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.     

Towards a framework of customer value assessment in B2B markets: An exploratory study

This paper examines the key processes and activities of customer value assessment in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Given that an increasing number of B2B firms are providing combinations of products and services, or integrated solutions, the present study examines customer value assessment from the solution supplier's perspective. Specifically, based on an exploratory field study and in-depth interviews with 18 managers in three different firms, the present study identifies five key processes (i.e., value potential identification, baseline assessment, performance evaluation, long-term value realization, and systematic data management) and 11 related activities involved in customer value assessment in B2B markets, and integrates them into a managerially grounded framework. The findings from this study contribute to the literature on customer value and solution research, and provide useful insights for managers on how to assess the value delivered by their offerings to customers.     

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.     

The impact of degenerative episodes on the sponsorship B2B relationship: Implications for brand management

Sponsorship B2B relationships generally are entered into by sponsors seeking brand-related benefits through association with a sport entity brand. Negative incidents involving athletes representing the sport entity may threaten the brands of both the sport and sponsor and can weaken or even dissolve the partnership. The management of these episodes is critical in protecting the sport entity's brand equity, as well as the sponsor's brand, and ultimately the relationship. This study explores multiple stakeholders' perspectives on these degenerative episodes and the potential relational outcomes using a series of depth interviews with major sponsors and sport entities. We identify key constructs such as attribution of blame, societal norms, zone of tolerance and perceived severity which influence whether this behavior acts as a degenerative episode in the relationship. Factors such as existing relationship quality and episode management can affect the impact on the relationship as well as the extent of relational change.     

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.     

How and what to study about IoT: Research trends and future directions from the perspective of social science

The Internet of Things (IoT), as a new growth engine of the information and communications technology industry, has sparked global enthusiasm. However, academic deliberation has concentrated on technological aspects, discounting the multifaceted nature of IoT. Therefore, we reviewed non-technical papers to examine the current status of scholarly discourse and applied analytic hierarchy process models to assess the priorities for future IoT research. Although papers in science and engineering fields were excluded, analysis of 300 articles showed that a considerable number of papers were written by engineers, mainly concerning industrial content. Experts perceived that systematic methods and tangible subjects were the most necessary to motivate research in the social sciences sector. Multidisciplinary research was considered important regardless of the research disciplines, and user study was assigned a particularly large weight. According to the results, implications and suggestions for future IoT research are discussed.