INDUSTRIAL BUYER ATTITUDES TOWARD GOODS MADE IN EASTERN EUROPE.

The article presents information on the paper "Industrial Buyer Attitudes Towards Goods Made in Eastern Europe," by Joseph B. Chasin and Eugene D. Jaffe. The purpose of the authors was to determine the image among potential U.S. buyers of products available for export from Russia and Eastern European countries. Useable responses to a questionnaire survey were obtained from 82 executives with responsibilities for purchasing in companies in the New York City area in fields likely to use such products. Less than a third of' the companies had had any business dealings with any Eastern European country in the past ten years, most of them with Russia and the rest chiefly with Hungary and Rumania. The images were measured by comparing respondents' ratings of Eastern European producers on various criteria with those for U.S. suppliers. The criteria consisted of five product attributes: quality, workmanship, style, dependability and advanced technology, and five marketing values: credit/terms, value for the money, on time delivery, reputation and maintenance/service.