How does customer orientation (in)congruence affect B2B electronic commerce platform firms' performance?

Business-to-business (B2B) electronic platforms have become important channels for transforming traditional modes of transaction. The success of these platforms relies heavily on the platform firms' customer orientation (CO) practices, which are designed to attract both sellers and buyers. This study draws on the cross network effect theory to explore whether and how a B2B e-commerce platform firm's (in)congruent CO strategic initiatives toward sellers or buyers affect the firm's performance. In addition, the moderating effects of seller-side and buyer-side demand uncertainty on the relationship between CO (in)congruence and platform firm performance are investigated. The analysis of data collected from 185 B2B electronic platform firms in China reveals that CO incongruence is more beneficial to firm performance than CO congruence. Furthermore, when seller-side demand uncertainty is high, an increase in seller-focused CO incongruence (i.e., higher seller orientation than buyer orientation) or buyer-focused CO incongruence (i.e., lower seller orientation than buyer orientation) improves or impedes a B2B e-commerce platform firm's performance, respectively. However, when buyer-side demand uncertainty is high, an increase in either type of CO incongruence does not improve firm performance. These findings contribute to the literature on and practices of B2B e-commerce and customer orientation.     

The effect of buyer behaviors on preferred customer status and access to supplier technological innovation: An empirical study of supplier perceptions

Buying firms are increasingly looking to suppliers for technological innovations that enhance the competitive position of their new products. However, extant research provides limited guidance on how buying firms may gain access to suppliers' innovative technologies. To address this gap in the literature, we draw from social exchange theory to posit sequential relationships among buyer behaviors, preferred customer status, and supplier's willingness to share technological innovations. We test our assertions by applying structural equation modeling statistical analyses to survey response data from 233 sales personnel of production good suppliers in the U.S. automotive industry. Whereas our results show that two buyer behaviors – early supplier involvement and relational reliability – positively affect preferred customer status, a third behavior – share of sales – has no effect. In turn, we find that preferred customer status is positively associated with supplier's willingness to share new technology with the buyer. Further, our findings indicate that preferred customer status fully mediates the benefits exchanged within a buyer–supplier relationship. Hence, our study highlights why buyers seeking innovations should take care that their behavior is appropriate for managing suppliers' perceptions. Accordingly, our results provide specific guidance to buyers as to how they may increase their access to suppliers' new technologies.     

How salespeople facilitate buyers' resource availability to enhance seller outcomes

Positive outcomes for buyers and sellers occur when the partners readily make their resources available and integrate those resources in a beneficial relationship. This research investigates how salespeople facilitate the use of these buyer resources. Taking the seller's perspective, this study examines the effect that the salesperson's interaction activities, and the availability of buyer resources, have on relationship outcomes.     

Creating value in retail buyer–vendor relationships: A service-centered model

We present a “service-centered” model of retail buyer–vendor relationships, in which retail buyers' perceptions of a vendor's economic and social resources affect their assessments of relationship value and relationship outcomes. Economic resources offered at the organizational level of the vendor include brand equity and customer support activities (e.g., merchandising support and margin maintenance). Social resources offered at the individual level of the salesperson include special treatment and customer advocacy. Relationship outcomes include the buyer's intention to grow the business, and in the event of business termination, maintain the interpersonal relationship with the sales representative. Survey data from 532 retail buyers were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that relationship value mediates the effects of economic and social resources on relationship outcomes. However, the process by which this occurs varies.     

How salesperson perceptions of customers' pro-social behaviors help drive salesperson performance

By conceptualizing customers' organizational citizenship behavior as a communication cue, a customer evaluation criterion, and a sales performance facilitator in a relational selling context, the authors empirically demonstrate the effect of salespeople's perceptions of their customers' voluntary, prosocial behavior on three components of sales performance. The authors first hypothesize and confirm that salespeople can perceive their customers to exhibit organizational citizenship behavior, and that this important customer cue can serve as a customer evaluation criterion. The authors then demonstrate how salespeople can respond to their perceptions of customers' organizational citizenship behavior in performance-enhancing ways. Results from a sample of 628 business-to-business salespeople suggest that customer-involved sales performance fully mediates the relationship between customers' organizational citizenship behavior and salesperson behavioral performance, and that salesperson behavioral performance partially mediates the relationship between customer-involved sales performance and salesperson outcome productivity. These findings highlight the important role customer-involved sales performance plays as an antecedent to a salesperson's individual performance. Support for the notion that salespeople's perceptions and interpretations of their customers' organizational citizenship behavior can facilitate personal selling and augment sales performance has implications for sales training, salesperson evaluation, and customer evaluation. The authors discuss these and other implications for B2B researchers and practitioners.     

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.     

Relationship quality as a resource to build industrial brand equity when products are uncertain and future-based

This article extends our understanding of industrial branding and the influence of buyer–seller relationships by examining key constructs within an industrial context where products are uncertain and future-based. SEM results elicited from 249 buyer surveys empirically validate satisfaction, trust and commitment as dimensions of relationship quality, and show that buyer–seller relationship quality facilitates direct and indirect seller brand equity accruals. Findings reveal that while focusing on sellers' corporate and product brands is good advice for building buyer–seller relationships, seller resource allocations to these areas should vary depending upon the selected target market segment(s). Findings support that sellers should place more focus on developing quality relationships with buyers than they should in focusing on the non-relational attributes of their corporate brands; however, if sellers choose to bypass building high quality customer relationships, they should instead funnel resources into their product brand offerings. Findings demonstrate that buyers credit their own skills and acumen when evaluating products with which they are confident, and ascribe increased value to the involvement of the seller as their attitude and certainty decrease. These findings provide strategic guidance to the sellers of uncertain and future-based industrial products.     

Social media and customer relationship management technologies: Influencing buyer-seller information exchanges

Due to the increasing array of sales technology, salespeople must understand how each application assists them. This study examines how business-to-business salespeople use different forms of sales technology to meet their boundary-spanning roles. Our research draws from social exchange theory and task-technology fit theory to test a model that examines how salespeople use CRM and social media technologies differentially to support competitive information collection, product information communication, and buyer information sharing. Dyadic data from industrial buyers and sellers is used to analyze the technology-behavior relationships. Our study's results reveal social media use and CRM technology both positively influence buyer-seller information exchanges; however, each technology takes a distinct route to enable the information exchange between the buyer and the seller. The results also suggest that managers need to champion the use of both technology applications to their salesforce.     

Customer business development: identifying and responding to buyer-implied information preferences

Customer business development (CBD) transforms the selling function from ‘pushing products’ towards creating value by developing the business customer's business. For key accounts, CBD salespeople align their customer relationship management tasks of planning, selling, and implementing solutions to best integrate customer needs with the seller's strategic account management goals. A vital process mechanism involves the salesperson's observations of their business buyer's tendencies to favor solutions steeped in information characterized here as either market-centered or cost-centered. Findings show that CBD salespeople use signals from buyer commitments to identify and adapt selling behaviors (relationship-forging tasks) to achieve relational and financial objectives. To align with market-centered preferences, CBD salespeople share information about the buyer's market and propose plans for market development. In contrast, to align with cost-centered preferences, CBD salespeople focus on coordinating interfirm activities. While cost-centered adaptations yield expected positive financial returns, interestingly, market-centered adaptations negatively impact on the seller's financial returns.     

A framework of brand value in B2B markets: The contributing role of functional and emotional components

The creation of value is admittedly a critical task for marketers regardless of industry. This paper focuses on a type of value that has traditionally been perceived as irrelevant to industrial markets and argues that brand value facilitates the progression from goods and services value to relationship value. To address the limited amount of research on B2B branding from the suppliers' point of view, we complement insights gained from a literature review with ten exploratory interviews with B2B supplier managers, and develop a framework of brand value applicable to industrial markets. This identifies both the functional (i.e., quality, technology, capacity, infrastructure, after sales service, capabilities, reliability, innovation) and emotional qualities (i.e., risk reduction, reassurance, trust) important for the development of industrial brand equity. Situational (e.g. nature of the purchase) and environmental factors (e.g. the economic situation) affecting suppliers' perceptions of the importance of brand in a B2B context and the role of functional versus emotional brand qualities are discussed. The value of the brand as a driver for the development of business to business relationships is also highlighted. The framework provides a basis for B2B practitioners to build their brands in such a way as to make a functional as well as an emotional connection with buyers that is more likely to lead to a supplier–buyer relationship.     

Managing Seller–Buyer Relationships during New Product Development*

Ineffective relationship management with potential buyers during new product development (NPD) can be an important contributor to new product failure in technology‐based, industrial markets. However, empirical research on managing these relationships remains underdeveloped. This study addresses this deficiency by developing an empirically based taxonomy of relationship approaches used by sellers to develop technology‐based, industrial innovations, identifying situational characteristics that correlate with the choice of a particular relationship approach, and evaluating sellers' satisfaction with their relationship approach. The study's conceptual model is rooted in transaction cost analysis (TCA) and draws from extant literature on seller–buyer relationships during NPD. It was tested with data from 334 small to mid‐sized firms in a variety of technology‐based industrial markets. The results indicate that sellers use three basic relationship approaches during NPD: a bilateral approach, a buyer‐guided approach, and a seller‐guided approach. While the bilateral approach relies on a mutual exchange of information, the buyer‐guided and seller‐guided approaches do not. Juxtaposed with the high levels of satisfaction experienced by sellers in the sample, the study suggests that no one relationship approach is universally desirable. Therefore, managers may need to engage in a portfolio of relationship approaches with buyers during NPD; further, these approaches should correlate with buyer‐related (i.e., perceived buyer knowledge and prior relationship history) and innovation‐related (i.e., product customization and technological uncertainty) characteristics. Collectively, these results can help sellers optimize their relationships with buyers during NPD.     

Salespeople's use of entertainment and gifts

This study reports the findings from a national survey of salespeople concerning entertainment and gift giving practices among both consumer and industrial salespeople. The results indicate that industrial salespeople use various entertainment and gift giving practices more than consumer salespeople and that industrial salespeople appear to have a rational, and well- thought-out strategy involving entertainment and gift giving. Furthermore, entertainment is considered more important than gift giving from the sellers' perspective.     

Value synergy and value asymmetry in relationship marketing programs

Prior research advocates a positive, linear association between relationship investments and relationship performance. Our study challenges this conventional wisdom and advances the extant literature by investigating the potential curvilinear effects of suppliers' different relationship marketing programs (i.e., social, financial, and structural) on dyadic perceptions of relationship value. From an analysis of 113 buyer-supplier dyads, we found that social programs enhance relationship value synergy, but their effect on relationship value asymmetry between suppliers and buyers follows a U-shaped curve. On the other hand, we observe a positive and increasing returns-to-scale effect of financial programs on relationship value synergy and its inverted U-shaped association with supplier's relationship value asymmetry. Interestingly, structural programs increase relationship value synergy and have a stronger effect on increasing relationship value for the supplier than for the buyer. In addition, we find that structural programs are more effective in creating value in long-term relationships than in short-term relationships; therefore, as the relationship with a buying firm ages, managers should consider investing more in structural programs to develop their relationship. However, in long-term relationships, managers should avoid investing too much in financial programs because financial programs are less effective in increasing creation of relationship value as a relationship ages.     

Unpacking value creation and capture in B2B relationships

Although the relationships among different dimensions of value creation, characteristics of dyadic relationships and value concepts are well studied, they have been conceptualized independently and without much linked theorizing. Hence, little is known about how these concepts and their effects interplay with each other. This article takes a configurational approach and investigates how different dimensions of value creation and relationship factors affect value capture. The study draws on an embedded case study encompassing relationships of a focal customer in the financial payments industry with six specialized service suppliers, followed by a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of 29 relationship conditions. For both buyers and suppliers, value creation is based on “core” value dimensions, and relationship characteristics, such as power and change in supply strategy. Five different configurations of these constructs represent sufficient conditions to increase value capture, by either negotiating better prices or shifting volume among the parties involved. Focusing on both buyer and supplier perspectives of the same phenomenon, the study increases knowledge on how contextual variables interact in influencing value capture. From a practical perspective, the proposed configurations help managers to choose adequate supply strategies, or better allocate resources according to specific conditions of a business relationship.     

Buyer attractiveness as a catalyst for buyer–supplier relationshipdevelopment

The concept of buyer attractiveness has received increasing scholarly attention in the recent business marketing literature, yet empirical studies of the dynamics between buyer and supplier attractiveness and their implications for relationship development are scarce. The research framework presented in this study suggests that buyer attractiveness is connected, first, to supplier's experienced and expected business outcomes within the focal relationship, and second, to the leverage impact of the focal relationship on supplier's other relationships. A qualitative case study of two buyers and their key suppliers scrutinizes the dimensions of attractiveness associated with relationship development. The findings indicate that attractiveness and adaptations performed by the buyer and the supplier are interlinked in a mutually reinforcing or deteriorating manner, forming a mechanism that catalyzes relationship development. These findings and the resultant empirically grounded framework provide a conceptualization and enhanced understanding of the dynamics between attractiveness, adaptations and relationship development.     

How can business buyers attract sellers' resources?: Empirical evidence for preferred customer treatment from suppliers

This paper describes a study that investigates what makes a buyer attractive to a seller in a business-to-business buyer–seller relationship and encourages the seller to commit to and invest resources preferentially in the relationship. The study helps answer the question, “What is it that the buyer needs to do to create this attractiveness?” The perspective is somewhat unusual in the marketing literature for two reasons. Firstly, because it investigates how the supplier perspective of customer financial attractiveness affects the attitudes and actions of the supplier towards the buyer, rather than taking the buyer's perspective across the relationship. Secondly, the study has relationship attractiveness in terms of financial performance as an antecedent of its relationship constructs, whereas most relationship studies investigate performance as an outcome. The paper develops a model that proposes the seller's perception of customer financial attractiveness, seller satisfaction, and seller commitment as drivers of the seller's preferred customer treatment by allocation of resources to the relationship. The bases for the study's model are the resource-based view of the firm, the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) models, and related resource-focused theoretical streams. The study finds support for the model in the analysis of survey data.     

Seller–Buyer Interactions During the Commercialization of Technological Process Innovations

For buyers and sellers alike, high-tech process innovations can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, technological process innovations (e.g., computer hardware and software, factory automation equipment) offer buyers the potential for reduced production costs and enhanced product quality. However, early adoption of such innovations is often a risky proposition. For the seller, successful commercialization requires stimulating not only adoption, but also successful implementation of the innovation. In other words, effective management of seller—buyer relations during the development and commercialization process go a long way toward determining the success of a high-tech process innovation. Gerard A. Athaide, Patricia W. Meyers, and David L. Wilemon examine the relationship marketing activities employed by successful sellers of high-tech process innovations. They identify eight strategic marketing objectives that underlie these relationship marketing activities: product customization, information gathering on product performance, product education and training, ongoing product support, proactive political involvement (to encourage support for the innovation from the various affected parties in the buyer's organization), product demonstration and trial, real-time problem-solving assistance, and clarification of the product's relative advantage. Their findings suggest that successful sellers engage in relationship marketing activities throughout all phases of the commercialization process. Rather than simply trying to close a deal, these firms seek active involvement from potential customers, ranging from codesigning of products to seeking feedback on product-related problems or desired modifications. This broader scope of customer involvement necessitates cooperation among various groups in the seller's organization. Product development and engineering work closely with the customer during product customization. Those groups must communicate effectively with the salespeople who demonstrate the product and with the customer support people who obtain feedback and provide real-time problem-solving support. In other words, these relationship marketing activities cut across functional barriers. Consequently, a clear understanding of the buyer's needs and environment is essential throughout the seller's organization, not just in the sales and marketing departments.     

How industrial salespeople gain customer trust

This study investigated how industrial salespeople gain the trust of their customers. Results show that trust increases as the customer gains the impression that the salesperson is dependable, honest, competent, customer oriented, and likeable. Based on the results, a general model of trust building is suggested.     

Incumbent and non-incumbent salesperson consultation in the pre-decision stage of organizational purchasing

Given the complexity (e.g., digitization, customization, and scale) of modern business solutions, salespeople increasingly seek to influence the pre-planning stages of buyer decision making to increase effectiveness. During the early stage of organizational buying, salespeople can align their firm's capabilities and expertise by offering input on problem definition, before a solution is sought. However, surprisingly little is known about the role of salespeople in the period before a buying firm decides to officially address a problem and seek vendor solutions. Thus, our research focuses on the inclusion of both incumbent salespeople (strong ties to the buying organization) and non-incumbent salespeople (limited, or non-existent, ties to the buying organization) in pre-decision phase information sourcing of buyers. Drawing upon theory from social network and problem solving literatures, we develop a contingency model to illustrate pre-decision phase conditions based on problem framing, structure, and urgency that make incumbent or non-incumbent salespeople more likely to be sources of information. We test our hypotheses across a series of scenario-based experimental studies conducted with purchasing managers. Our findings suggest situations where incumbent and non-incumbent salespeople have a greater likelihood of being positioned to engage in pre-decision stage planning with customers.     

B-to-B relationships: A resource,knowledge, and capability (RKC) perspective

The literature on the establishment and performance of business to business (B-to-B) relationships is extensive and diverse. Multiple perspectives such as the Resource-Based View, Knowledge-Based View, and more recently (Dynamic) Capability-Based View have been used by researchers to explain the existence of B-to-B relationships. While these perspectives have their own merits, they lack cohesion and paint a somewhat scattered picture of the rationale behind B-to-B relationships. This study is an attempt to bring these divergent perspectives together to offer a parsimonious logic for B-to-B relationships – a match or mismatch between what the buyers want (resource, knowledge, and capability) and what the sellers can offer (resource, knowledge, and capability). A 3 × 3 typological framework is proposed, which includes three broad types of B-to-B relationships – balanced relationships (BR), seller dominant relationships (SDR), and buyer dominant relationships (BDR). The boundary conditions and possible outcomes of the relationship types are also outlined. This study has important implications for theory and practice.