Introduction to the Special Issue on B2B Research (original) (raw)
Related papers
The future of B2B marketing theory: A historical and prospective analysis
Industrial Marketing Management, 2017
The economic power of B2B transactions hasn't been reflected in the amount of published research in marketing journals, and the relevance for practitioners of the studies issued has been questioned during the last 20 years. How can we bring academicians and practitioners together? After studying the history of B2B marketing, building on configuration theory, and prospecting the future challenges for marketers, the authors argue that the research efforts should be focused on six major areas of inquiry: Innovation, Customer Journey and Relationship Value, Data Analytics, Harnessing Technology, Marketing/Finance Interface and Revenue Growth, and Industry Context or Ecosystem. Specifically, they propose 20 theoretical sub-categories that are compelling for academicians and relevant for B2B marketers. The research conclusions and propositions were established by an expert panel through an exhaustive ranking-type Delphi method and refined using a coding scheme from grounded theory. The authors discuss the implications for theory development and managerial interest.
B2B Marketing and its Impact on the Performance of the Company
2014
Companies due to market conditions becoming increasingly narrow specialized, in order to achieve a competitive advantage and B2B marketing is a link between the provider and the end users. Rapidly technological and demographic changes, globalization of markets and industries, and adapting products and / or services are required adjustment of companies in terms of technology and electronic data interchange. E-commerce not only sets new requirements for the provision and management of delivery technology, but also affects and modifies also the design of business process. Therefore, in recent decades, mainly because of the Internet has radically changed the marketing approach of companies on the market and the performance of companies. This decreased cultural, geographical and mental distance. Companies uses B2B marketing in a way to ensure all necessary steps to meet the customers expectations (Lambert et al. 1996, 1-17; Womack and Jones, 1996), as the companies are aware that they de...
Marketing–sales interface configurations in B2B firms
Industrial Marketing Management
As the body of knowledge on marketing-sales interface expands, there is a greater need to investigate the specific aspects of marketing–sales configurations in B2B firms. Using a qualitative methodology and interview data collected from over 100 sales and marketing professionals from the US, The Netherlands and Slovenia, this study presents a dynamic, evolutionary spectrum of four B2B marketing–sales interface configurations. These configurations are described in detail in terms of structure, communication patterns, information sharing, collaboration, and strategic outcomes. The findings show that no configuration is inherently superior. Our dynamic configuration spectrum offers managers a toolkit to evaluate their firm's marketing–sales interface in terms of current and desired positions, and contribute to their firm's market orientation and business performance.
How has IT impacted the B2B sales process
2017
Master Thesis, Business to Business Marketing and Management NORWEGIAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS This thesis was written as a part of the Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration at NHH. Please note that neither the institution nor the examiners are responsible − through the approval of this thesis − for the theories and methods used, or results and conclusions drawn in this work.
International Journal of Synergy and Research
Purpose-The presented paper aims to characterize the main differences and similarities between B2B as well as the commercial customers buying behaviors. Design/Methodology/Approach-The authors' approach is based on the literature and research review, concerning the B2B customers buying behaviors. The authors assess buying behavior of professional clients. Findings-Based on the analysis, we can ind out that the use of electronic means of cooperation between the companies continues to grow in strength and dynamics. It seems that the distribution model, where the supplier runs his own B2B shop, maintains its position only in case of strong market players. Small and weak players will use the universal marketplaces. We observe growing "self-service with everything"; providers will pass on to buyers and systems, most actions which they can perform by themselves. Practical implications-The outcome of the analysis can teach managers to act on the B2B electronic markets, how to organise the multi-channel sale systems and how these systems can be used by both, commercial and business customers. Original value-The original value of the paper is that we have presented the general analysis of possible future expectations of B2B business customers, as well as those customers buying behaviors which regard to the use of the omnichannel sale. Article type-Research and literature general review.
B2B Marketplaces - Strategic Value for Whom?
2000
The engagement in business to business (B2B) internet marketplaces is presently an issue frequently discussed among practitioners and researchers. In this paper we address which strategic value the participation in internet marketplaces have on the marketing channel par- ties. Our study of value creation, adapted to electronic marketplaces from a marketing channel perspective, has resulted in many interesting findings. In
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 2023
Purpose: The B2B marketing literature is heavily focused on the manufacturing sector. However, it is the B2B service sector that shows the highest growth in GDP. Beyond a vibrant stream of literature on servitization, the B2B literature has neglected drawing on the wider service literature. This article examines recent streams of service research that have promising implications and research opportunities for B2B marketing. >>>>> Design/methodology/approach: Together, the author team has decades of research, managerial, and executive teaching experience related to B2B marketing and services marketing and management. The observations and reflections in this article originate from this unique perspective and are supplemented by insights from 16 expert interviews. >>>>> Findings: We identify and discuss in this article four broad and related themes from the service literature that can stimulate B2B research and practice. First, we highlight the implications for capturing value in our economies with their rapidly increasing specialization and related growth in B2B services. Specifically, we explain where B2B firms should focus on to gain bargaining power in the value chains of the future. Second, an additional strategy to enhance a B2B firm's power to capture value is servitization which allows firms to get closer to their customers, increase their switching costs, and build strategic partnerships. We explore how firms can use service productization to enhance their chances of successful servitization. Third, servitization is expensive, and productivity and scalability are often a challenge in B2B contexts. These issues are tackled in a recent service research stream on cost-effective service excellence (CESE) where we derive implications for B2B
It's all B2B and beyond: Toward a systems perspective of the market
Industrial Marketing Management, 2011
The delineation of B2B from 'mainstream' marketing reflects the limitations of the traditional, goodsdominant (G-D) model of exchange and a conceptualization of value creation based on the 'producer' versus 'consumer' divide. Service-dominant (S-D) logic broadens the perspective of exchange and value creation and implies that all social and economic actors engaged in exchange (e.g., firms, customers, etc.) are serviceproviding, value-creating enterprises; thus, in this sense, all exchange can be considered B2B. From this perspective, the contributions of B2B marketing (and other sub-disciplines) can be seen as applicable to 'mainstream' marketing. This generic, actor-to-actor (A2A) orientation, in turn, points toward a dynamic, networked and systems orientation to value creation. This article discusses this systems-oriented framework and elaborates the steps necessary for developing it further into a general theory of the market, informed by the marketing sub-disciplines, marketing practices, and disciplines external to marketing.
B2B e-commerce provides relatively easy access for entrepreneurial ventures to compete for contracts that would not be approachable through traditional means. First, entrepreneurial firms will be made aware of a vast array of supply opportunities through the Internet. The traditional methods of making a market aware of the firm's products and capabilities, e.g. sales calls, promotional literature, trade journal advertisements, etc. can require significant resource commitments. Thus, the portion of the global market that a firm can hope to cover is limited. B2B e-commerce requires very little resource commitment; although there may be additional costs involved in the process of becoming a qualified supplier. Second, B2B ecommerce awards contracts primarily on price and capabilities of the supplier, with little or no control by the buyer's supply network. B2B buyers typically are more interested in their specifications being met than in which firm meets them. This is a major benefit for firms that have been unable to penetrate the existing supply networks of large potential customers. This study has, based on an extensive review of literature on usage and benefits of B2B e-commerce.