Trek’s Buying Center
The buying center at Trek is responsible for finding the vendors and suppliers that would correspond to the company’s criteria in the best possible way. The new supplier for Trek is most likely to be chosen by people at the buying center who can evaluate the quality of the product, i. g., the representatives from quality control. However, this decision cannot be made by those people alone, as every part of buying center is essential.
Trek’s Evaluation Criteria
When selecting a new supplier for their manufacturing process or evaluating an existing supplier, Trek uses four criteria. The different suppliers are compared based on quality, price, capabilities in terms of delivery, and environmental aspects. This includes tests on how a supplier can deal with large quantities of orders, meet immediate deadlines, and if the packaging used was recyclable. The evaluations allow the company to forge long-term stable partnerships with preferred suppliers.
Trek and Environmental Impact
The concern for the company’s impact on the environment is reflected in one of its suppliers’ evaluation criteria. While choosing a vendor or supplier, it now considers opportunities to make the bicycles an efficient method of transportation, which means a stronger focus on electronics while purchasing parts. It also opts to choose vendors that reduce the weight and size of the packaging while prolonging the vehicle’s longevity. A longer lifespan for a bicycle would be a more significant incentive to develop a sustainable means of city transportation, which has been emphasized in recent years (Saatchian et al., 2021). Therefore, these concerns for the company’s environmental impacts can further push urban development towards better planning.
Trek’s Buying Situations
At Trek, there are three buying situations: straight rebuy, modified rebuy, and new buy. An example of the straight rebuy would be buying a component for a bicycle without any changes in the order except for, in certain cases, the order volume. A modified rebuy is represented by a saddle that has some incremental changes to it. A new buy consists of a completely new component, for example, a motor for a bicycle.
Reference
Saatchian, V., Azimkhani, A., Türkmen, M., & Laein, D. D. (2021). Cycling as transportation & Covid-19: Advantages of shared bicycles during Epidemics. Sport Month, 19(1), 51–57.