This work deals particularly with the analysis of the buying company in the context of the
purchasing process in industrial markets. Additionally the study addresses the question of
whether and how companies conduct these analyses on a practical level. The first section
explains the specific characteristics of the industrial goods markets and depicts the
influences on the buying- and selling center. The second section includes the buying types
which strongly influence the size and the composition of the buying center. The third section
deals with the buying center and the buying process as well as the buying center models from
the literature. These models are verified in terms of their practical application at the end of
the study based on expert surveys. In section four the sales process as well as the members of
the selling company are discussed. Section five represents the most important criteria for a
buying center analysis and shows the possibility of a practical implementation by using an
example. The last section finally links the previous theoretical fields and displays the
results of the qualitative expert interviews.
