SMEs’ Purchasing Habits

Emre S. Ozmen, M. Atilla Öner, Farzad Khosrowshahi and Jason Underwood

SAGE Open, 2014, vol. 4, issue 2, 2158244014536405

Abstract: Although micro companies overpower the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment, generalizations are often with medium size companies, and therefore, there are many unknowns, especially when it comes to its buying behavior. Conformist studies and industry practices assume SMEs to be “normative†or “conservative†buyers; however, this hypothesis is untested. This article aims to scrutinize the reality, and proposes a unified model that rejects pre-containerization in buying behavior typologies, as well as selectiveness in terms of audience type, whether it is corporate, SME, or consumer. While replacing researchers’ perceptions with the audience’s, the model yields actual knowledge that can lead to audience’s beliefs in lieu of the opposite, which is used to mislead stakeholders. The study shows that SMEs also buy like individuals and spend in a similar way to consumers’, including not only “normative†and “conservative†but also “negligent†and “impulse†zones. From the research-implications perspective, future studies by behaviorists can explore why SMEs purchase in this way. Marketers may benefit from the finding that SMEs buy like individuals. In addition, SMEs may want to be conscious of their purchasing habits, and—utilizing the newly introduced “risk score†frontier—policymakers should assess the consequences of these habits at the macro level.

Keywords: SME; buying behavior; marketing to SMEs; need driver; procurement maturity model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:4:y:2014:i:2:p:2158244014536405

DOI: 10.1177/2158244014536405

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