DDBA 8531 Week 6 Pitch Peer Critique Example

Week 6 Discussion: Peer Critique of Pitches

The Infection Prevention Lead and the Security Reviewer: Two Peer Critiques Naming the Buying Role a Classmate's Pitch Left Out, the Test That Role Would Apply and Where the Deal Would Stall

Reply to Marcus

Marcus, your pitch opens: "Our next-day delivery of custom surgical packs will cut your stockouts in half." It is written to the hospital's purchasing director, and the stockout figure will interest her. But two participants your pitch does not address can stop the purchase. The perioperative nurses will open these packs in the operating room, and their test is whether the components are arranged in the order they use them and whether the pack's wrap can be opened without contaminating the sterile field. The infection prevention lead must approve any change to sterile supplies, and her test is whether your sterilization validation and packaging meet the hospital's standards and whether any component change increases infection risk.

Johnston and Bonoma (1981) observed that the weightier and more complicated a purchase looks, the wider and taller the circle of people involved, and changing sterile supplies for surgery is weighty and complicated at once. I predict your deal stalls at the product evaluation stage, when the hospital asks nurses to trial the packs and asks infection prevention to review your validation documents. If those reviews are scheduled late, the purchasing director cannot move.

One sentence you could add, addressed to the infection prevention lead: "We will provide our sterilization validation reports and component change history before the trial, so your review can run alongside the nurses' evaluation."

Reply to Priya

Priya, your pitch to a regional distributor's chief operating officer begins: "Our routing software will reduce your delivery miles by 12 percent within six months." The chief operating officer cares about miles. But your software connects to the distributor's order management and driver phones, and the information security reviewer will test whether it creates new access points, how driver location data is stored and whether your company has passed an independent security audit.

Puto et al. (1985) found that buyers facing higher risk in vendor selection seek more information and rely on safer choices, and security reviewers are paid to see risk. I predict the deal stalls after the chief operating officer agrees, when the contract goes to security review and your firm is asked for documentation that takes weeks to assemble.

A sentence you could add: "We can share our most recent independent security audit report and data handling summary with your security team this week."

What Both Pitches Share

Both pitches were written to the person with budget authority and overlooked people whose approval is required by policy. Webster and Wind (1972) noted that buying centers include people whose influence comes from organizational rules rather than from the budget, and both missing roles fit that description.

References

Johnston, W. J., & Bonoma, T. V. (1981). The buying center: Structure and interaction patterns. Journal of Marketing, 45(3), 143-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298104500312

Puto, C. P., Patton, W. E., & King, R. H. (1985). Risk handling strategies in industrial vendor selection decisions. Journal of Marketing, 49(1), 89-98. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298504900109

Webster, F. E., Jr., & Wind, Y. (1972). A general model for understanding organizational buying behavior. Journal of Marketing, 36(2), 12-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224297203600204