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DISCUSSION STARTERS
Discussion Starter 1: Sustainable Marketing
This discussion starter focuses on sustainable marketing.
ASK: Why do you think more companies are “going green?”
Discussion Starter 2: The Products You Depend on from the Firms You Have Never Heard of
ASK: Have you ever thought about where the products you consume come from?
http://www.cargill.com/
Cargill is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of food, agricultural, financial, and industrial
goods and services. Cargill’s products include the following:
1. Animal Nutrition & Feed
2. Agricultural Commodity Trading & Processing
3. Energy, Transportation & Metals
4. Farmer Services
5. Financial & Risk Management
6. Food & Beverage Ingredients
7. Foodservice
8. Industrial/Bio Industrial
9. Personal Care
10. Pharmaceutical
11. Salt
Discussion Starter 3: Government Purchasing
ASK: What types of goods and services do governments purchase?
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©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Governments must purchase everything from food and clothing, to aircraft parts, to education and training
services. All of these products must be purchased and distributed to the various government agencies and
entities. The purchasing power of a government agency may be greatly increased through cooperative
purchasing agreements. These agreements may include local entities, agencies, or other buying groups
determined by the government. Organizations like U.S. Communities (http://www.uscommunities.org/)
help facilitate those agreements.
Discussion Starter 4: Business-to-Business Marketing and Universities
Recommended as a group activity:
In this chapter we examined the world of business-to-business marketing and learned that all types of
organizations engage in marketing, even if they do not directly market to consumers. In this exercise we
will look at how universities acquire goods and services to deliver their product to the marketplace.
Step 1: Visit http://www.dartmouth.edu/~control/departments/procurement/
Step 2: Click on the Category/Buyer Listing link on the website. Are you surprised by any of the items on
the list?
Step 3: If your organization wanted to market to universities, what recommendations would you make?
Step 4: Increasingly, sustainability is a challenge on campuses. How do you think Dartmouth addresses
sustainability through its purchasing practices? You might want to have students check out Dartmouth’s
sustainability page at dartmouth.edu/life-community/sustainability.
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CLASS EXERCISES
Class Exercise 1: Business Buying Behavior vs. Consumer Buying Behavior
The objective of this class exercise is to show students that business buying behavior has many
similarities to consumer buying behavior.
Prompt for Students: Although business buying behavior might seem quite different from your buying
behavior, the two are more similar than you may think. As you answer the following questions, think
about how similar or dissimilar the business buying process is to your own.
1. When you buy a new shirt, hair dryer, MP3 player, television, or car, which of the following criteria
is important to you?
Quality
Service
Product information
Repair services
Product availability
Credit
On-time delivery
Price
2. Give examples of products that you buy (or may buy) based on:
Description
Inspection
Sampling
Negotiation
3. Match the business purchase situation with the consumer goods buying situation. How or why are
they related?
New-task purchase
Limited decision making
Modified rebuy
Routine decision making
Straight rebuy
Extended decision making
4. How is the buying center of a business similar to the following purchasing roles that family members
play?
Users
Influencers
Buyers
Deciders
Gatekeepers
Answers:
1. If you ask enough students, you will eventually have all of these criteria listed. Although businesses
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• Straight rebuy—routine decision making
4. You might want to ask “Who plays what roles in the family when a Wii video game console is
Class Exercise 2: Inspection Methods
The purpose of this exercise is to allow students to demonstrate their understanding of different
purchasing methods. Each product is typically purchased by the following methods:
Business purchases can be made by several methods, including description, inspection, sampling, and
negotiation. Which method is most often used for each of the following products?
Answer
1.
Sampling
2.
Inspection
3.
Inspection, negotiation
4.
Description, sampling
5.
Negotiation
6.
Inspection
7.
Inspection
8.
Description
9.
Description
10.
Inspection, negotiation
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CHAPTER QUIZ
1. Reseller markets consist mainly of __________.
a. consumers
b. retailers
c. wholesalers and retailers
d. manufacturers
e. industrial users
2. Abbott’s Office Supplies buys furniture and filing cabinets from Craine Furniture. Craine buys
paper, pens, and folders from Abbott’s. The two firms are engaged in __________.
a. cross-selling
b. tying agreements
c. producer marketing
d. reciprocity
e. competitive bidding
3. If a business owner buys parts by specifying the quantity, grade, and other attributes, which buying
method is he or she using?
a. Description
b. Sampling
c. Negotiation
d. Ordering
e. Inspection
4. Administrative assistants that control the flow of information to other people in the organization
often play the __________ role in the buying center.
a. gatekeeper
b. user
c. influencer
d. buyer
e. controller
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SEMESTER PROJECT
Chapter 7 explains that different types of organizations market to each other. Business–to-business
marketing offers a wealth of career opportunities to marketing students. In this exercise, explore the
opportunities within this field.
Step 1: A frequent position within B2B marketing is purchasing manager. In this step, research the
position of purchasing manager. What types of firms hire purchasing managers?
Step 2: Many students do not consider the U.S. Government as a source for marketing positions, yet both
the Federal and State governments hire marketers. In this step, explore opportunities in the U.S.
Government. Visit http://www.usajobs.gov/.
Step 3: Write a brief description about the position of purchasing manager. Describe the training you
would need to become a purchasing manager. Also, list three potential job sources for purchasing
managers.
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ANSWERS TO ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW
1. Identify, describe, and give examples of the four major types of business markets.
The four major types of business markets are:
• Producer market—consists of individuals and business organizations that purchase products to
2. Why might business customers generally be considered more rational in their purchasing
behavior than ultimate consumers?
Business customers usually seek and obtain more information about the product before purchasing
3. What are the primary concerns of business customers?
A business customer’s primary considerations when making purchasing decisions fall within the
areas of price, product quality, service, and supplier relationships. Price influences operating costs
4. List several characteristics that differentiate transactions involving business customers from
consumer transactions.
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Business-customer transactions differ from consumer transactions in several ways. Orders tend to be
larger, there are longer negotiation periods, reciprocity sometimes plays a role in the process, and
business customers tend to be more informed about the products they purchase.
5. What are the commonly used methods of business buying?
Most business customers use one or more of the following methods:
• Description—standardized products may be purchased on the basis of a description of desired
6. Why do buyers involved in straight rebuy purchases require less information than those
making new-task purchases?
7. How does demand for business products differ from consumer demand?
8. What are the major components of a firm’s buying center?
9. Identify the stages of the business buying decision process. How is this decision process used
when making straight rebuys?
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ANSWERS TO DEVELOPING YOUR MARKETING PLAN
The information obtained from the following questions should assist you in developing various aspects of
your marketing plan found in the Interactive Marketing Plan exercise at www.cengagebrain.com.
1. What are the primary concerns of business customers? Could any of these concerns be
addressed with the strengths of your company?
2. Determine the type of business purchase your customer will likely be using when purchasing
your product. How would this impact the level of information required by the business when
moving through the buying decision process?
Students’ answers will vary based on the products they select.
3. Discuss the different types of demand that the business customer will experience when
purchasing your product.
Students’ answers will vary based on the products they select. Students can refer to Figure 7.1 when
seeking to answer this question.
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COMMENTS ON VIDEO CASE 7: DALE CARNEGIE FOCUSES ON
BUSINESS CUSTOMERS
Summary
This case shows how a company that provides a valuable service thrives in the B2B market. Dale
Carnegie was a successful entrepreneur and speaker famous for his book, How to Win Friends and
Influence People. His self-named firm trains business people and members of the government on how to
connect with customers and colleagues. Dale Carnegie focuses on helping companies to develop powerful
business relationships by learning to listen and interact well, both face-to-face and through digital
communications.
Questions for Discussion
1. How would you apply Dale Carnegie’s methods if you were trying to make a sale to a company
with a large buying center?
Students’ answers may vary. The buying center is the group of people involved in making such
2. From a marketing perspective, why would people who work for the U.S. Department of
Veteran Affairs be as interested in taking a Dale Carnegie course as people who work for
American Express?
3. Which concerns of business customers should Dale Carnegie’s marketers pay close attention to
when selling training services to a company like American Express?