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Written Assignment 2 “Describe the different roles in a business buying center. Then identify each member of the buying group in a medium-sized company that purchases components and assembles small household appliances? ” In a business buying center there are five different roles. The first role are the users. These are the people who will be use the good or product. They influence the buying decisions because ultimately they will be the ones using the product. The second role are the gatekeepers. These personnel are the ones that give product data.
They control what information the members of the buying center will review. The third role are the influencer. They are usually specialized staff that break down what the “pros” and “cons” are for a product. The fourth role are the deciders. These aren’t necessarily the ones that have the formal authority about what product is going to get bought. The last member is the buyer. This is the one that has the formal authority to buy a product. In a medium sized company that purchases components and assembles small household appliances the user would be the ones that are using the appliance.
The gatekeeper would be the one in the business that provided the CEO or logistical with the different types of trials that they could use to build their small appliances. They would break down different supplier’s data and cost of supplies on a data sheet. The influencer would be the engineers because ultimately they are the ones designing the small appliances. They would give their expert opinion on what material would work best and why. The decider would be the CEO or someone appointed by him.
The buyer would be a salesperson or logistical because they have the formal authority to buy for the company. “Imagine that you are a marketer for one of the following companies: Amazon. Com, Apple Computer, Struck, Burger King, or a nationally agonized company of your choice. Decide whether your company will expand internationally into Mexico, India, or China. Write a brief report outlining and describing the issues your company must consider regarding each of the following environmental areas: economic, social-cultural, technological, and political-legal.? The company that I would associate myself with would be Struck. I would tread the waters of global expansion and would first expand with our neighbors to the south, Mexico. Some of the economic issues that I would run into would be the low income revenue that families in Mexico face. The infrastructure in Mexico is well developed in major cities but that is about it. Other cities have poor to non-existent infrastructure. The way I would mitigate these issues would be place my businesses in tourist cities (I. E. Puerco Valletta, Cancan, Quintal ROR, Monterrey, and Etc. And international airports. The social-culture difference that I would have to take into consideration are that many Mexicans only speak English. I would have to get bilingual workers that spoke both Spanish and English. I would also take into consideration the Marco-culture that they are currently living in. Many drug gangs are running the country and I would have to mitigate that so my workers would be safe. Technological issues would be minimal. Mexico is well off when it comes to internet technology. Almost every home in major cities now have Wi-If connection.
My business would also be able to provide this service. They also have cell-phone service readily available in these major cities. I would have minimal political-legal issues. That is because of the North American Free Trade Agreement. I would be able to easily import different that I would need to successfully run my business. I think with the outline that I have set and the environment that I chose to go into the business would be a success. “What are several pluses for businesses that use outsourcing techniques? What are several minuses?
What can companies do to make the best of these widespread practices? ” Outsourcing is the practice of a business that uses and outside vendor to provide a business that was used to be provided by that business. The pluses to this practice are the business is able to concentrate all their resources to their main product. An example of this practice is outsourcing the IT department. A business no longer has the need to have an onsite IT department, because of technological advances many IT personnel can Just remote into a computer to see what the issues a user is having.
It is also a way for a business to save money. Some minuses or cons to this practice is the fact that the company is entrusting a third party to have access to confidential material. Usually IT personnel sign paperwork saying they will not look at this information but if no one has oversight of them they can look at what they please. Another minus is sometimes outsourcing could lead to additional time lost before a system is restored. When you have an IT department in house an employee can walk over to the department and ask for assistance.
Companies can first make sure that the business is a trusted and known business. One company that I would trust with my IT department would be Hewlett Packard, or HP, because they are a well-known and have been trusted with other businesses IT departments before. Businesses should also shop around to ensure they get the best rate possible. If that business is going to pay for outsourcing more than they would in house then that would not be practical.