Customer solutions in the capital goods industry: Examining the impact of the buying center

Based on in-depth interviews with customers, this study explores the customers' view of relevant solution criteria in the capital goods industry. Our research examines (1) whether the initial four-process conceptualization of customer solutions also holds for this industry, or whether it has to be extended and (2) which criteria of the customer solution matter the most for each member of the buying center. This study reveals that customers purchasing solutions in the capital goods industry expect the provider to be excellent in terms of six customer/supplier relational processes, namely (1) customer requirements definition, (2) customization and integration of goods and/or services, (3) their deployment, (4) post-deployment support, (5) signaling activities, and (6) inter-process management. Moreover, we found that the relevance of these processes differs across the most important members of the buying center (users, buyers, and deciders) due to their specific organizational function.     

To invest, or not to invest, in brands? Drivers of brand relevance in B2B markets

When allocating resources to brand investments, managers should consider the relevance of brands to the purchase decision process. Past research on consumer markets shows that brand relevance generally is driven by three functions: image benefits as well as information cost and risk reductions. This study is the first to investigate these underlying mechanisms of brand relevance in a business-to-business setting. Our main contribution is that, in contrast with consumer markets, brand relevance in industrial markets depends primarily on risk and information cost-reducing effects. Therefore, business-to-business firms should invest in their brands using tactics that support the reduction of risk and information search costs for customer decision making. This article also demonstrates that brand relevance differs across product categories, such that depending on the specific category, investing in brands may or may not be a promising strategy.     

The industrial brand personality scale: Building strong business-to-business brands

To remain distinct and build strong business relationships in a competitive business-to-business (B2B) environment, an increasing number of industrial marketers attempt to exploit the potential of branding. However, brand management in the industrial sector is still at its starting point. For this reason, the authors introduce the concept of brand personality to industrial markets. Based on a series of qualitative and quantitative studies, the authors develop and validate an Industrial Brand Personality Scale. Furthermore, they examine whether brand personality perception differences exist among different types of industrial transactions and among different members in the buying center. The analysis yields a framework for theoretical discussion and provides B2B managers with a tool to build strong B2B brands in an increasingly competitive industrial market.     

Capabilities, innovation and competitive advantage

This special issue was aimed at advancing the literature examining the role of capabilities in innovation-based competitive strategy. Whilst the innovation literature has over the years moved away from its ‘product innovation’ pre-occupation to capture the role of other forms of innovation in value creation, the capability view has progressed from its ‘rigid’ or ‘static’ view to a ‘dynamic’ view in an effort to capture market dynamism. Despite the recent theoretical advancements the dynamic capability view still lacks a strong empirical base. Contributors to the capability literature over the recent years have adopted multiple research methods to capture capabilities that include cross-sectional designs, case studies and longitudinal studies. Within this backdrop, the articles that were selected for this special issue covers both conceptual and empirical approaches to examine the relationship between capabilities and technical and non-technical innovations and performance outcomes. This essay provides a future research agenda to advance this promising research field. It highlights the need for clearer conceptualizations and development of measures of dynamic capabilities, environmental conditions that underpin the development of dynamic capabilities within the firm and research into the much debated relationship between dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage and organizational performance.     

The role of renqing in mediating customer relationship investment and relationship commitment in China

There is a growing research interest in guanxi marketing, which has been considered the Chinese version of relationship marketing. However, very little empirical research has investigated the implicit nature of renqing, the underlying mechanism that explains the cultivation and maintenance of guanxi. This study examines the role of renqing in mediating customer relationship investment and relationship commitment in the insurance industry. The authors surveyed 245 car insurance policyholders in China. The findings confirm the mediating role of renqing in such relationships and show that renqing explains a very high proportion of the variance in levels of customer relationship commitment. This result offers valuable insights and suggestions as to how to increase levels of customer relationship commitment in China.     

Marketing metrics: Insights from Brazilian managers

This study examines how managers approach marketing measures in a Brazilian context. Using data from a large-scale empirical study in Brazil, we focus on managers' views of the practices in marketing measurement and identify which indicators they emphasize. The findings, which reflect Brazilian managerial practice, indicate that managers use a combination of metrics. Items such as total number of customers, number of complaints, and customer satisfaction are among the most known and most used metrics. When addressing the 10 most relevant metrics results yield 4 groups, including customer vision, financial, product vision, and market and innovation. Indicators pertaining to customer vision are the most important to Brazilian managers. Furthermore, we discuss the results and draw comparisons with similar studies conducted in the United Kingdom and China. Finally, we present conclusions and avenues for future research.     

Service transition strategies of industrial manufacturers

Manufacturers are increasingly adopting service based strategies to maintain competitiveness in the face of commoditization, slower growth, and declining profitability in core product markets. The objective of this study is to explicate the transformation process towards services in more detail. We find that manufacturers develop product related services through a dedicated service division designed to exploit the commercial opportunities of servicing an installed base of equipment. At the same time, the strategy of integrated solutions is utilized to enhance the competitiveness of their core product offering under industry conditions which make it difficult to maintain competitive advantage purely through technological leadership. These logics are investigated through case studies of two industrial manufactures.     

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.     

Does salesperson's customer orientation create value in B2B relationships? Empirical evidence from India

Although value creation in business relationships has taken an important position in the literature, yet scant attention has been paid to the precise nature of creation or destruction of value in b2b customer-oriented selling. Moreover, very few empirical studies in the b2b customer value research have focused on emerging markets, especially the BRIC countries. This study carried out in the context of small and medium sized firms in India, empirically examines from the SOCO perspective (Saxe and Weitz, 1982), value creation in customer-oriented selling, and value destruction in sales-oriented strategies. We model value creation, relationship development, and customer satisfaction as direct and indirect consequences of salesperson's customer orientation. Based on a sample of 249 small and medium sized Indian firms, we show that salesperson's customer orientation directly leads to value creation and relationship development with customers. On the other hand, a sales orientation destroys value, although it may lead to relationship development in the short-term. We also found that customer satisfaction was unrelated to both types of salesperson's orientations. Our study has considerable impact for small and medium sized businesses in emerging BRIC markets such as India, as it throws light on how supplier firms can leverage their salesforce to create value creation with their customers.     

When do formal control and trust matter? A context-based analysis of the effects on marketing channel relationships in China

Formal control and trust are two typical governance mechanisms employed to safeguard business transactions. Yet the effectiveness of each mechanism for firm relationship outcomes remains unclear. Some relevant literature suggests that formal control and trust simultaneously can help secure transactions, whereas other research argues the two control mechanisms can substitute for each other. This study applies social embeddedness theory and differentiates strong tie from weak tie relationships. In so doing, it reveals the role of strong versus weak social ties in leading to parallel conclusions about the relationship between formal control and trust and their effects on relationship outcomes. On the basis of empirical tests in a Chinese marketing channels context, this study finds that the joint effects of formal control and trust on governing transactions depends on the relational tie that the focal partners share. Specifically, formal control and trust complement each other only in weak tie relations. On the basis of this new perspective, the authors offer theoretical and managerial implications for managing interfirm governance mechanisms in transitional economies such as China.