 The choice of model & other details will be finalised in consultation with the students.

There is also a tie-up with a bank planned to help the students finance the laptop.

Identify the buying centre for this purchase

Situati Initiat User Indenter Influencer Purchas Gatekeep Decider Troubl Fixer
on or er er e-
Maker
1
2 The Compa Technical Competitor Compan - Function - -
compa ny Departme y al heads
ny nt purchase
dept
3 NGO Villager NGO Environmen NGO - NGO Can be Governme
s tal weather villager nt
s
4 Student students Student Students Parent of Students, Parent - -
s coming the committee
from IT student members,
dept, security
students staff
itself, Its
qualified
student,
Parent
5
6
7

● Situation 5 – Housing Colony is looking at painting the colony

A housing colony has over 25 buildings and 250 families

They want to do the external waterproofing, followed by external painting of the colony
covering the buildings, common areas like club house and also the fencing.

Identify the buying centre for this purchase

Situatio Initiato User Indenter Influencer Purchas Gatekeep Decider Troubl Fixe
n r er er e- r
Maker
1
2 The Compan Technical Competitor Compan - Function - -
compan y Department y al heads
y purchase
dept
3 NGO Villager NGO Environment NGO - NGO Can be -
s al weather villager
s
4 School students Administrati Students, School Students School Can be -
on Infrastructur admin Bank
al needs staff
compared to
other
schools
5 Housin Colony - Themselves - - Housing Membe -
g member colony r of
colony s colony
6
7
 ●

● Situation 6 – A large business house wants to set up a new plant at an investment of Rs.
200 crores

 This is new green field project

 Is planning to set up a state-of-the-art chemical factory in a backward location

 Will invest Rs. 200.00 crores for this plant.

 Identify the buying centre for this purchase

Situati Initiat User Indenter Influencer Purchas Gatekee Decider Trouble- Fixer
on or er per Maker
1
2 The Compa Technical Competitor Compan - Functio - -
compa ny Department y nal
ny purchas heads
e dept
3 NGO Village NGO Environme NGO - NGO Can be -
rs ntal villagers
weather
4 School student Administrat Students, School Students School Can be -
s ion Infrastructu admin Bank
ral needs staff
compared
to other
schools
5 Housin Colony - Themselve - - Housing Member -
g membe s colony of colony
colony rs
6 Busine - Competitor - - Busines Governm Governme
ss s s itself ent, nt, MLA
itself People
7
●

● Situation 7 – A mid size company with over 100 employees and about 75 software
developers is wanting to do major product rewrite.

 They have an existing software platform which they are using for delivering a
customer services

 They want to upgrade this platform to the latest version of the software and also
add new functionalities to it

 Have a budget of US$ 1.0 Million for this and want to do the product rewrite 30% in
house and balance to be outsourced.

 Identify the buying centre for the outsourced part of the software rewrite
Situati Initiat User Indenter Influencer Purchas Gatekee Decider Trouble- Fixer
on or er per Maker
1
2 The Compa Technical Competitor Compan - Functio - -
compa ny Department y nal
ny purchas heads
e dept
3 NGO Village NGO Environme NGO - NGO Can be -
 rs ntal villagers
weather
4 School student Administrat Students, School Students School Can be -
s ion Infrastructu admin Bank
ral needs staff
compared
to other
schools
5 Housin Colony - Themselve - - Housing Member -
g membe s colony of colony
colony rs
6 Busine - Competitor - - Busines Governm Governm
ss s s itself ent, ent, MLA
itself People
7 Mid Custo Own Competitor Mid size Can be Mid size Outsource -
size mer department , compan the & d
compa & the Customers y outsource outsourc company
ny outsourced increasing d ed
one requiremen company compan
t y
●