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Pages:
3 pages/≈825 words
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Check Instructions
Style:
MLA
Subject:
Business & Marketing
Type:
Case Study
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 12.96
Topic:

Role of Consumers in a Buying Center

Case Study Instructions:

Role play
Assignment KMBS C details how salespeople meet with various members of the buying team to understand the buying process and get deeper insights into customer needs. You'll find this easier if you create a template first and then, read the cases (some of the information is in each case) and use the cases to populate the answers to the questions.

Konica Minolta Business Systems (C)

In this three-part case, KMBS describes how a newly appointed sales rep, Bill Swanson, received details about NYCG as a prospect and the responsibility to try to win this account away from competitors.

In KMBS (C), Swanson meets with the heads of Distributed Print Services and Central Print Services divisions, as well as other users at NYCG, to understand their needs. 


Learning Objectives

  1. Identify the buying center and update information on customer needs through meetings with various members of the buying organization. (See Question 1, 2, and 3 below.)
  2. Translate features to specific benefits and develop a value proposition. (See Question 4, below.)
  3. Summarize the needs of the customer. (See Question 3, below.)
  4. Provide a value proposition to customers. (Question 5, below.)

Discussion Questions

  1. Identify the role of the members of the buying center, along with their top goals and the reasons for those goals. List the roles of the buying center and who you think fits those roles from NYCG.
  2. Based on Swanson’s discussion with Benedict, the DPS’s and CPS’s goals were developed. Now, update the goals based on Benedict’s discussion with other members of the team.
  3. Swanson should review his list of questions with the responses he received from the heads of DPS and CPS, then identify top priority items for his next steps. Think about the company, the people, the competition, the buying process and timeline, the key benefits sought by NYCG, and KMBS’s recommended solutions. What information are you still looking for?
  4. List how KMBS can meet NYCG’s needs with its products and solutions. The emphasis is not on specific products and services; instead, you should think about the specific benefits you would ideally offer to NYCG. (This should tie to Question 3, above.)
  5. What value proposition can KMBS offer to NYCG? Why should NYCG buy from KMBS?

    What You Need to Submit

Organize your responses to the Discussion Questions. Key points:

  • Use proper formatting. Organize your information so that it’s easy to follow For this exercise, it’s helpful to create tables and organize your information using them.
  • Be concise. You can use bullet points to organize your thoughts.
  • The main things to address is how to link the benefits to your proposed value proposition. Make it clear.
Case Study Sample Content Preview:

Case Analysis KMBS_C
Name
Institutional Analysis
Case Analysis KMBS_C
Question 1.
* According to the case study members of the NYCG’s buying center are Bob Benedict-Global procurement Director, Joe Bairstaw-Director, Distributed Print Service, Chris Talbot-Director, Central Print Service, Andrew Wu-IT Manager, and Dawn Wheaton-Partner in charge of Procurement.
* The DPS manager, Clara Sealy, and the CPS manager also form part of the buying center who function as users of the prospective printing machines to be purchased.
* The managers provide the desired specs of the machines, evaluate their performances, and thus initiating the purchase process.
* The IT manager, Andrew Wu, plays a significant role as an influencer by providing the technical evaluation of the alternative options available for purchase and thus helping the deciders to choose the brand that is best suited to the organizational needs.
* Bob Benedict and Dawn Wheaton’s role in as heads of procurement are the buyers while the outlined departmental managers are the deciders or function to choose the product that meets the demands of their daily operational tasks.
* Benedict’s secretary, Lydia Cruz, and the departmental managers also double as the gatekeepers of the buying center as they control the flow of information across the buying center.
Question 2.
* Swanson’s discussion with Benedict created an overview of the goals and objectives of the organization’s departments. According to Benedict’s response, NYCG’s overall goal and objective is to have efficient printing machines that produce identical services across the organization's multiple locations of operation.
* The organization further endeavors to maintain or rather enhance its quality of production through a reliable servicing plan from the sellers.
* Consultations with other members of the buying center reiterate Benedict’s overview of the organization’s production goals but goes further to include sustainable production practices through eco-friendliness and safeguarding the security concerns from the use of the procured products.
* The organization also seeks to keep with the advancing technology in the printing industry to enhance its proficiency in handling heavy workloads at low costs of production.
Question 3.
* NYCG's main objective is to enhance its proficiency in the production of print materials to meet the demands of its clientele while also maintaining low costs for increased revenue generation.
* The achievement of the said objectives is dependent on the ability of th...
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