A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration on Management of Technology.

Research Studies Project Report (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1993

Many researchers have tried to investigate the industrial buying process, but relatively few work has been done on the buying process of technological products, i.e., machinery and heavy equipment. Moreover, previous studies are mainly focused on comparing the buying process among developed countries. The developing countries represent a substantial and growing market for capital goods. Therefore, it seems that there need to be a clear understanding about what are the similarities and differences in industrial machinery selection process between developed and developing countries. This empirical study tries to find the relative importance of different factors in the buying decision process of medium scale engineering firms in Bangladesh and in Belgium. The author proposes a framework for analyzing the buyers' perception on different factors and evaluates the buying decision process in both the countries. The result shows that the buying decision among firms in Bangladesh is different from that exhibited by firms in Belgium. Though it has been found that there are common behavior in some aspects, but there are many differences because of the level of technology used, choice criteria, organizational capabilities and other situational factors. Therefore, different marketing strategies are required to penetrate into this market. Finally, the author makes recommendations for marketing strategies in Bangladesh.