Buying behaviour in the Swedish heavy truck industry : an empirical study of Scania and Volvo Truck Corporation

This thesis deals with industrial buying behaviour and electronic data interchange in the automotive industry. The automotive industry is in the forefront of implementing information technologies such as electronic exchanges that are partly changing the industrial buying behaviour. Thus, in order to not lag behind, marketers need to understand the buying behaviour of organisations since this is a key to success when formulating marketing strategies. The aim of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of the supplier selection criteria, the dimensions and roles in the buying centre for different buyclasses and the advantages and disadvantages of electronic data interchange within the automotive industry. In order to achieve the purpose of this research, a multiple case study of the Swedish heavy truck manufacturers Scania and Volvo Truck Corporation was conducted. The main source of empirical evidence consists of one personal interview performed at each company. This study’s findings indicate that quality, delivery and communication system are the most important supplier selection criteria and that less people get involved in a straight rebuy compared to a modified rebuy. Consequently, some roles in the buying centre vanish in a straight rebuy situation. Moreover, the study shows that the two companies implemented their electronic data interchange systems with the intention to improve the communication with their suppliers and that they more or less perceive the same advantages and disadvantages of their systems.Validerat; 20101217 (root