Elements of Purchasing in Nature

The idea of this chapter is to identify and make use of findings in nature that have a specific relevance for purchasing and supply management. Most of the findings are observed or studied with wild animals such as in birds, wolves, fish, fireflies, bush crickets, chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys, and prairie voles. All of the research that I studied and cited is confirmed to fulfil ethical standards for the care of animals. Beyond learnings from animal behaviour, this chapter discusses characteristic elements of the human brain and concludes on cognition. Also here, all ethical standards are fulfilled. Learnings include findings on memory, memorizing, distraction, the wish for completion of incomplete tasks and pure task orientation. Furthermore, the relevance of contextual information to behaviour in purchasing and supply management tasks is explained. This has implications for observing and understanding the business partner. Other studied aspects are communication and reciprocal expectations. The decisive moment in purchasing is the supplier selection, which is brought into focus, while the understanding of buyer–supplier relationships on different personal levels, structures of trust and help are playing a crucial role for success. Staying healthy in buyer–supplier relationships, consequences of a good breakfast before negotiations and other physiological effects are analyzed. One further aspect is to develop a deeper understanding of cultures and here especially the culture of the business partner and again reciprocal effects on the culture of the discussed business itself. Before concluding, the chapter points out on tricks of our brain that is relevant to purchasing success.