Business Buyers Research Articles

Community Perceptions About Online Buying Business Through Facebook Social Media

The purpose of this study is to find out how the perception and development of people who do online buying and selling business through social media Facebook. This research method uses qualitative research methods or case studies. This study uses data collection techniques such as interviews, documentation and questionnaires as complementary data. The theory used is the theory of symbolic interactionism. The results of this study indicate that people who do online buying and selling businesses are motivated by opportunities and opportunities to take advantage of their technological and communication advances, then the communication they build through social media Facebook in doing online buying and selling business is very effective and acceptable to the community. As well as the development of creative and innovative communities when doing online buying and selling businesses are able to help people develop their ideas and hobbies, even though they are quite far from the city, this can be seen from people who do online buying and selling businesses are able to understand and use social media Facebook as a business buying and selling online well.

The role of conflict and opportunism on the duality of satisfaction in B2B sales relationships

PurposeThis study aims to explore the direct and indirect effects of sales opportunism and sales conflict as well as of non-economic and economic satisfaction in business-to-business (B2B) sales relationships. This understanding offers B2B buyers enhanced knowledge of sales business expectations towards sustainable business relationships in the future.Design/methodology/approachThrough self-administered questionnaires, data were obtained from 237 sales or marketing managers/directors of small- and medium-sized companies across industries in Spain, who were randomly contacted via LinkedIn. The multivariate analysis of measurement and structural models was based on IBM SPSS Amos 27.FindingsThe study confirms that sales opportunism positively affects sales conflict. Moreover, sales opportunism is negatively associated with non-economic sales satisfaction, whereas non-economic sales satisfaction is positively associated with economic sales satisfaction. Consequently, if all associates are pleased with the relationship and the gains it can provide, a long-standing orientation can be achieved.Research limitations/implicationsThe study expands existing theory on seller–buyer relationships in a B2B context. It contextualises direct and indirect relationships between two antecedents (sales opportunism and sales conflict) and two postcedents (economic sales satisfaction and non-economic sales satisfaction) in sales business–buyer settings.Practical implicationsThe study guides buyers in B2B relationships towards an improved understanding of how sales businesses perceive opportunism and conflict (as negative precursors) to impact non-economic satisfaction and how it can influence economic satisfaction.Originality/valueMost studies explore B2B relationship building from the perspective of the buyer, thereby creating a shortfall in developing an understanding of all partner expectations in B2B relational intent. Moreover, the measurement of satisfaction as a multidimensional construct secured the integration of non-economic satisfaction and economic satisfaction within a single model allowing the constructs measured in this study to be holistically assessed.

Business Purchase Prediction Based on XAI and LSTM Neural Networks

The black-box nature of neural networks is an obstacle to the adoption of systems based on them, mainly due to a lack of understanding and trust by end users. Providing explanations of the model’s predictions should increase trust in the system and make peculiar decisions easier to examine. In this paper, an architecture of a machine learning time series prediction system for business purchase prediction based on neural networks and enhanced with Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) techniques is proposed. The architecture is implemented on an example of a system for predicting the following purchases for time series using Long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks and Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) values. The developed system was evaluated with three different LSTM neural networks for predicting the next purchase day, with the most complex network producing the best results across all metrics. Explanations generated by the XAI module are provided with the prediction results to the user to allow him to understand the system’s decisions. Another benefit of the XAI module is the possibility to experiment with different prediction models and compare input feature effects.

Online reverse auctions research in marketing versus SCM: A review and future directions

An online reverse auction (ORA) is a dynamic procurement mechanism that allows suppliers to compete in real time via a platform to gain a buyer's business. The ORA is a technological tool introduced in the late 1990s, gaining proponents and detractors among practitioners and academics. Remarkably, while practitioner interest in ORAs has grown, related marketing and supply chain management (SCM) research has declined. This contradiction between theory and practice suggests the need to conduct a systematic review to provide readers with a state-of-the-art understanding of ORAs and recommend fruitful avenues for further research. We focus on the marketing literature and contrast the findings with SCM literature, in such an analysis practical relevance is stressed. Our study offers three main contributions: (1) integration of the cumulative marketing knowledge on ORAs in the 2002–2020 period, (2) development of a three-layer framework of the ORA domain (i.e., conceptualization, ORA as a process, and research setting), and (3) construction of a new research agenda to deal with scholarly challenges and emerging trends.

How business usage center members' self-concepts affect their perceptions and assessments in organizational usage processes

In business-to-business settings, purchasing dominantly takes place within customer-supplier relationships. Therefore, from a supplier perspective, it is important to understand what drives customers' rebuy decisions. Here, the value in use that individual representatives of a customer organization, based on the achievement of their individual and collective goals, experience in their usage processes has an important impact on the firm's loyalty. However, only little is known about how the various users in a customer firm, the members of a business usage center (BUC), perceive value in use and how these perceptions are influenced by their interactions. In two studies with 18 interviewees using the repertory grid technique in combination with means-end chaining, this paper investigates how actors' self-concepts influence their attributed reasons for actions of other BUC members and in turn the perceptions of their behaviors. Eleven attributed reasons for action are elicited that are grouped into four clusters covering competence profile, emotional profile, job requirements, and personal motivation. The findings of this study complement existing research that mainly uses hierarchical positions and organizational roles to explain individual assessments and decision-making specifically related to business buying behavior. Based on these insights, theoretical as well as managerial implications are discussed and avenues for further research are presented.

Efficacy of supply chain relationships – differences in performance appraisals between buyers and suppliers

This paper examines the efficacy of three supply chain relationship factors: trust, commitment, and relationship specific investment (RSI) in affecting firms’ cooperation, innovation and financial performance, comparing buyers’ and suppliers’ perspectives. A questionnaire survey was conducted in mainland China. Two independent samples with 101 and 108 responses respectively from the Chinese business buyers and suppliers were collected by visiting nine large annual exhibitions. Both samples involved buyer–supplier business relationships across three business markets: textiles, food, and consumer electronics. The data was analysed using structural equation modelling and a two-groups invariance test. The results indicate that the efficacies of trust, commitment, and RSI influencing buyers’ and suppliers’ performance are different. The paths from the relationship factors leading to performance form patterns that differ between buyers and suppliers in the Chinese business context. While trust and RSI are the direct antecedents of buyers’ cooperation performance, commitment is the immediate precursor of suppliers’ cooperation performance. Trust and commitment lead to buyer’s innovation performance directly, while RSI is a direct driver of supplier’ innovation performance. In addition, RSI is not a significant factor for buyers’ financial performance, whereas it will generate financial return for suppliers. Based on these findings, we provide differentiated relationship management suggestions to managers of buying and supplying firms for helping them improve performance in the Chinese business market in particular. For example, trust and commitment are more important relationship factors than RSI for buying firms, while RSI is as significant as trust and commitment for supplying firms.

The Application of The Arm's Length Buyer Rule in The Context of The Civil Code

Based on the consideration of protecting the interests of transactions, article 404 of the civil code extends the normal business buyer rule to the chattel mortgage and stipulates the constituent elements of the rule. The business activities cannot exceed the scope of the business license, and the goods are for continuous sale; Actual payment is required, but not limited to monetary form; Ownership is required, but actual possession is not required. As for the excluded application, the continuous sale of production equipment is not included in the excluded application; The existence of control relationship does not necessarily exclude the application; Bona fide elements can be added to the identification of the cover clause. The application of this rule can block the recovery of chattel mortgage, but it is still bound by paragraph 2 of article 406.

Scoping Out the Uncertain Simplification (Complication?) Effects of VATs, BATs and Consumed Income Taxes

Of the many things we do not know about a national, broad-based consumption tax, this article addresses only one of the important uncertainties: the impact of a consumption tax on the overall intricacy of the federal revenue system. More specifically, this article examines some important issues regarding the effects on tax system complexity of the three principal candidates for a national consumption tax-the European-style, credit method value added tax (VAT), the subtraction method VAT, and the consumed income tax.Under a credit method VAT, a business subtracts the VAT paid on its purchases (including capital expenditures) from the VAT it collects on sales and either remits to the government the tax collected in excess of tax paid or receives from the government a refund of tax paid in excess of tax collected. This system effectively taxes each business on the value that it adds to goods and services. Under a subtraction method VAT, a business deducts business purchases, including capital outlays, from sales and pays tax on the difference. A subtraction method VAT, sometimes called a business activities tax (BAT), differs from a single-rate credit method VAT only in computation procedure, and the two taxes produce the same revenue if imposed at the same rate. Businesses are usually required to settle VAT accounts with the government more often than annually.

When TikTok Discovered the Human Remains Trade: A Case Study

Abstract In the summer of 2021, a video on TikTok was heavily reposted across a variety of social media platforms (attracting conventional media attention too). Unusually (for TikTok), it was about the trade in human remains. Thus, we were presented with the opportunity to watch how knowledge of the trade exploded into broader public consciousness on a comparatively newer platform. In this article, we scrape TikTok for reactions to that moment. In our previous research on the human remains trade on Instagram, we used a particular suite of digital humanities methods to understand how Instagram was being used by participants in the trade. Here, we employ those same methods to develop a case study for contrast. The original individual, whose TikTok account is used to promote his bricks-and-mortar business buying and selling human remains, has, as a result of this attention, gained an even greater number of followers and views, making the video a “success.” Nevertheless, several users engaged in long discussions in the comments concerning the ethics of what this individual is doing. A number of users created videos to criticize his activities, discussing the moral, ethical, and legal issues surrounding the trade in human remains, which in many ways makes the “success” of this video one of fostering opposition and a wider understanding of the ethical and moral issues around this trade.

Relaciones de poder y jerarquía en un ordenamiento productivo local de una ciudad brasileña

This research aims to identify how power and hierarchy relations emerge in a production system that influence the authenticity dimensions of a local productive arrangement. The research is exploratory and had data collected from interviews with local managers from organizations of local size and influence. The data collected from the interviews allowed qualifying the studied productive system, as well as advancing on Storper and Harrison’s (1991) proposals, taking as original the study of a local productive arrangement (LPA) of a medium and peripheral city in Brazil. It is concluded that the qualitative aspects favorable to the LPA have the “core-ring structure with coordinating signature” as a very present characteristic that influences the authenticity dimensions of the arrangement. Given this perspective, it is also highlighted that the territorial dimension and rootedness are well defined, as the region is perceived as the best option for the purchase and installation of automotive businesses. Tacit knowledge, innovation, and governance are underdeveloped. As a central result, one can point to a possible stronger variable to what Lastres and Cassiolato (2004) call the authenticity of local productive arrangements, that is, the relations of power and hierarchy existing in the production system can constitute a variable that interferes in the other dimensions and confers the authenticity of a local productive arrangement.

Antecedents of Consumer Preferences for Online Shopping in Jakarta

Research on the antecedents and preferences of consumers shopping online in Jakarta based on the background of the increasing growth of online business in Jakarta. The growth of this online business will have a good impact on improving the economy and also increasing the workforce in Indonesia.
 This study aims to determine what are the most dominant variables that greatly influence consumer preferences for the success of online businesses in Jakarta. In the long term, it is very useful to know whether these variables can be applied to the success of online businesses in Indonesia.
 In collecting the necessary research data, the authors took 200 samples of online business buyers in Jakarta as research data.
 The research data analysis technique is multiple regression analysis. For this causal research, the author will process research data with Structural Equation Modeling.

The Interplay Between Supplier-Specific Investments and Supplier Dependence: Do Two Pluses Make a Minus?

Supplier resources are critical to the success of downstream firms. The relational view and resource dependence theory predict how supplier-specific investments and supplier dependence make the supplier more willing to allocate its best resources to the focal buyer relative to other buyers. However, these theories are ambiguous regarding the interplay between these two constructs. Specifically, the combination could either create relational synergies that benefit the focal buyer or create a situation in which the supplier reconsiders its resource allocation decisions and potentially allocates its resources to the accounts of other buyers. We investigated these competing views by building on two independent dyadic datasets. We found positive effects for both a buyer's supplier-specific investments and supplier dependence on supplier resource allocation, which is measured as the supplier's allocation of physical and innovation resources to the focal buyer relative to competing buyers. However, we also found evidence that supplier dependence negatively moderates the effect of supplier-specific investments on supplier resource allocation. Hence, the effect of supplier-specific investments weakens when the supplier is dependent on the buyer's business volume. These findings make an important empirical contribution to the literature by clarifying the dual workings of supplier-specific investments and supplier dependence as mechanisms to influence supplier resource allocation. We discuss several implications for the buyer-supplier relationship literature and the broader management literature.

How B2B platform improves Buyers’ performance: Insights into platform’s substitution effect

Platforms are observed to gradually replace traditional pipeline supply chains. To better understand how platforms can assist business buyers in improving their bottom-line, this study investigates the influence of platform usage on three aspects of buyers’ performance. We build a theoretical framework focused on the roles of trust and transaction cost, and the moderating effects of transaction frequency. Using a sample of 314 buyer firms who are enrolled on a major e-commerce platform within the past ten years, we find that platform usage increases trust and decreases transaction cost for buyer firms, both of which in turn improve the buyers’ relationship performance, supplier performance and market performance. We also reveal a positive moderating effect of transaction frequency in this framework. The findings highlight the substitution effect of platforms in replacing traditional supply chains and what it means for business buyers.

Customer Analysis Using Business Buying Behavior Framework to Develop a B2B Marketing Strategy for User Experience (UX) Studio, Uxgala

Digitalization in Indonesia is rapidly increasing due to the level of active internet users, putting Indonesia as one of the most potential digital markets in the world. This phenomenon also raises the demand and opportunity for User Experience (UX) studios, such as Uxgala, to be involved in digitalization by providing the start-up a UX development service for the digital product.
 Unfortunately, Uxgala as a newcomer to the UX development business still has a low reputation and weak competitive advantage. Meanwhile, many competitors and substitutes are also crowding the market. This situation is then intensified by market conditions that have not fully realized the importance of user experience.
 In this research, the marketing strategy development was based on the customer analysis through direct interview and indirect observation method, using business buying behavior framework. The study shows that different markets have different needs for UX development services and dissimilar behavior in the purchasing decision that Uxgala can use to strengthen its market targeting and brand positioning. Moreover, developing the 7P’s marketing mix that suits the targeted market and also strongly performs the brand positioning.

Priority-based market clearing model for off-grid P2P energy trading

Standalone solar PV power system is being used as an option for electrification in remote areas around the world providing basic electricity needs. However, the approach suffers from power mismatch and energy efficiency issues. This paper proposes market-clearing model peer-to-peer energy trading (P2PET) based on multiple standalone solar power system design specification in rural Sarawak, Malaysia. The proposed system combined multiple standalone solar PV system within the community through P2PET trading concept. P2PET creates the platform for energy transaction between each system and even support business such as a workshop to operate high-power electrical appliances. As energy generation is constrained in an off-grid system, the proposed market-clearing model prioritizes the energy trading between the seller and business buyer who bring more benefit to the community. Subsequently, participants in energy trading have a selection of strategies to maximize personal benefits such as profit earning or energy sufficiency. Simulation studies are applied to verify the performance of the proposed model which increases energy efficiency, improves the local economy, and maximizes the community’s welfare from electrification.

THE FUTURE OF MACEDONIAN TOBACCO IS IN PRODUCTION ACCORDING TO STANDARDS FOR COMPETITIVE PRODUCT WITH HIGH QUALITY

the climatic conditions, it is either a mass crop or it is marginally present. Globally, the production of all types of tobacco ranges from 6,500,000-7,000,000 tons per year. This production also includes the final processing of cigarettes, which with the acceptance of the American blend becomes more international or global, in terms of its quality. The trade with tobacco raw material in the world is quite stable, i.e. there is a balance between supply and demand. The market is traditional and, in most cases, perfectly defined. Over 95% of the tobacco production is spent on the production of cigarettes, while the remaining 5% belongs to other tobacco products. Macedonia stabilizes tobacco production. The quantities tend to be kept at around 23,000-28,000 tons of tobacco, which allows better quality. As a country with its own strategy, Macedonia does not accept a methodology for reducing tobacco production that is contrary to ensuring the existence of producers and in conditions when tobacco is replaced by another crop. Climatic conditions and economic effect should be taken into account. In the regions where tobacco is grown, there are no climatic conditions for other crops because these places are dry. As for the economic effect, a new crop is accepted only if it is a viable replacement, i.e. if it provides a livelihood for producers, which is unlikely. In the Republic of North Macedonia, the achievement of an average production of about 28,000 tons should not be questioned at all. It requires a small effort, both by the society and the producers and buyers. Our society needs a more efficient definition of the strategy for tobacco production, as it is a traditionally important crop in our country. This means providing a legal climate - economic and social, in which production will take place. Thereby, the producer should strictly adhere to the agreed quantities and varieties of tobacco with the buyer, who in turn should ensure a constant business purchase policy, which will stimulate production together with the community.

The current market

There continues to be strong demand for the purchase of high-quality childcare businesses, both in terms of new entrants and existing nursery operators with plans to expand their portfolios. Here we have a snapshot insight into the current market.

Online Consumers Buyer Behavior - Post Covid-19

Consumer buying behavior has changed prior to the new environments that lead by pandemic of Covid-19. Many studies have been conducted to examine the changes of consumer buying behavior on the usage of technology as a tool to support online business amid this pandemic. However, there are little studies directed on examining the changes of consumer patterns in online business after the end of Restriction of Movement Order (RMO) in Malaysia. Hence, this study intends to describe the trends of consumer behavior in Malaysia conducting business purchase via online platform pre and post restriction movement order in Malaysia. In order to track these changes, 187 responses were gathered by using online survey and targeted to the different demographic profile of respondents. Given the post RMO, most of the respondents intend to use online platform to buy certain products due to its convenience, time saving, accessibility and safety concern with the aim to minimize risk of spreading the virus. The categories of products consumer purchased via online also identified in this study and the finding reveals certain categories of products having continuously increasing even before, during and 12 months after RMO.

The Clydeside Cabal: The influence of Lord Weir, Sir James Lithgow, and Sir Andrew Rae Duncan on naval and defence policy, around 1918–1940

Lord Weir, Sir James Lithgow and Sir Andrew Rae Duncan were three close friends who grew up within a few miles of each other in Victorian Glasgow, and who went on to have uncommonly successful careers in engineering, shipbuilding, steel and finance. Despite occupying only footnotes in political histories, Weir, Lithgow and Duncan also were uncommonly influential in defence planning during the First World War, as well as post-war industrial reorganization, disarmament, rearmament, and the Second World War. Indeed, at several critical junctures for imperial and particularly naval defence before and during rearmament, one or more of these three men played a central role in the direction and shape of policy. Moreover, this trio frequently interacted with one another to mutual benefit in the shipbuilding rationalization schemes of the 1930s, the purchase of naval or other armament manufacturing businesses, or in the Ministry of Supply during the Second World War. This article examines the operation of this network of influence through the decades of war and peace, and considers Weir, Lithgow and Duncan’s crucial role in British policy making. By pulling together business and political records, it sheds new light on the operation of the British state and argues that this trio were unique among inter-war civilian businessmen as influencers of top-level defence policy.

Decisions Under the Illusion of Objectivity: Digital Embeddedness and B2B Purchasing

Research suggests that increased reliance on digital sources (e.g., blogs, social media, online forums) exhibited by the emerging millennial workforce may affect procurement decisions. These arguments contend with studies which indicate that organizational buyers rely on decision shortcuts (e.g., brand, loyalty, and peer opinions) to mitigate risk or to simplify purchase decisions. One can argue that buyers gain more information from digital sources, which may attenuate the role of these shortcuts. At the same time, digital sources may be used to strengthen prior beliefs, which can increase bias toward decision proxies. This study draws from information processing theory to understand the role of digital sources of information in decision‐making, in the context of business purchasing. Based on the Accessibility‐Diagnosticity framework, we introduce a Digital Embeddedness construct to conceptualize the extent to which information from digital sources is integral to an individual’s decision‐making. Analysis of survey responses from 196 purchasing managers suggests that more digitally embedded buyers are more willing to adopt innovations, yet interestingly, focus more on vendors from strong brands and peer opinions. We also find that while more digitally embedded buyers feel more cognitively attached to their existing vendors, this attachment does not translate into purchase loyalty. We discuss implications for buyer‐supplier relations and B2B marketing. By elucidating individual‐level differences in the use of digital sources, this research also has implications for future work that examines the interpretation of digital information to inform business decisions.