Difference in Attribute Importance for Different Industrial Products

T HE industrial buying process is a complex one in which a number of considerations are important to the purchase decision.1 A key figure in the process is the purchasing agent, whose evaluation of suppliers and products is likely to influence-if not determine-the company's final choice.2 The purpose of the study reported in this article was to determine how the choice criteria used by purchasing agents to select suppliers varies with the type of problem likely to arise in adopting the particular product, and whether such differences in choice criteria are consistent between purchasing agents in the United States and the United Kingdom. The buyer's choice criteria are the factors he uses to evaluate competitive offerings. Choice criteria are inferred to exist because industrial buyers can and do articulate their reasons for choosing one supplier rather than another. Recent research in the field of consumer buying behavior supports the hypothesis that consumer choice may be predicted from knowledge of the position occupied by the various offerings in rela-