Internal Buying Behaviour of George Weston Food

Running head: INTERNAL BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF GEORGE WESTON FOOD
Internal Buying Behaviour of George Weston Food
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1INTERNAL BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF GEORGE WESTON FOOD
According to Turka and Sasan (2015) organisational buyers are the people who take the
business decisions related to internal purchase of products or raw materials used for further
production, resale or distribution. Internal buying processes are more complex than the normal
buying behaviour of individuals and require the involvement of several internal departments
(Pettigrew 2014). This report aims to explore the buying behaviour of organisations by critically
analysing the purchase decision making of the Australian company George Weston Food, people
involved in the process, factor that influence the purchase decision of the company and lastly it
evaluates the differences and similarities between organisational buying and individual buying
process and decision making.
George Weston Food Ltd (GWF) is one of the largest food manufacturing companies on
Australia and New Zealand having more than 6000 employees across its 58 sites (Gwf.com.au
2017). The buying centre of the company includes the groups and individuals who participate in
the purchase decision-making process and takes the risks associated with the process. It includes
initiators who identify the need or requirement for a product and initiates the decision making
process of organisational buying. Users in George Weston Food include the people of the
Research and Development department who uses the product may involve in buying decision.
The purchase decision-making process of organisational buying of GWF involves the initiative
taken by the buyers of the products who play an important role in selecting vendors for procuring
products. Influencers of the company includes experts, consultants, technical personnel and
qualified engineers who influence the decision making process of organisational buying and take
the major decisions. Influencers also include the top management personnel of the George
Weston Foods. Deciders play a significant role in the process of purchase decision of the
organisation who decides on product specifications, requirements and suppliers.

2INTERNAL BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF GEORGE WESTON FOOD
The factors that influence the organisational buying purchase decision of George Weston
Food are economic factors, political and legal factors, technological factors and social
responsibility, objectives of the organisation, policies and structure of the organisation.
Economic factors include economics conditions of GWF and the level of organisational demand
for a product. Technological factors include the technological pace and level of technology used
by the company. Decisions are also influenced by legal factors, which include political situation,
political system and government regulation prevailing in Australia. Product purchase decision of
GSF also gets influenced by responsibility of the company towards the society since the raw
materials used in manufacturing or products that are procured for resale greatly affect the society
as a whole. Buying objectives that influence the decision making process of organisational
buying is determined according to the goals set GSF. The stated that goods should be procured
according to the goals of the company. While deciding on the purchases, the organisational
buyers of George Weston Foods consider the policies of inter purchasing. Structure of the
organisation hugely affects the buying decisions of organisational buyers. It defines the authority
and the relations. The goods used for internal used if the company are purchased by the purchase
department.
According to Kaplan and Orlikowski (2013) the organisational buying decision making
process includes eight stages: problem recognition, need description, product specification,
supplier search, solicitation of proposal, selection of suppliers, order-routine specification and
performance review. In problem recognition stage the purchase decision makers of George
Weston Foods tries to identify the need for products that are used for manufacturing breads,
tortillas, rolls, cakes, donuts and many more. This is usually done by exploring the internal
operations of the company. Once the need for the products is recognised, the company attempts