Black Box

The relationship [blank] the customer (also called the buyer) and the provider (the seller) forms through a phenomenon called a market exchange. During the exchange process, each party assesses the relative trade-offs they must make to [blank] their respective needs and wants. On the part of the seller, the trade-offs are guided by company policies and objectives. For example, company policy may [blank] that it can proceed with an exchange only [blank] the profit margin is 10 percent or greater. The buyer - the other party in the exchange - also has policies and objectives that guide his or her decisions in an exchange. For individual buyers, these are usually unwritten personal policies and objectives that people make at each stage of a purchasing decision based on the information and options available to them. Even more likely, individuals [blank] are not fully conscious of what prompts them to behave in a particular manner.