The key issues and procedures of industrial marketing research

Industrial marketing research has failed to receive its due attention in marketing books and journals, even though the volume of transactions in industrial goods and services is more than twice that of consumer goods and services. This article provides a systematic and wide ranging review of the issues, procedures, and opportunities found in industrial marketing research.     

The Role of Temporary Agency Work in Different Industrial Relations Systems — a Comparison between Germany and the USA

Although temporary agency work has been growing over the last decade, its use differs widely in different industrial relations systems. Drawing on theoretical and empirical insights, propositions are developed on why companies deploy temporary agency work. These propositions are then contrasted with case‐study evidence collected in Germany and the USA to analyse the deployment of agency work in two different industrial relations systems and the role that agency work plays in these diverse settings. The main conclusions of the research are that differences in the deployment of temporary agency workers exist with regard to legal regulation and employers' strategies of labour use while similarities exist regarding the supply of agency labour.     

Key problems facing industrial distributors

This article reports on a survey of the problems faced by industrial distributors. Five major problem categories are identified and managerial implications are derived from the findings.     

对我国工业组织的区域比较实证分析

文章运用系统的统计分析方法对我国工业组织现状进行了深入的区域比较实证研究,揭示了我国工业组织所具有的两大重要特性：一是各地区工业集中度与工业经济绩效存在着“反常”的十分显著的反向变动关系;二是不同规模类型企业的规模经济性不同,大中型企业内部没有规模经济性,而小型企业内部的规模经济性却十分显著,在此基础上,文章指出,当前我国各地区工业组织的决定性因素是制度因素,工业产业组织合理化的根本出路在于加快和全面推进经济体制改革,特别是国有大中型企业的改良改造,要充分重视小型企业的发展,并在体制改革的基础上实施大、中、小企业协调发展战略。     

Segmenting high technology adopters

This article highlights a link between the innovative behavior of high technology firms and their buying. An empirical indepth study of 16 firms manufacturing electrical and electronic measuring instruments shows how components are bought by different types of firms. The findings suggest a useful basis for segmenting high technology industrial markets.     

Measures used to evaluate industrial marketing activities

Given the importance of controlling marketing efforts, a study was conducted of industrial manufacturers to determine the extent of their use of various measures to evaluate different marketing activities. The predominate measures used for evaluation were sales volume with much less utilization of profitability, productivity, and expense measures.     

Industrial marketing myths

With the primary academic emphasis on private consumer oriented marketing, analysts and theoreticians, as well as the teachers of marketing have largely tended to overlook industrial marketing, leaving it to be mentioned in passing, if at all. This rather cavalier attitude overlooks the distinct differences between the two fields, while emphasizing their similarities. The result has been the growth by default of a marketing technology in the industrial field that is often overly pragmatic, misapplied, misunderstood, or any combination of these. Possibly the most unfortunate consequence has been the establishment and perpetuation of a number of myths among industrial management, frequently even including the industrial marketing manager. A few of the most pervasive and damaging of these myths are described below.     

Career paths, technological obsolescence and skill formation: R&D staff in Britain and Japan

This paper examines how scientists and engineers working in industrial R&D cope with the pressures of business and technological change and develop their careers. The data is drawn from a survey of nearly 1000 R&D staff working in large industrial corporations in Britain and Japan. Cross national comparisons are used to explore similarities and differences in coping strategies and in the human resource management challenges for companies. Particular attention is given to the problems of potential mismatch between RBD staff career orientations and available career opportunities.     

技术创新的资源与激励的不匹配性及其治理

中国不同所有权工业在技术创新的资源配置和创新激励的配置上具有明显的不匹配性,这对技术创新绩效差异有重要的影响。本文提出了技术创新双重约束模式,认为中国工业技术创新的企业治理约束和资源配置约束是决定技术创新绩效的根本力量,据此解释了技术创新不匹配性的产生机理。因此,建立技术创新资源要素配置与激励匹配的制度体制是提高企业和产业的技术创新绩效的根本途径。     

Marketing to firms in developing asian countries

The Newly Industrialized and Developing Asian countries represent a substantial and growing market for capital goods and for industrial components. Industrial buyer behavior among firms in these countries is different from that exhibited by firms in the advanced, industrialized countries. Therefore, different marketing strategies are required to penetrate NIC and LDC markets. This article discusses industrial buyer behavior in the NICs and LDCs and makes recommendations for marketing strategies.     

Industrial product innovation: An international comparison

This paper presents and discusses the data obtained from a study of 500 industrial innovations introduced in major industrialized countries from 1953 to 1973. The trends in industrial innovation of both the country of origin and the country of market introduction are examined based on the data presented.     

Factors that influence the length of industrial channels

This article is concerned with the length of channels utilized to market industrial products. Several marketing scholars have proposed that the appropriate channel structure is a function of conditions associated with the market for the product, the nature of the product itself, and characteristics of the producer and middlemen. By means of a survey of industrial product manufacturers, this study identified six characteristics of middlemen, industrial markets, and industrial customers that appear to be significant influences on the length of channels used to distribute industrial products.     

Industrial use of public sector research in advanced technologies: a comparison of biotechnology and ceramics

Industrial use of public sector research (PSR) is characterised by considerable diversity: both the nature and extent of linkage varies according to, amongst other factors, firm size, industrial sector and research field. The study reported here aims to understand better some of this diversity by comparing two fields—biotechnology and advanced ceramics. It employs a methodology which focuses on the precise character of scientific and technological inputs (STI) which companies seek and obtain during new product development. The results reveal significant similarities between the technologies: the importance to innovation of a synthesis between formal knowledge and tacit firm-specific skills; and the reliance on PSR for both new knowledge and new research techniques and instruments. Variance in STI flows appears to be related to the particular character of new product development in the relevant industrial sectors; differences in the development and dynamism of the technologies; and in the availability of requisite expertise and knowledge in PSR.     

Direct mail response factors for an industrial service

This article addresses the lack of quantitative research on industrial services marketing communications by providing a quantitative study of a direct mail promotion for an industrial service. Prenotification, the structure of the letter, the ethnic background of the signatory, personalization, and prequalifying the respondent were tested as factors influencing the response rate in the direct mail promotion. The results are useful as baseline information for current practitioners and to provide insights for the future development of theories of marketing communications for industrial services.     

Identifying industrial new product success: Project NewProd

What is the key to success in industrial product innovation? This question is frequently posed, and many authors and managers have speculated as to which critical factors or variables decide the fate of new industrial products. What is missing in the debate is evidence based on actual new product successes and failures. Project NewProd is an investigation that was designed to fill this void. In this article we report the results of a study into a large number of successful and unsuccessful new products, project NewProd, whose goal was to identify the determinants of commercial success in industrial product innovation.     

Using actors' perceptions of network roles and positions to understand network dynamics

This article explores network dynamics by analysing how actors make sense of time and space in business networks, and how they act based on these perceptions. The time dimension is understood here as actors' perceptions of past, present and future changes in their network. The space dimension is understood, first, in terms of the network position a company holds in relation to its business partners, and secondly, in terms of the network role it enacts. As such, this study relates three pivotal concepts in industrial marketing: network change, network position, and network role. The link between these three relates to the interdependencies within a network, in that if one company attempts to change its position, this will in turn affect the position of other companies. Moreover, actors' attempts to change their position or role in the network are directed by their subjective sensemaking or perceptions of their surrounding network. In this article we posit that in order to understand network dynamics we must analyse how actors attempt to affect change based on their perceptions of their positions and roles in their network environment. Our analysis suggests that although there are similarities between perceptions by actors holding similar positions in the network, such network positions alone cannot explain their actions. Rather, differences in actors' interpretations and enactments of their network role are necessary to explain their networking activities. We use an extensive case study of the changing distribution structure for seafood in Norway and Japan to exemplify these points.     

Analysing an activity in context: A case study of the conditions for vehicle maintenance

The IMP approach is concerned with analysis of complex industrial networks. How to design case studies relying on these theoretical assumptions poses a challenge. In this paper we address this challenge by discussing a case study, focusing on the conditions for maintenance of heavy vehicles. The aim of the paper is to suggest an approach for analysis of embedded activities in industrial networks. The case study takes its starting point in the perspective of an actor considering how to develop vehicle maintenance services for its customers and points at the need to enable understanding of the conditions for vehicle maintenance, which necessitates identification and analysis of the variety across transport service settings.     

Researching marketing problems and opportunities with focus groups

Focus group research is a popular and effective qualitative research method for generating ideas and assessing marketing programs and concepts. This article provides marketers with insights about implementing focus groups in the industrial environment. It presents a specific procedure for conducting focus groups, potential industrial applications for the research technique, guidelines for making decisions about selecting moderators, establishing objectives, recruiting study participants, and controlling costs.     

Marketing to the industrial lease buyer

This article reports on a survey of financial executives concerning their attitudes towards the leasing of industrial equipment. Specifically, the study seeks to explore the reasons why lessees lease. The research findings are viewed in terms of their implications for the marketing of industrial equipment.     

物流形式与产业发展研究——以中国绿色食品产业为例

物流业发展是基于产业和企业的发展,反过来适宜的物流形式能够促进产业和企业的进一步发展。不同类型的产业以及产业和企业不同的发展阶段需要不同的物流形式,这是一个动态过程。本文利用产业成长分析模型和多项式分布滞后模型,得出中国绿色食品产业已进入成长阶段的中期和第三方物流发展水平已成为影响绿色食品产业发展的重要因素。以上结论客观上要求积极发展第三方物流,以促进其整体结构调整和产业升级,提高在国内外市场上的竞争力。在物流市场发展与物流形式的选择中,政府的扶持和产业政策的导向十分重要。