The expansion and differentiation of many purchasing markets, as well as the faster exchange of goods and services driven by technical and economic changes, necessitate greater attention to the study of these markets. The focus is not only on structural data regarding purchasing markets but also on the purchasing process itself, including its course, purchase categories, and organizational buying motives, which determine the development of specific types of relationships in the supplier-customer system. These allow for the reconstruction of purchasing situations, characterized by a variable state of uncertainty, which consequently leads to purchasing risk.
Understanding the factors that shape organizational buying motives and determine their selection decisions seems essential for overcoming states of uncertainty and the associated purchasing risk, and thus important for striving for the rationality of the studied processes. The article classifies purchasing situations occurring in industrial markets based on the criterion of the significance and probability of the risk associated with the concluded transactions. Understanding the strategic factors influencing individual purchasing situations is important for both buyers and suppliers. It will facilitate the identification of purchasing criteria for buyers, while for suppliers, it will allow for the improvement of the market offer presented to competitors. The circumstances of making a purchase determine the scope of applications for new information technologies, which enable participants in the transaction—buyers and sellers—to achieve benefits.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” no. 3/2005.