B2B Marketing

Case Analysis

Kimura K.K.

The case study Kimura K.K. Can this Customer be saved points at several issues frequently found in B2B scenarios. First, it illustrates the different roles in a decision-making unit (DMU) during a procurement process and how not acknowledging these roles can lead to not reaching an agreement. Secondly, the case shows that while being important, technological superiority is not always sufficient in the B2B setting, but other elements and aspects are crucial as well and should not be ignored. Finally, the case illustrates how cross-cultural differences (in this case Japan and Australia) can have tremendous impact on business relationships and should be taken into consideration in order to be successful in global business.
Key Players in the buying process of Kimura K.K. Roles and Interests

Being the president and son of the founder, Mr. Kimura is certainly one of the most important key actors in the buying process of Kimura K. K. By being the president of the Optical Disk Experts Manufacturing Association in Japan, and by maintaining close relationships with competitors (e.g. Sony), he is a very influential figure in the media replication sector of Japan. He is only in the early 40s and has high ambitions as he wants to double the companys sales over the next three years. When looking at the role classification of Thomas Bonoma, Mr. Kimura, because of these ambitions to grow the business and the overall interest in the companys long-term survival and success, certainly is an Initiator of the purchase. Additionally, he is signing the contract and has probably the last word to say and is therefore a Decider, and, because he is involved in the actual purchase, he is also a Purchaser. Dr. Gen-Ichi Nomura, the former key scientists and today senior R&D advisor of Kimura K.K., has an important role as well. He is a typical Influencer, as he has a big saying in what to purchase, being highly respected by colleagues who call him Sensei Professor. Having graduated from the same college and considering Dr. Max Scorse (R&D Pramtex) as a personal friend, Dr. Nomura is initially the strongest ambassador of Pramtex within Kimura K.K. He is very impressed by the technological specifications of the new product line of Pramtex (Spartacus) and highly convinced of the capabilities of Dr. Scorse. While he certainly highly influenced the first purchase in favor for Pramtex, he, being disappointed and having suffered face loss in front of colleagues, probably has been highly contributing to the failure of the second deal as well. Dr. Komoda, being the Chief of Production at Kimura K.K., takes the role of the User in this procurement process. He is the one defining the technical specification the company would require and thus largely influences the decision in terms of what to buy and from which company to buy. He is also the one testing the machine later and experiencing the early breakdown of one machine, delaying his entire schedule, which probably has negatively affected his attitude towards Pramtex and the second potential purchase. The finance director of Kimura K.K., Mr. Eiji Hashimoto, has mainly concerned with the financial impact of the purchases and is less knowledgeable and interested in the technical details. His role was mainly the one of an Influencer, whose influence was not in favor for Pramtex from the beginning. He was the one constantly considering other competitors with

potential lower prices and he was concerned that Kimura K.K. would purchase machines which are unnecessary technologically advanced, paying an unreasonable price. Finally, a role often overseen is the one of the secretary of Dr. Nomura, Ms. Yamashita. She is a typical Gatekeeper, who decides which information is flowing to whom and which not. In two instances in the cases, she is providing highly important information to John Reef of Pramtex, which however is not considered important by John, who does not take appropriate actions.
What went WRONG for Pramtex Ltd.?

The decision not to partner a second time with Pramtex is a result of a combination of different mistakes done by John Reef and his colleagues. First, Pramtex did now acknowledge the different mentioned roles adequately during the selling process. John was focusing too much on the decider, Mr. Kimura, and did not take the interests of the other important key players appropriately into account. For instance, his responsiveness to Mr. Hashimoto was poor, making him an even more adversary of the deal, and John did not recognize the importance placed by Dr. Komoda on the timely delivery which deadline they ultimately did not meet. In summary, they focused mainly on the decision maker, Mr. Kimura, and heavily relied on the well-wisher Dr. Nomura. The relationship to the latter however was not nurtured sufficiently by Dr. Scorse, which, in combination with the poor reliability of the Pramtex performance has made Dr. Nomura changes his opinion. Secondly, Pramtex emphasized too much on technological superiority, thereby neglecting the importance of other elements. This dilemma can be frequently seen in high-tech firms, who by possessing technological leadership get blinded for disruptive technological innovations as in the case of Pramtex, who considered the products of competitors as technological inferior and their own product as the Rolls-Royce of their industry. Although Kimura K.K. was highly convinced of the technological capabilities and superiority of Pramtexs products, other aspects, like on-time delivery, responsiveness in emergency situations, building a trustful long-term relationship, reliability, and the feeling of being an important customer, were important as well but were poorly catered by Pramtex Ltd. Finally, Pramtex fall into several pitfalls of cross-cultural negotiations. For instance, they did not recognize the importance of relationship building with Japanese (e.g. Dr. Max Scorse or the importance the Japanese placed on the visit of Pramtex seniors at the factory), they failed to realize the loss of Face for Dr. Nomura who strongly advocated Pramtex initially in front of his colleagues, but was later confronted with disappointing performance. They also missed the different cues send by the high-context communicators at Kimura K.K. Although there were many signs, John was surprised to hear that the Japanese have chosen a competitor supplier, as he failed to realize the different subtle messages of the Japanese e.g. the praising of the high quality of Pramtex technology of Mr. Kimura, but saying that they are still thinking about it, which was a clear sign that not everything is fine.