How buyers frame problems: Revisited

This article investigates the following propositions: a useful approach for building an organizational-buying -behavior taxonomy might begin with clas sifying how buyers frame purchasing problems followed by how such frames af fect subsequent perceptions and actions in the decision process. Unlike pre vious taxonomies of buying situations, direct questioning of organizational buyers is used to learn: (1) whether or not they identify different catego ries of buying problems; (2) if they do, what dimensions they use when fram ing buying problems; and (3) how do such frames influence their choices of value-added service alternatives offered by suppliers. To test the proposit ions empirically, supplier choices are modeled with the use of buying-decis ion exercises. A key result of this study is that the buyers' framing of pr oblems affects their preferences for vendor designs of value-added customer services. Most likely, the framing of buying problems by organizational bu yers is layered and more complex than related taxonomies found in the marke ting literature. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.