In Response to Sarah's Post...

Why might it be important to have these be important to take into consideration when conducting a sample?

Like you stated with sampling comes error. The two types of sampling error you must take into consideration are sampling error and non sampling error. Like you said sampling error is the difference between the true (unknown value) of the target population and the sample estimate. Any firm should take this type of error into consideration. During any type of sampling you cannot get the population as a whole to sample, which can be a downfall. They may get false information in buying behavior with sampling error. Because the lack of getting the population as a whole, you may be sampling a bunch of people who have the same buying behavior. But in fact the majority has a completely different buying behavior but was not sampled. The other type of sampling error you mentioned is non sampling error. As you stated this sampling error measurement errors. This can range from people making exaggerations, false statement, or collecting bias information. For any firm this is also very important information to consider when sampling. When conducting a sample a firm may want to change the wording around so it wouldn't make them sound rude. The main reason why you must take this into consideration is because you can get completely false results and create a new product customers do not buy. This could be detrimental to a company if they made a costly business decision with off of sampling containing sampling errors. Overall sampling must be done to get some idea of what new products and services should be created. Do you think sampling will ever be truly one-hundred percent accurate?

Business Buying Decision Stages

In any marketing firm there should be a set of steps taken when a business is making buying decision. The first stage when a marketing firm is making a decision is when at least one person recognizes there is a problem or a need is present. There are many different ways to find problems in the business. For example some if a machine malfunctions, it then may be modified or disposed of. The second stage of the process is the development of specifics relating to a product. Then the buying center participants look at the problem or need and determine the correct actions to solve the problem. The third stage of the business buying decision process is to search for and evaluate potential suppliers and products. This can involve looking at trade directories, contacting suppliers for recent information and even soliciting vendors proposals. In this stage some firms use value analysis. Value analysis is the evaluation of the quality, design and materials to acquire the product in the best cost-effective way. Some vendors even employ vendor analysis. This a systematic evaluation of both current and potential vendor's based on using the marketing mix. Lastly, the forth stage of the business buying decision process is selecting the product to that should be purchased and which supplier to buy from. Sometimes the buyer may select from more than one supplier which is known as multiple outsourcing. Most others use sole sourcing which is using one supplier. For any firm business decisions are very important factors and should take steps before jumping into a buying decision. (Pride,2009) Do you think businesses should just jump into buying decisions if the deal sounds good, or do you think they should take their time and use the analysis of these four steps?