Supplier Evaluation Criteria for Special Products: Differences from Standard Products

Purchase executives in India were asked through a mail survey to rate 65 different suppliers attributes in regard to their importance for the purchase of standard and special products. While the standard products were of the same items, the special products would be defined as any product which is modified, adjusted or made according to the specific requirements of a customer. In all 173 purchase executives from a cross-section of Indian manufacturing industry responded to the questionnaire. The present paper presents data on the importance of these supplier attributes in the purchase of special products and compare these data with the ratings given by these executives to the importance of these attributes in the case of standard products. The data readily indicate that ratings on the 45 of the 65 attributes were significantly different in the case of the two buying situations and generally the more stringent criteria were used by the buying organisations in the case of special product purchases. Financial considerations were found to be far less important in the case of special products while image and capability was rated higher in comparison to the standard products.