The worksheet Purchasing Survey in the Performance Lawn Care Database provides data related to predicting the level of business (Usage Level) obtained from a third-party survey of purchasing managers of firms that are customers of Performance Lawn Equipment. The seven PLE attributes rated by each respondent are the following:

The data and description of this case are based on the HATCO example on pages 2829 in Joseph F. Hair, Jr., Rolph E. Anderson, Ronald L. Tatham, and William C. Black, Multivariate Analysis, 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998).

Delivery speedthe amount of time it takes to deliver the product once an order is confirmed

Price levelthe perceived level of price charged by PLE

Price flexibilitythe perceived willingness of PLE representatives to negotiate price on all types of purchases

Manufacturing imagethe overall image of the manufacturer

Overall servicethe overall level of service necessary for maintaining a satisfactory relationship between PLE and the purchaser

Sales force imagethe overall image of PLEs sales force

Product qualityperceived level of quality

Responses to these seven variables were obtained using a graphic rating scale, where a 10-centimeter line was drawn between endpoints labeled poor and excellent. Respondents indicated their perceptions using a mark on the line, which was measured from the left endpoint. The result was a scale from 0 to 10, rounded to one decimal place.

Two measures were obtained that reflected the outcomes of the respondents purchase relationships with PLE:

Usage levelhow much of the firms total product is purchased from PLE, measured on a 100-point scale, ranging from 0% to 100%

Satisfaction levelhow satisfied the purchaser is with past purchases from PLE, measured on the same graphic rating scale as perceptions 1 through 7

The data also include four characteristics of the responding firms:

Size of firmsize relative to others in this market ( 0 = small; 1 = large )

Purchasing structurethe purchasing method used in a particular company ( 1 = centralized procurement, 0 = decentralized procurement )

Industrythe industry classification of the purchaser [ 1 = retail (resale such as Home Depot), 0 = private (nonresale, such as a landscaper)]

Buying typea variable that has three categories ( 1 = new purchase, 2 = modified rebuy, 3 = straight rebuy)

b. Develop a cause-and-effect model that can provide insights about the drivers of satisfaction and usage level.

Summarize your results in a report to Ms. Burke.