The Thai buyer’s selection criteria toward industrial machinery from Japan, Germany, and United States : an investigation on Thai textile company

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the nature and relative importance of selection criteria of a foreign supplier of industrial machinery products in both supplier and product characteristics among Japanese, the United States, and German exporters. The research model and research hypotheses were developed of three industrial buying behavior concepts; one by Webster & Wind (1972), one by Sheth (1973), and one by Samli, Grewal, & Mathur (1988). The survey method was used in this research study through a personal interview of 310 textile companies that imported textile machinery product from Japan, United States, and Germany. The statistical technique of an analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) was used in this research study to analyze the dependent variable (matrix) and independent variable (group category and matrix). The results indicated that there was a significant difference between selection criteria and decision making for buying industrial machinery products by Thai import purchasing managers. There were significant difference of product characteristics and supplier’s country image among Japanese, the United States, and German exporters by Thai important purchasing managers’ perceptions. Meanwhile the satisfactory with a past purchase and supplier’s characteristics show a no direct effect on the selection decision on a foreign supplier by Thai imported purchasing managers.