Strategic business marketing developments in the New Europe: Retrospect and prospect

The unification of Europe is causing considerable effects on industrial marketing strategy. Roughly ten years ago the Industrial Marketing Management journal published a study on the expected consequences of the European Union (EU) single market. In the current study, we investigate the actual results of the single market formation on industrial marketing in the EU and compare them to the expectations noted by industrial marketers a decade earlier. We find that the effects differ markedly from those anticipated and that they have important implications for business marketing practice in the EU.     

Marketing research by a small industrial firm: A case study

There is a growing need today for industrial marketers to conduct marketing research and use the results in making profitable business decisions. This paper describes a marketing research study conducted by a small industrial firm and discusses the nature and extent of its impact on the firm's operations. Several implications and practical guidelines are derived for industrial marketers in general, based on the firm's marketing research experience.     

A sales mix model for effective industrial selling

The purpose of this article is to focus on one aspect of the marketing mix for industrial firms. Specifically, the control of promotion centers on the promotional mix, which includes personal selling, advertising, and sales promotion. The personal sales mix model (Figure 1) highlights those factors that are controllable by the industrial sales representative. Also, the uncontrollables involved in industrial selling are discussed. An understanding of the personal sales mix model should aid industrial marketers in satisfying buyer's needs through effective selling.     

Japanese buyers attitudes toward U.S. supply sources

This paper reports the findings of a mail survey of Japanese industrial buyers. Attitudes toward U.S. companies as supply sources were measured. Generally, Japanese buyers hold favorable attitudes but feel that U.S. firms do not practice the marketing concept in their international marketing efforts.     

Product systems marketing

Today more industrial companies are turning to the marketing of systems to satisfy the more extended and complex needs of their customers. Yet there is little knowledge available to guide them in evaluating the merits of adopting the systems marketing approach. This article presents a marketing analysis of the systems strategy and its implications for potential adopters.     

Some factors in industrial market segmentation

Buyer-seller relationships are complex, especially in industrial marketing. A model for segmenting industrial markets is proposed and implications for organization buying behavior are summarized.     

Support service is key for technology transfer to China

China, under the direction of its new political leadership, is extremely interested in purchasing the most up-to-date technology. However, still being a less-developed nation, there is some doubt about her ability to absorb this high-level technology. If the U.S. industrial marketers hesitate to sell this technology, China will buy it from other industrialized countries. The authors maintain that the U.S. industrial marketers must sell the high-level technology to China. However, they also must make sure that this technology will be transferred successfully. In order to assure the success, the authors suggest that special attention be paid to the development of marketing support service systems as highly technical industrial products are sold to China. These systems will at least temporarily overcome existing barriers to technology transfer and hence will facilitate smooth and enduring technology transfers in the long run.     

Interplay between internal investment and alliance specialization in R&D and marketing

A firm's efforts to build its technological and marketing capabilities are not limited to internal investments but can be extended to include external knowledge acquisitions. We examine the interaction between a firm's specialization in R&D or marketing through its internal investments and its alliances in two different industrial contexts. Our results, based on secondary data sources such as Compustat and SDC Platinum from 1985 to 2009, show that the interaction effects of internal specialization and alliance specialization are contingent on the types of tasks (i.e., R&D and marketing) and the industrial context (i.e., high- and low-tech industries). Our findings indicate that a firm in a high-tech industry is able to achieve greater gains by complementing its internal focus on R&D with its external focus on marketing or by focusing on R&D both internally and externally. In contrast, a firm in a low-tech industry is able to achieve greater performance when R&D and marketing complement each other, without regard for how they are aligned through internal investments and alliances. The firm is also able to improve its performance by focusing on marketing both internally and externally. These findings provide new insights into the complementarity between internal investments and alliances.     

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.     

Distribution performance and power sources

Performance is the primary concern of industrial channel members; yet, marketing researchers have focused their attention, not on performance, but on other aspects of channel relations: power, control, and conflict. This study investigates performance and the sources of the power-performance relationship in an industrial distribution channel.     

Understanding the role of marketing-purchasing collaboration in industrial markets: The case of Russia

This study aims to investigate the role of interfunctional collaboration between marketing and purchasing functions in industrial companies. Interfunctional collaboration is considered as a measure of the internal alignment and partnership between departments in the firm, which in turn contributes to the creation of sustainable advantages via improved external partnerships and facilitating demand chain integration. We test the impact of customer orientation as well as the interactions between departments (specifically marketing and purchasing) as collaboration antecedents, and analyze the direct impact of marketing-purchasing collaboration on business performance. The model is tested on a sample of 148 industrial companies in Russia with two key respondents in each firm, incorporating the purchasing as well as the marketing perspective. The results show that marketing-purchasing collaboration mediates the effects of interfunctional interaction as well as customer orientation on business performance. Alternative model testing shows that the direct effects of these antecedent constructs on performance are non-significant in the context of Russian industrial companies.     

Realigning industrial marketing channels

Dramatic changes are occurring in industrial patterns of distribution. This article provides a structure for analyzing realignments in industrial marketing channels. Specifically, the analysis centers on the channel efficiency and effectiveness dimensions that were generated by a shift from industrial distributors to a public warehouse.     

Market representations in industrial marketing: Could representations influence strategy?

A central question in industrial marketing is whether the form in which the market of a firm is represented influences the marketing strategy. This question has been studied generally through case study research, and quantitative evidence is limited. In response to this limitation, this paper reports on a quasi-experiment investigating whether market representations have a constructive aspect in business. Empirically, this study compares two types of market representations - ostensive and performative - in order to test for influence exacted in two well-established strategies in industrial marketing - service focus and product differentiation. Results indicate that service focus is selected when market representations rely on agency in firms (i.e., performative), and product strategies are selected when structures are emphasized (i.e., ostensive). This paper contributes to methodology development by expanding the link between a case study approach and quasi-experiments explaining how quasi-experiments can replicate findings in industrial marketing.     

Inverted breakeven analysis for profitable marketing decisions

This article develops a modified model of breakeven analysis which provides a viable conceptual tool to the industrial marketing management to determine in actual industrial marketing situations whether a given product should be produced and marketed by the supplier firm.     

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.     

A methodological approach to the marketing process in the biotechnology-based companies

The article addresses the commercialization activities of biotechnology-based companies in a European context and discusses whether these companies are able to gain adequate market perceptions and set adequate marketing processes, taking into account three analytical steps: strategic marketing definition, marketing implementation, and evolution of strategy and implementation. A methodological approach was developed, considering the specific nature of the technology and the companies. The case of Portuguese companies was used to test this methodology.The findings support the hypothesis that marketing issues constitute a problem for these companies, since most of them had serious difficulties in going through the marketing process. Marketing deficiencies were largely connected to the access to human resources with relevant management and marketing capabilities and were particularly felt by companies introducing discontinuous innovations.The research confirms that this methodology is useful in the assessment of the marketing management process in biotechnology-based companies.     

Industrial publicity: One of the best promotional tools

One of the most frequently forgotten and misunderstood promotional tools in industrial marketing is publicity. Yet most surveys rank editorial material in trade journals as one of the most important sources of information used by industrial customers in making buying decisions and evaluating products. This article discusses how industrial marketers can use publicity as an effective promotional tool, with emphasis on its major advantages, namely, high credibility and low cost per contact.     

Managing risk in contract pricing with multiple incentives

A significant amount of industrial marketing occurs in response to efforts initiated and managed by the buyer through a contracting process. Often the contract involves research, engineering, development, and test/evaluation of products with considerable risks. This article discusses techniques used to evaluate sources of risk in contracting and methods to distribute and manage these risks between the buyer and seller, focusing principally on multiple incentive, multiple-formula pricing mechanisms.     

我国保健食品营销模式分析

本文阐述了我国保健食品行业三个发展阶段各自营销模式的特点,并归纳出了传统营销模式所存在的问题,提出保健食品企业应该在进行充分的产品特征、市场特征及企业目标和资源分析的基础上,采用以质量为产品根本、精准定位与差异化、诚信营销为主导、讲求实效的营销组合为内涵的新型“健康营销模式”,促进企业的健康发展,达到延长产品生命周期、树立企业品牌形象的目的。     

Impact of purchasing systems contracts on distributors and procedures

Under systems contracting the buyer is supplied with all of his MRO items from a single source. This article discusses some important marketing strategy implications of systems contracting for both the manufacturer and industrial distributor of MRO items.