Marketing capabilities and innovation-based strategies for environmental sustainability: An exploratory investigation of B2B firms

While emerging literature on sustainability shows that environmentally responsible strategies can contribute to competitive advantage and enhanced financial performance, little is known about specific marketing capabilities that lead to sustainable consumption behavior, and whether implementing such strategies leads to firm competitive advantage. Using the case method approach, this study explores marketing-related strategies and practices pertaining to sustainable consumption as reported by leading sustainable firms in the B2B context. We examine case studies of forty seven B2B firms and identify key marketing capabilities that tie to innovation-based sustainability strategies, sustainable consumption behavior and firm performance. We use our findings to develop a conceptual framework linking marketing capabilities to innovation strategies for firm sustainability, sustainable consumption behavior and firm competitive advantage, and put forward propositions for future research.     

Web-based B2B portals

A portal development frenzy is sweeping through commerce in an attempt to capture the growing business-to-business (B2B) Internet market. However, the very tactics employed to attract users have blurred the significance and, consequently, the effective utilization of portals in B2B strategies. This research analyzes the development of portals to propose a classification based on the informational/transactional, horizontal/vertical, and public/private dimensions of portals. Clarification of portal dimensions should provide B2B marketing managers with a superior focus in the production of efficient portal strategies for achieving business objectives. Strategic implications for acquiring and maintaining users and a five-step approach for developing an effective B2B portal strategy are presented.     

Harnessing marketing automation for B2B content marketing

The growing importance of the Internet to B2B customer purchasing decisions has motivated B2B sellers to create digital content that leads potential buyers to interact with their company. This trend has engendered a new paradigm referred to as ‘content marketing.’ This study investigates the organizational processes for developing valuable and timely content to meet customer needs and for integrating content marketing with B2B selling processes. The results of this single case study demonstrate the use of marketing automation to generate high-quality sales leads through behavioral targeting and content personalization. The study advances understanding of the organizational processes that support content marketing and shows how content marketing can be combined with B2B selling processes via marketing automation in ways that achieve business benefits.     

Understanding the links between technological opportunism, marketing emphasis and firm performance: Implications for B2B

The capability of firms to sense and respond to changes in technologies, called technological opportunism, is of growing importance to managers as a source of competitive advantage. However, exactly how technological opportunism impacts firm performance is still not clearly understood. Furthermore, the role of marketing in this relationship, if any, has yet to be examined. Understanding this relationship is critical for marketing managers not only for determining strategic investments of resources but also for demonstrating marketing return on activities. This paper explores the links between technological opportunism and firm performance. The results show that technological opportunism has a strong positive impact on key measures of performance such as firm sales, profits and market value. Importantly, marketing emphasis is the mechanism through which the technological opportunism-performance relationship is achieved. Finally, the impact of marketing emphasis on B2B firms is different than that for B2C firms, highlighting the importance of these activities for B2B marketing managers.     

The role of Internet auctions in the expansion of B2B markets

In the wake of the advent of the World Wide Web, businesses are scrambling to take advantage of changes in their markets. While the consumer side of the Web explosion has been much touted, it is the business-to-business (B2B) market that has quietly surpassed expectations. An important business model that is responsible for this new market expansion is the Internet or Web auction. Businesses are adapting traditional auctions to the instantaneous “real-time” advantage of the Net to reach new markets that were previously cost-prohibitive by reducing transaction costs. Advantages such as the size and scope of the audience are giving Internet auctions a major role in the emerging global economy. This article examines the enormous impact of Internet auctions on B2B markets. We look at the kinds of auctions being conducted and their relevance to emerging business paradigms. We examine the circumstances under which you choose to conduct Web auctions and their impact on pricing mechanisms, information asymmetries, and channel relationships.     

B2B social media semantics: Analysing multimodal online meanings in marketing conversations

There are theoretical and methodological gaps in the B2B social media marketing communications literature. As a consequence, there is a need for new approaches that provide a comprehensive understanding of how B2B online marketing posts create virtual conversations and the types of meanings these linked communication events construct and convey, particularly as these message are often distributed across multiple social media platforms. This paper presents a Social Semiotic Multimodal (SSMM) framework that attempts to address shortfalls in theory and method conceptualisation of social media communications. This framework employs multimodal extensions to systemic functional linguistics enabling it to be applying to analysing non-language as well as language constituents of social media messages. Furthermore the framework also utilises expansion theory to identify, categorise and analyse various marketing communication resources associated with marketing messages and also to reveal how conversations are chained together to form extended online marketing conversations. This semantic approach is exemplified using a Fairtrade Australia B2B case study demonstrating how marketing conversations can be mapped and analysed. The framework emphasises the importance of acknowledging the impact of all stakeholders, particularly messages that may distract or confuse the original purpose of the conversation.     

Marketing capabilities: Antecedents and implications for B2B SME performance

The study provides a new perspective on SME marketing strategies in the B2B context. Using a resource-based view of the firm, the study develops a structural model linking marketing capabilities and marketing performance. A study of 367 SME Australian firms reveals that two key marketing capabilities, namely branding and innovation, have major performance outcomes in the SME B2B context. This is the first SME study to evaluate concurrently the contribution of innovation and branding marketing capabilities, with innovation capability the strongest determinant of SME performance. The study also finds market orientation and management capability act as enabling mechanisms for building marketing capabilities. Disaggregation tests indicate that the same findings apply to three size categories denoting micro firms (less than 20 staff), small firms (20-99 staff) and medium-sized firms (100-499 staff).     

Marketing-sales interface configurations in B2B firms

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.     

E-comprehension: Evaluating B2B websites using readability formulae

The Internet has often been referred to as an “infocentric” medium. Information abounds on topics, people, products and companies. With the multiplicity and diverse variety of web pages containing information, comprehension becomes a critical issue, and a major facet of comprehension is readability of content. The study described in this paper examines the readability of the text on business-to-business (B2B) websites. First, the paper presents an overview of readability formulae. It then applies selected readability formulae to web pages in the semiconductor industry. The study explores how readability formulae can provide quick feedback to web marketers based on key indicators such as sentence length, proportion of difficult words and frequency of polysyllabic words. It also demonstrates how the relative readability of a company's web pages can be evaluated against those of its competitors. In closing, the paper considers the managerial implications associated with the use of readability formulae and offers directions for future study in this relatively under-researched domain.     

Value co-creation in industrial AI: The interactive role of B2B supplier,customer and technology provider

This research explores the interactive role of supplier, customer and technology company in business-to-business (B2B) marketing when they develop and use industrial artificial intelligence (AI). From a value co-creation perspective and following a service-dominant logic, this study aims to identify essential value types that are created collaboratively by B2B professionals (namely suppliers, customers and AI providers), and critical capabilities that contribute to their value co-creation practices. Nineteen in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with three groups of B2B stakeholders in six companies that involved in an industrial AI development and usage project. The data was then analysed using a thematic analysis approach. The results of this research contain a categorisation of four value types and three sets of capabilities, together with the interrelationships between them. This study contributes to the literature of value co-creation, information system and B2B marketing by bridging these three disciplines within the context of industrial AI development and usage.     

It's all B2B…and beyond: Toward a systems perspective of the market

The delineation of B2B from ‘mainstream’ marketing reflects the limitations of the traditional, goods-dominant (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 service-providing, 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.     

Artificial intelligence as an enabler of B2B marketing: A dynamic capabilities micro-foundations approach

Over the past few decades research has predominantly focused on the technical aspects and theoretical challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the deluge of data and the increase in processing power, businesses are now facing the challenge of how to deploy AI that generates business value. In this direction, there is still nascent research on how AI can be leveraged in for B2B operations, and particularly marketing. To address this gap, this study draws on the dynamic capabilities view of the firm and specifically on the micro-foundations approach and builds on three selected case studies of large organizations in Norway that use AI for B2B marketing purposes. The study identifies a number of AI-specific micro-foundations of dynamic capabilities, essentially highlighting how organizations can use AI to manage B2B marketing operations in dynamic and uncertain environments. This study also identified several key cross-cutting elements emerging from the data, demonstrating how some key concepts are inter-related and how they affect overall business value.     

trends in Internet-based business-to-business marketing

The Internet is changing the transactional paradigms under which businesses-to-business marketers operate. Business-to-business marketers that take advantage of the operational efficiencies and effectiveness that emerge from utilizing the Internet in transactions are outperforming firms that utilize traditional transactional processes. As an example, Dell computers, by utilizing business-to-business processes that take advantage of the Internet, has gained the largest market share in the PC business when compared to traditional manufacturers such as Compaq. This paper first examines the genesis of the Internet movement in business-to-business markets. The long-term impact of the increase of business-to-business utilization of the Internet on the marketing theory and marketing process is then discussed. Finally, managerial implications and directions for future research are highlighted.     

Marketing strategy and the efficacy of procedural justice: The mid-level marketing manager in industrial service firms

A principal challenge confronting the senior marketing team in B2B firms is how to ensure that the marketing strategies they develop are implemented effectively. The literature indicates that mid-level marketing managers' perceptions of the procedural justice within the firm may be critical in this respect. However, there has been little empirical research on this issue. The authors develop and test a conceptual model of the key drivers and consequences of marketing managers' procedural justice perceptions. The findings show that if mid-level marketing managers trust their senior marketing colleagues and simultaneously operate within moderately organic structures, then procedural justice will thrive. A consequence of this is more effective implementation of marketing strategy which, in turn, leads to increased market performance.     

The antecedents of client loyalty in business-to-business (B2B) electronic marketplaces

The globalization of economic activity and the emergence of the Internet have led to the appearance of a new model of business-to-business (B2B) known as the electronic B2B market or e-marketplace which facilitates the establishment of marketing relationships between buyers and sellers. In view of the limited research in this area, the present study examines the elements that may influence client (i.e., user) loyalty in this context. The basis of the study is an analysis of empirical data provided by 197 Spanish e-marketplace selling-side users, investigating the influence of image, quality, satisfaction, and value on client loyalty. The results indicated that satisfaction had no direct impact on client loyalty, but that the e-marketplace's image and user-perceived quality and value are antecedents of its clients' loyalty.     

The B2B-RELPERF scale and scorecard: Bringing relationship marketing theory into business-to-business practice

It is becoming increasingly important from both theoretical and managerial perspectives to measure Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a key intangible asset. This paper seeks to bring relationship marketing theory into practice by developing a new measure of relationship performance between two firms, the business-to-business relationship performance (B2B-RELPERF) scale. Survey findings from a sample of approximately 400 purchasing managers operating in a B2B e-marketplace reveal that relationship performance is a high-order concept, composed of several distinct, yet related, dimensions: (1) relationship policies and practices, (2) relationship commitment; (3) trust in the relationship, (4) mutual cooperation; and (5) relationship satisfaction. Findings reveal that the B2B-RELPERF scale relates positively and significantly with customer loyalty. The paper also presents the B2B-RELPERF balanced scorecard, which combines tangible and intangible metrics. While existing IT solutions usually focus exclusively on the use of tangible CRM indicators, this new tool includes the “voice of the customer”. At the managerial level, both the scale and scorecard could act as useful instruments for short- and long-term management, controlling, planning, and improvement of B2B relationships. Implications for relationship marketing theory are also presented.     

基于B/S结构的销售管理系统

销售是供应链管理的重要环节,也是企业生产、管理、运作的关键。随着Internet的迅猛发展,新经济时代的销售是一个动态、渐进的过程,基于B/S结构的销售管理系统接受并应用流行于国际企业的现代营销管理的新方法,即"客户关系管理(CRM)",使销售从无序的管理走向更科学的管理,使管理者更能把握业务的中心。本文对基于B/S结构的销售管理系统的组成、功能、特点等进行了进一步的探讨。     

基于B/S的中小型酒店预订房间系统的设计与实现

针对目前中小型酒店预订房间所采用的基于C/S结构的MIS系统时所遇到的一些问题,设计和实现基于B/S的中小型酒店预订系统。采用UML对系统进行建模,选用Eclipse开发工具作为开发平台,采用基于MVC模式的STRUTS框架结构对Web系统进行设计,应用TOMCAT架设了Web服务器,在应用中取得了良好效果。     

From catalog to Web: B2B multi-channel marketing strategy

The literature on catalog buying is heavily skewed to the business to consumer (B2C) area and increasingly is orientated to the multi-channel world of shopping choice, including online, catalog and store options. Previous studies have primarily been single equation explanations of catalog decisions, whereas the current study takes a hierarchical or systems approach to decision making in B2B marketing. A two-equation structural equation model (SEM) has been designed and a large sample (n = 1809) of business customers used to test the model. Price and catalog layout were seen to play a particularly important role in explaining buyer behavior. Additional multiple regression analysis was carried out to understand why purchasing agents who currently use one channel (catalog), would make use of a second, new channel (Web) in the future. The study identifies five key motivating factors for consumers in adopting a new (Web) channel for purchasing purposes. The study also identifies the switching costs that act as a barrier to adopting a Web channel.