An analysis of select web site practices among supply chain participants

Although the Internet's potential impact on supply chain management appears enormous, to date, most of the relevant literature has been anecdotal in nature. The present paper adds to the relatively sparse empirical literature by looking at select web site practices involving supply chain participants. More specifically, the paper investigates possible relationships between web site practices and the organizational characteristics of firm size, firm type, firm age, length of Internet adoption, and the percentage of corporate revenues derived from the Internet. The relevant findings appear to support literature suggestions of differences between earlier and later adopters of the Internet, as well as of linkages between using the Internet as a source of corporate revenues and the phase/stage of web site development.     

Technology readiness in a B2B online retail context: An examination of antecedents and outcomes

This paper develops and empirically tests a model that examines the role of technology readiness (TR) in the business-to-business (B2B) context. The research investigates how retailers' TR, and its antecedents, impacts their evaluation of a credence based B2B service, namely web solution service providers (WSSPs). It responds to previous research calls by extending the TR construct from the business-to-consumer (B2C) perspective that is traditional in the extant literature into the B2B domain. The findings of a survey conducted with 133 firms in the retail industry are that TR is an important contributor to the eventual achievement of service quality and satisfaction. The contributions of this study are; first it develops and validates a measure of TR in a B2B context; second it investigates the antecedents of TR in this domain, demonstrating the impact of past inexperience, industry trust and switching costs on firms' level of technology readiness to adopt online operations; and third, it finds that service quality and satisfaction are outcomes of TR. The key management implication for WSSPs is the need to address the TR levels of existing and potential clients if they wish to deliver successful e-business solutions to them. Their clients' TR can be better managed by making the offering more easily understood, building relational rapport, reducing risk perceptions and adopting a client centric perspective throughout the process.     

Usage, barriers and measurement of social media marketing: An exploratory investigation of small and medium B2B brands

Previous research has established the benefits of branding for business-to-business (B2B) organizations. Various tools can be used to support B2B brands, including the internet and other interactive technologies. Yet research on how organizations use Social Networking Sites (SNS) to achieve brand objectives remains limited. This study addresses the gap by focusing on B2B SMEs and their social networking practices, particularly, usage, perceived barriers, and the measurement of effectiveness of SNS as a marketing tool. Findings from a mail survey show that over a quarter of B2B SMEs in the UK are currently using SNS to achieve brand objectives, the most popular of which is to attract new customers. On the other hand, the most significant barrier is the lack of perceived relevance for particular sectors. Notably, the overwhelming majority of users do not adopt any metrics to assess SNS effectiveness. Almost half of the sample of SMEs that currently use SNS have indicated their intention to increase their marketing spending on this channel, highlighting the growing importance of SNS in a B2B context.     

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.     

The value of branding for B2B service firms—The shareholders' perspective

Increasingly fierce competition in many B2B service industries led managers to seek a competitive advantage through branding, as many firms operating in B2C markets have done. Although advertising spending in B2B service industries has soared and branding could be relevant for customers' purchase decisions, the distinct characteristics of B2B service transactions can make the creation of brand equity challenging. Conceptual arguments thus both support and question the net financial value of B2B service brands and, since empirical research on that value is missing, managers are left with no agreed upon and validated guidance. Drawing on observations of the brands and shareholder values of 380 U.S.-based public B2B service firms, this study introduces a shareholder perspective to empirically examine the financial value of B2B service brands. Results reveal that B2B service brands have positive value to shareholders. However, the extent of that value depends on a firm's branding strategy (corporate branding vs. multi-branding) in conjunction with the type of services offered (professional services vs. other B2B services) but not in conjunction with the breadth of services offered (degree of diversification). This research provides new insights for researchers and managers with regard to B2B service brands' value and important contingency factors.     

Development of new B2B venture corporate brand identity: A narrative performance approach

The development and role of brand identity in new B2B ventures is not well explored despite the challenge for such organisations in establishing reputational legitimacy. Previous research defines corporate brand identity as stable and endogenous to the organisation based either on the reputational capital of the organisation or the founder. We challenge this view in this paper from a conceptual and empirical perspective. Combining narrative theory and performativity theory this article suggests brand identity develops as a narrative performance. The study employs a narrative case analysis of interviews and archival data generated during a three-year period to examine the development of corporate brand over time. This study shows that the development of corporate brand identity and the context of the development of new B2B venture are closely intertwined processes and provides a framework for understanding the phenomenon. Brand identity is not a stable core emanating from inside the company but develops over time through a reciprocal sensemaking and dynamic interactions between company and the key external stakeholders in its context. We conclude that brand identity is built not only upon the reputational capital of past behaviours but of the brand itself as it explores and interacts within its brand eco-system.     

Continental Factors in International Real Estate Returns

This paper examines the extent to which real estate returns are driven by continental factors. This subject is relevant for determining the country allocation of international real estate portfolios. If returns are driven by a continental factor, investors should look for diversification opportunities outside their own continent. This paper finds strong continental factors in North America and especially in the United States. For the Asia–Pacific region, real estate returns are not driven by a continental factor. The results suggest that, for European, North American and Asia—Pacific real estate portfolio managers, the Asia—Pacific region provides attractive international diversification opportunities.     

B2B relationships on the fast track: An empirical investigation into the outcomes of solution provision

In academic and business literature, suppliers providing solutions to their business-to-business (B2B) customers are often described as achieving increased customer retention, higher sales volumes, and enhanced cross-selling. Yet there is limited empirical evidence to support the positive impact of solutions on these customer-related outcomes. Moreover, it is unclear whether suppliers obtain similar outcomes from buyers at different relationship life-cycle stages. This paper aims to address these two gaps and tests the contingency role of the relationship life-cycle in driving future customer outcomes. It proposes that there is a positive effect for solutions provided to recent customers (labeled as “accelerator” role) rather than to established ones (labeled as “leverage” role). Results from a longitudinal analysis of the sales database of a North American company providing solutions to its customers empirically support the “accelerator” role of solutions.     

Understanding B2B and the Web: the acceleration of coordination and motivation

This paper explores business-to-business (B2B) marketing on the Internet, and how the confluence of the two may transform the B2B landscape. Specifically, it discusses the notion of linkage value to demonstrate why the B2B phenomenon on the Internet is so significant. It then considers the mechanisms and enablers that have made the Web such an important B2B marketing channel. It also explores how the Web can reduce transaction costs, thereby facilitating more efficient exchanges and markets. The concepts of links and nodes are then introduced and the processes of disintermediation, reintermediation, disaggregation and reaggregation are explored. Finally, Web B2B configurations are considered by way of a model that describes four archetypal configurations, and the factors that are antecedent to these modes and how the Web may influence them.     

Corporate reputation in the People’s Republic of China: A B2B perspective

How B2B firms in the People's Republic of China [PRC] view, value and manage their corporate reputation has received little research attention. Drawing on multiple case studies, our findings confirm that firms are utilizing certain Western conceptualizations of corporate reputation, including the leveraging of intangible forms of corporate reputation. However, many of the firms were also using the hitherto underemphasized elements of firm-government relationships and government regulatory policies to create positive assessments of a firm's reputation among key stakeholders. Notwithstanding our findings that corporate reputation is valued as a means of gaining competitive advantage and dispelling perceptions that Chinese products/services are low-cost and low-quality, concern remains that building reputation capital among stakeholders may result in a loss of price competitiveness. Finally, unlike the framework proposed by Barnett, Jermier, and Lafferty (2006), our results suggest that B2B firms in China do not impose clear boundaries between reputation and ‘corporate reputation capital’. Nor does there appear to be an emphasis on disaggregating the constructs of identify and image from that of reputation.     

Engineering consultants' perceptions of corporate branding: A case study of an international engineering consultancy

The corporate branding literature on B2B markets has developed fairly rapidly over the past decade. However, empirical support on employees' perception of corporate branding is very limited, particularly with respect to employees who fall outside the marketing/branding function within their organizations. This paper explores engineering consultants' views - as an under-researched context - on the implications of corporate branding. Findings reveal engineers' views about the significance of personal brands, the implications of incorporation, the ways in which corporate branding is carried out in their organizations, and associations of technical proficiency with the corporate brand. From the findings, four hypotheses have been developed for future research.     

Market microstructure in a global B2B network

On‐line marketplaces raise several interesting issues, among them the relevance of location when content is digitized, and the assessment of a supplier's capabilities when buyers worldwide only have electronic contact with sellers. In global B2B on‐line marketplaces, market microstructures, i.e. which firms compete for the same customers, are thus likely to be influenced by how customers value location and firm capabilities in their decisions to do business with different suppliers on‐line. We suggest that both these sets of attributes will continue to matter on‐line—firms possessing similar capabilities, as well as firms that are similar in location by country, time zones or clusters, will compete for business from the same customers. We model the similarity in competitive positions between pairs of firms based on the overlap in their customer networks, using data on actual interactions between supplier and customer banks on an electronic trading system. Using QAP network regression techniques on the 100 largest banks in this industry, we find that similarity in capabilities influences who competes with whom, and that location still matters in a global B2B exchange. Interestingly, location influences who a firm's competitors are, but not where its customers are from. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What Separates Japanese New Product Winners from Losers

Operating in the upper echelons of highly competitive, global markets, numerous Japanese firms enjoy well-deserved reputations for excellence in new product development. Despite this success, however, almost no research has been conducted to explore the keys to successful new product development in Japanese companies. For the most part, research in this area has focused on North American and European firms. X. Michael Song and Mark E. Parry address this gap with a study of 404 Japanese firms and 788 new product introductions. Their research explores the links between new product success and 10 factors: product advantage; marketing synergy; technological synergy; market potential; market competitiveness; market and technical understanding; senior management support; proficiency in the predevelopment planning process and in concept development and evaluation; proficiency in market research, market pretesting, and market launch; and technical proficiency. To avoid any cultural bias, development of the survey was preceded by in-depth case studies and focus group interviews with Japanese and American new product development teams. Although time-consuming and expensive, these preliminary steps were necessary for ensuring the validity of the survey contents and procedures. Notwithstanding the obvious cultural differences, the findings from this study suggest that Japanese new products professionals view the keys to success in much the same way as their North American counterparts. For the survey respondents, the most important success factor is product advantage. Other important success factors include predevelopment proficiency (that is, proficiency in the predevelopment planning process as well as in concept definition and evaluation) and marketing and technological synergy. Consistent with previous research on North American firms, market competitiveness was found to be the least important success factor. For managers who are trying to predict whether a project will result in a product advantage, several survey items may be useful as a checklist for assessing potential product advantage. In particular, these managers should consider whether the product offers potential for reducing consumer costs and expanding consumer capabilities, as well as the likelihood that the product offers improved quality, superior technical performance, and a superior benefit-to-cost ratio.     

Fortune 500 manufacturer web sites: Innovative marketing strategies or cyberbrochures?

Forecasts for business-to-business electronic commerce over the next few years are in the trillions. Manufacturers represent a significant portion of business-to-business activity and their web sites an integral component of business-to-business electronic commerce. Should they choose to, manufacturers can use their web sites not only to conduct electronic commerce but also to engage in a wide range of marketing communications. Marketing communication activities include advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing. The results of our content analysis of 188 Fortune 500 manufacturer web sites indicated that few manufacturers use a broad range of marketing communications activities. Analysis of differences in the use of marketing communications on web sites suggests that some aspects of web site marketing communications differ based on manufacturer characteristics such as sales, R&D to sales ratio, and net income.     

Web-Based Product Development Systems Integration and New Product Outcomes: A Conceptual Framework

In hopes of improving the effectiveness of their new product development (NPD) processes, many firms increasingly are eager to adopt integrated web‐based NPD systems for NPD. However, few would argue that the mere use of web‐based NPD systems substantially will improve the NPD process. But we know little about how and when these systems can be used for enhancing NPD. An organization desiring to employ the web in its NPD process can use it at varying levels of functionality and sophistication, ranging from a tool for automating manual tasks and exchanging data to a means of integrating various intra‐ and interorganizational NPD functions and processes. At higher levels of technology sophistication or integration, an organization's NPD processes will get more integrated internally, i.e., between different stages of the NPD process and with the processes of its suppliers, technology providers, etc. Such integration of both internal and external NPD processes is considered important for successful innovation. Thus, on the surface, higher levels of web‐based systems integration may seem universally desirable. However, each increasing level of integration brings with it higher costs—not only the costs of expensive technology but also costs of implementing a complicated system, redesigning intra‐ and interorganizational processes, disrupting the status quo, and spending management time and energy during implementation. Therefore, it may not be wise for firms to jump blindly on the web‐based NPD bandwagon. High levels of web‐based NPD systems integration may be created when low levels of integration may not deliver the desired results. Further, if such systems are installed without appropriate conditions within and outside the firm, it may not be possible to exploit their full potential. As such, it is important to know how much web‐based NPD systems integration is suitable for different conditions. In this article, we develop a conceptual framework that focuses on how web‐based NPD systems integration can influence the outcome of NPD and how the relationship between systems integration and outcomes can be affected by various contextual factors. For this purpose, we draw on research in areas such as NPD, web‐based information systems, and organization theory and on many discussions we had with professionals and software vendors who deal with NPD and web‐based NPD systems. The contextual factors of interest in this framework are strategic orientation of the firm, product‐related factors, business environment, organizational factors, information technology factors, and partner‐characteristics. Managerial and research implications of the framework are discussed.     

B2B电子商务网站SEO研究

B2B电子商务网站竞争日益激烈,网站的访问流量成为影响网站经营效益的重要因素。在众多的网站营销策略中,搜索引擎优化(SEO)是增加网站流量的重要手段,但是由于网站建设过程中存在各种问题,导致国内的B2B电子商务网站搜索引擎表现效果不尽人意。针对当前B2B网站优化存在的问题,提出了基于SEO技术的网站优化策略。     

Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales

Social media have changed how buyers and sellers interact, and increased involvement through social media may yield positive results for sales organizations if salespeople utilize it in facilitating their behaviors. Through the perspective of value creation, we test the mediating effects of salesperson information communication behaviors between social media use and customer satisfaction. Using salesperson-reported data, within a B2B context, we empirically test a model using structural equation modeling. Salesperson's use of social media is found to impact information communication behaviors, which enhance salesperson responsiveness and customer satisfaction. Also, salesperson responsiveness is found to have a positive relationship with customer satisfaction. Findings suggest that social media plays an important role in communicating information to customers, but as an antecedent enhancing salesperson behaviors to increase customer satisfaction rather than a direct factor. This encourages managers to carefully assess goals related to social media use of their sales force.     

e-Relationships for e-Readiness: Culture and corruption in international e-B2B

The role of electronic networks in B2B relationships has been growing exponentially. From massive internet B2B exchanges to tiny RFID chips, B2B is increasingly becoming e-B2B. Whilst e-B2B has been explored intra-nationally, its international counterpart is less well documented; as has been the role that culture might play in the development of international e-B2B relationships. In this paper we address this important issue of international e-business relationships. Specifically we explore the interconnection between national e-readiness and cultural values, and address the research question: How do cultural values impact a nation's readiness to engage in e-business? Drawing upon international surveys we link cultural values with national e-business infrastructure. Our findings suggest an intriguing link between cultural values and a nation's readiness for e-B2B. From these results we develop managerial recommendations and extrapolate research opportunities.     

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.