Identifying Key Members of Buying Centre (or Decision Making Unit) in Buying Organisation.

Top Management Persons
The top management in an industrial organisation consist of managing director, director, president, vice-president or general manager.
They are generally involved in
(a) purchase policy decisions such as diversification into a new product/project
(b) approval of purchase or materials department annual budgets and objectives, and
(c) deciding the guidelines for purchase decisons. For purchases of high value capital equipment, the top management in most firms get involved in the supplier selection, as it may have a major impact on the firm’s operations.

Technical Persons (or Functions)
The technical persons are design engineers, production manager, maintenance mabager, quality control manger, R&D manager, and industrial engineers. They are generally involved in product specification or description, technical evaluation of offers received from suppliers, negotiations with suppliers, performance feedback on products supplied, and so on. They also visit the factories of potential suppliers to gain more information and assurance of manufacturing capability.

Buyers/Purchasers (or Purchase/Materials Department)
Buyers are the persons in the purchase or materials department. They may be senior executives or managers, and also at junior levels, purchase officers or assistants. They are generally involved in most of the phrases or steps of the purchase activities. They coordinate with technical persons, top management, accounts or finance persons within an organization, as well as, with suppliers is considerable. They are conscious of keeping good relations with other decision making members within the organization and also with the suppliers.

Accounts/Finance Persons (or Department)
The contribution of finance/accounts persons are seen while finalizing commercial terms such as modes of payment, issuance of bank guarantees, financial approval of capital purchases, issuing payments to suppliers and so on.

Marketing Function
When a purchase decision has an impact on the marketability of a firm’s product, marketing people become influencers in the buying decision process. For example, a firm manufacturing and marketing electric motors had to change its packing due to damages caused to the product in transportation. This is turn affected the satisfaction level of the customer. The marketing manger insisted that suppliers should use good quality and thicker wood for packing the motors to minimize damage in transit.