ABSTRACT Purpose: This research identifies a customer perspective that is often ignored, neglected, or undervalued in B-to-B sales – the nature of the product itself. The pivot point is whether the product/service desired is strategic (critical to the company’s mission) or non-strategic (not critical to the company’s mission). Methodology/Approach: A conjoint analysis was conducted for both types of purchases (strategic and non-strategic), assessing the tradeoffs and espoused preferences of four key attributes involving both the supplier and the product across three performance levels – (1) stability of the supplier, (2) reliability, (3) competitive pricing and (4) product quality. Findings: The results indicate that B-to-B customers do make tradeoffs between suppliers based on stability, reliability, pricing and product quality. The direction of the tradeoffs depends on whether the purchase is a strategic or non-strategic acquisition. The results suggest that suppliers would benefit from understanding the relationship of their products and services to the B-to-B customer’s mission when the supplier is deciding how to improve performance. Research implications: Too often there is a disconnect between B-to-B salespeople and their customers resulting in suppliers failing to reach performance goals. The research focuses on the importance of B-to-B salespeople uncovering whether or not the customer considers the nature of the product being considered as strategic or non-strategic to their business. The research helps to explain some of the mixed findings in the supplier selection literature. Practical implications: The research points to the fact that customers analyze and make decisions differently depending on the type of product. Additionally, the research highlights the importance to customers of understanding the potential legal and financial risk of suppliers. This is important in that traditionally suppliers tend to focus on product features and benefits in their selling efforts. These results indicate that they should spend significant time discussing factors that illustrate legal and financial risk reduction to the customer of dealing with their companies. Originality/Value/Contribution: The study offers a new look at an age-old problem of enhancing sales performance through a new lens by considering the nature of the product (strategic versus non-strategic) through the perspective of the customer. The findings help to explain the mixed results of previous research. To date, the nature of the product and tradeoffs of attributes that customers are willing to make depending on that product classification have not been the focus, though the results suggest that understanding customer decision-making through this lens may enhance supplier success.

中文翻译：

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战略采购和非战略采购的供应商选择中的供应商属性等级权衡

摘要目的：本研究确定了在B2B销售中通常被忽略，忽视或被低估的客户观点，即产品本身的性质。关键点是所需的产品/服务是战略性的（对公司的使命至关重要）还是非战略性的（对公司的使命并不重要）。方法论/方法：对两种类型的采购（战略和非战略采购）进行了联合分析，评估了涉及供应商和产品的四个关键属性在三个绩效水平上的权衡和所偏爱的偏好–（1）产品的稳定性供应商，（2）可靠性，（3）有竞争力的价格和（4）产品质量。结果：结果表明，B-to-B客户确实在供应商之间基于稳定性，可靠性，价格和产品质量进行了权衡。权衡的方向取决于该购买是战略性收购还是非战略性收购。结果表明，当供应商决定如何提高绩效时，了解他们的产品和服务与B2B客户任务之间的关系将使他们受益。研究意义：B2B销售人员与其客户之间经常脱节，导致供应商无法达到绩效目标。该研究着重于B对B销售人员的重要性，以揭示客户是否认为产品的性质被视为对其业务具有战略性或非战略性。该研究有助于解释供应商选择文献中的一些混合发现。实际影响：该研究指出了这样一个事实，即客户根据产品的类型来分析和做出不同的决策。此外，研究还强调了了解客户潜在的供应商法律和财务风险对客户的重要性。这很重要，因为传统上，供应商往往会在销售过程中关注产品的功能和优势。这些结果表明，他们应该花大量时间讨论可以说明减少与公司打交道的客户的法律和财务风险的因素。独创性/价值/贡献：该研究通过从客户角度考虑产品的性质（策略性与非策略性），通过一个新的视角来研究提高销售业绩的古老问题。这些发现有助于解释先前研究的混合结果。迄今为止，尽管结果表明通过该镜头了解客户的决策可能会提高供应商的成功率，但产品的性质和客户愿意根据该产品分类做出的属性之间的权衡仍不是重点。