Import of Information Sources in the Industrial Purchase Decision in Maiduguri, Borno State Nigeria

Abstract

The basic objective of any industrial activity is to develop, manufacture and market products that can meet identified customer/consumer needs and wants at a profit. In order to accomplish this objective "men machines and management" must be carefully acquired and coordinated. A field survey was employed through semi-structured in-depth interviews to secure the basic data on the general purchasing procedure. Some specific purchase case studies were employed to examine the functions of information in the adoption and use of a product. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were utilised for the discussion of results. The study focuses on the information sources of industrial buyers in the purchase of three different categories of items from ten different organisations purposively selected in Maiduguri, Nigeria. The findings indicate that the problem of shortages and disrupted supply of raw materials equipment among Nigerian industries can be attributed to lack of active search and qualification of sources of supplies in the purchasing procedure. The buyers’ search efforts are inadequate and they rely much on suppliers’ salesmen for almost all their information. The suppliers’ personal calls are considered the most important source of information of organisational buyers. The sort of information required by these buyers mostly cantered on price, quality and reputation of supplier, non-task factors largely influence buyers’ decisions as they lack more formalised procedure for search and analysis. It was recommended that information for buying industrial products are needed at all stages of the decision processes and therefore information should be directed at the right people, right time, through personal selling effort than those selling consumer items. The industrial salesmen must contact potential buyers earlier and must play greater role in generating interest and re-enforce contacts and approaches at the final stage of evaluation and trial of the adoption process.

Keywords: Information Sources, Adoption Process, Industrial Purchasing, Decision Making