Industrial buying behavior in developing countries : a study of Malaysia and Thailand

Sammanfattning: Despite its significance limited research has been done in the field of industrial buying behavior in the developing countries. This study deals with firms' buying behavior of capital equipments in two of the industrially developing countries of South-East Asia, namely Malaysia and Thailand. Due to lack of research foundation in this area the general lines of investigation of industrial buying behavior in the industrialized countries were used for this study and an explanatory, descriptive and comparative research design was adapted. Data was collected through mail questionnaire and depth interviews with managers of Malaysian and Thai companies. The study's findings indicate that (a) in general the concepts proposed by the scholars for studying industrial buying behavior in the industrialized countries can provide an adequate framework for understanding the industrial buying behavior in the developing countries (b) the decision making process in the companies of the industrially developing countries are, with minor deviation, similar to that of firms in the industrialized countries (c) no major deviation was observed in decision making process of companies in the two countries under study (d) increase in the degree of industrialization lead to closer similarity in the industrial buying behavior of developing and industrialized countries (e) fluctuation in the value of purchase of capital equipment is a key factor in determining the composition of as well as the influence pattern in the buying center (f) environmental factors (technical, economic, political and social) have an impact on the purchasing decision making process in the industrially developing countries.