Modelling Buying Intentions in the Machine Tool Market

This paper reports on a study undertaken to explore the feasibility and usefulness of applying attitudinal data for the practical marketing purpose of increasing sales. Specifically the study sought reasons which led production engineers to prefer buying a specified make of machine tool from one supplier rather than another, its purpose being to recommend to British suppliers of a particular type of machine tool ways in which they might reposition their products to capture an increased share of their domestic market. The paper suggests how conventional methods of measuring attitudes in industrial markets can be supplemented by using the newer multi‐dimensional scaling techniques developed initially for use in modelling consumer behaviour.