2. Given the industries in which Cisco competes, what are the implications for the major types of buying situations?
- Straight rebuys—because Cisco deals in high-tech, there may be few truly straight rebuys. This is due to the fact that as purchase cycles come up, technology has changed. As a result, corporate buyers are looking at slightly different to extremely different products to replace the ones that they have. Straight rebuys are likely to occur when a company buys a set of routers or switches shortly after purchasing the same items. This may be due to a gradual rollout replacement or an expansion.
- Modified rebuy—many of Cisco’s products will fall into this situation. Clients replace existing routers and switches with new spec models. Cisco’s services may also fall into this classification if this is something that a client has previously purchased.
- New-task—many of Cisco’s products and most of its services fall into this classification. For example, when Gale International, the construction company for New Songdo City, contracted Cisco to supply the technology needs for the city; this was an all-new venture. From the architecture to the hardware to the services, these represented new-tasks. Many companies getting in to collaboration consulting services are doing so for the first time in a similar manner