{"id":{"repo_id":"middlesex","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:287223"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/middlesex/oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:287223","repository":{"repo_id":"middlesex","name":"Middlesex University","base_url":"https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Der ROPO-Effekt im B2B-Umfeld – Eine Analyse anhand eines Multichannel-Unternehmens im Produktgeschäft des deutschen Maschinenbaus","abstract":"This dissertation analyses the occurrence of the ROPO effect in B2B. ROPO stands for Re-search Online Purchase Offline and describes a purchasing behaviour where the online chan-nel is used for research purposes while the order is placed offline. ROPO is a common buying behaviour among consumers and is well known in B2C. The problem of the ROPO effect lies in the missing gross sales of the online channel, which is a serious problem for pure online re-tailers, but also for retailers that use both channels (multichannel retailers) due to the process costs caused by manually processed orders. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the reasons for ROPO behaviour in B2B, focusing on the product business of multichannel companies. This is where the research gap lies. The ROPO effect has been well analysed within B2C, but research has not yet considered B2B and organisational purchasing processes. As this is a new area of research that needs to be explored, qualitative methods are used. The research takes the form of a case study in which qualitative interviews are conducted with experts from several companies in the German engineering sector. The results show that the reasons for the ROPO effect in B2B can be found in different ele-ments of the purchasing process. Responsibilities and constraints within an organisational pur-chasing process are part of it, while psychological factors, perceived benefits of different chan-nels for search and purchase, situational, product-related factors and the risk of the purchas-ing situation itself also play an important role. An important finding is that these factors influ-ence each other, so that they cannot be seen and treated as separate factors. This dissertation extends the ROPO research by organisational buying behaviour and the re-search of the organisational buying decision process by channel decision. Furthermore, these results enable companies to analyse their own situation with regard to the ROPO effect and provide a valid basis for the development of strategies to avoid the ROPO effect.","abstract_html":"This dissertation analyses the occurrence of the ROPO effect in B2B. ROPO stands for Re-search Online Purchase Offline and describes a purchasing behaviour where the online chan-nel is used for research purposes while the order is placed offline. ROPO is a common buying behaviour among consumers and is well known in B2C. The problem of the ROPO effect lies in the missing gross sales of the online channel, which is a serious problem for pure online re-tailers, but also for retailers that use both channels (multichannel retailers) due to the process costs caused by manually processed orders. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the reasons for ROPO behaviour in B2B, focusing on the product business of multichannel companies. This is where the research gap lies. The ROPO effect has been well analysed within B2C, but research has not yet considered B2B and organisational purchasing processes. As this is a new area of research that needs to be explored, qualitative methods are used. The research takes the form of a case study in which qualitative interviews are conducted with experts from several companies in the German engineering sector. The results show that the reasons for the ROPO effect in B2B can be found in different ele-ments of the purchasing process. Responsibilities and constraints within an organisational pur-chasing process are part of it, while psychological factors, perceived benefits of different chan-nels for search and purchase, situational, product-related factors and the risk of the purchas-ing situation itself also play an important role. An important finding is that these factors influ-ence each other, so that they cannot be seen and treated as separate factors. This dissertation extends the ROPO research by organisational buying behaviour and the re-search of the organisational buying decision process by channel decision. Furthermore, these results enable companies to analyse their own situation with regard to the ROPO effect and provide a valid basis for the development of strategies to avoid the ROPO effect.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Schibilla, R."],"institution":"Middlesex University / KMU Akademie & Management AG","degree_name":"DBA","degree_level":"DBA thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025","date_published":"2025","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:03:19Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:287223"],"render_values":[{"text":"oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:287223","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Schibilla, R."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Middlesex University Research Repository"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Business School","Business and Law"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Middlesex University / KMU Akademie & Management AG"]},{"key":"dc:relation","label":"Dc Relation","values":["https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/287223"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/287223"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis or dissertation"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["DBA thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["DBA"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:287223"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["This dissertation analyses the occurrence of the ROPO effect in B2B. ROPO stands for Re-search Online Purchase Offline and describes a purchasing behaviour where the online chan-nel is used for research purposes while the order is placed offline. ROPO is a common buying behaviour among consumers and is well known in B2C. The problem of the ROPO effect lies in the missing gross sales of the online channel, which is a serious problem for pure online re-tailers, but also for retailers that use both channels (multichannel retailers) due to the process costs caused by manually processed orders. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the reasons for ROPO behaviour in B2B, focusing on the product business of multichannel companies. This is where the research gap lies. The ROPO effect has been well analysed within B2C, but research has not yet considered B2B and organisational purchasing processes. As this is a new area of research that needs to be explored, qualitative methods are used. The research takes the form of a case study in which qualitative interviews are conducted with experts from several companies in the German engineering sector. The results show that the reasons for the ROPO effect in B2B can be found in different ele-ments of the purchasing process. Responsibilities and constraints within an organisational pur-chasing process are part of it, while psychological factors, perceived benefits of different chan-nels for search and purchase, situational, product-related factors and the risk of the purchas-ing situation itself also play an important role. An important finding is that these factors influ-ence each other, so that they cannot be seen and treated as separate factors. This dissertation extends the ROPO research by organisational buying behaviour and the re-search of the organisational buying decision process by channel decision. Furthermore, these results enable companies to analyse their own situation with regard to the ROPO effect and provide a valid basis for the development of strategies to avoid the ROPO effect."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation analyses the occurrence of the ROPO effect in B2B. ROPO stands for Re-search Online Purchase Offline and describes a purchasing behaviour where the online chan-nel is used for research purposes while the order is placed offline. ROPO is a common buying behaviour among consumers and is well known in B2C. The problem of the ROPO effect lies in the missing gross sales of the online channel, which is a serious problem for pure online re-tailers, but also for retailers that use both channels (multichannel retailers) due to the process costs caused by manually processed orders. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the reasons for ROPO behaviour in B2B, focusing on the product business of multichannel companies. This is where the research gap lies. The ROPO effect has been well analysed within B2C, but research has not yet considered B2B and organisational purchasing processes. As this is a new area of research that needs to be explored, qualitative methods are used. The research takes the form of a case study in which qualitative interviews are conducted with experts from several companies in the German engineering sector. The results show that the reasons for the ROPO effect in B2B can be found in different ele-ments of the purchasing process. Responsibilities and constraints within an organisational pur-chasing process are part of it, while psychological factors, perceived benefits of different chan-nels for search and purchase, situational, product-related factors and the risk of the purchas-ing situation itself also play an important role. An important finding is that these factors influ-ence each other, so that they cannot be seen and treated as separate factors. This dissertation extends the ROPO research by organisational buying behaviour and the re-search of the organisational buying decision process by channel decision. Furthermore, these results enable companies to analyse their own situation with regard to the ROPO effect and provide a valid basis for the development of strategies to avoid the ROPO effect."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Der ROPO-Effekt im B2B-Umfeld – Eine Analyse anhand eines Multichannel-Unternehmens im Produktgeschäft des deutschen Maschinenbaus"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Schibilla, R."],"dc:date":["2025"],"dc:date.issued":["2025"],"dc:description":["This dissertation analyses the occurrence of the ROPO effect in B2B. ROPO stands for Re-search Online Purchase Offline and describes a purchasing behaviour where the online chan-nel is used for research purposes while the order is placed offline. ROPO is a common buying behaviour among consumers and is well known in B2C. The problem of the ROPO effect lies in the missing gross sales of the online channel, which is a serious problem for pure online re-tailers, but also for retailers that use both channels (multichannel retailers) due to the process costs caused by manually processed orders. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the reasons for ROPO behaviour in B2B, focusing on the product business of multichannel companies. This is where the research gap lies. The ROPO effect has been well analysed within B2C, but research has not yet considered B2B and organisational purchasing processes. As this is a new area of research that needs to be explored, qualitative methods are used. The research takes the form of a case study in which qualitative interviews are conducted with experts from several companies in the German engineering sector. The results show that the reasons for the ROPO effect in B2B can be found in different ele-ments of the purchasing process. Responsibilities and constraints within an organisational pur-chasing process are part of it, while psychological factors, perceived benefits of different chan-nels for search and purchase, situational, product-related factors and the risk of the purchas-ing situation itself also play an important role. An important finding is that these factors influ-ence each other, so that they cannot be seen and treated as separate factors. This dissertation extends the ROPO research by organisational buying behaviour and the re-search of the organisational buying decision process by channel decision. Furthermore, these results enable companies to analyse their own situation with regard to the ROPO effect and provide a valid basis for the development of strategies to avoid the ROPO effect."],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation analyses the occurrence of the ROPO effect in B2B. ROPO stands for Re-search Online Purchase Offline and describes a purchasing behaviour where the online chan-nel is used for research purposes while the order is placed offline. ROPO is a common buying behaviour among consumers and is well known in B2C. The problem of the ROPO effect lies in the missing gross sales of the online channel, which is a serious problem for pure online re-tailers, but also for retailers that use both channels (multichannel retailers) due to the process costs caused by manually processed orders. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the reasons for ROPO behaviour in B2B, focusing on the product business of multichannel companies. This is where the research gap lies. The ROPO effect has been well analysed within B2C, but research has not yet considered B2B and organisational purchasing processes. As this is a new area of research that needs to be explored, qualitative methods are used. The research takes the form of a case study in which qualitative interviews are conducted with experts from several companies in the German engineering sector. The results show that the reasons for the ROPO effect in B2B can be found in different ele-ments of the purchasing process. Responsibilities and constraints within an organisational pur-chasing process are part of it, while psychological factors, perceived benefits of different chan-nels for search and purchase, situational, product-related factors and the risk of the purchas-ing situation itself also play an important role. An important finding is that these factors influ-ence each other, so that they cannot be seen and treated as separate factors. This dissertation extends the ROPO research by organisational buying behaviour and the re-search of the organisational buying decision process by channel decision. Furthermore, these results enable companies to analyse their own situation with regard to the ROPO effect and provide a valid basis for the development of strategies to avoid the ROPO effect."],"dc:identifier":["oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:287223"],"dc:publisher":["Middlesex University Research Repository"],"dc:publisher.department":["Business School","Business and Law"],"dc:publisher.institution":["Middlesex University / KMU Akademie & Management AG"],"dc:relation":["https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/287223"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/287223"],"dc:title":["Der ROPO-Effekt im B2B-Umfeld – Eine Analyse anhand eines Multichannel-Unternehmens im Produktgeschäft des deutschen Maschinenbaus"],"dc:type":["Thesis or dissertation"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["DBA thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["DBA"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:03:19Z"}