Content Library

Multichannel Strategies for Managing the Profitability of Business-to-Business Customers (Lawrence et al. 2019)

Companies selling to B2B customers face two key issues: managing the salesperson channel and managing the customer-specific discounts often utilized to drive sales. Companies must determine if customers using online channels would benefit from also being served using salesperson channels, or if utilizing salespeople in such a way would be a waste of valuable resources. Lawrence et al. (2019) provide compelling evidence that sellers gain approximately twice as much net profit from customers that have greater contact with salespeople. The interpersonal relationships that salespeople forge with buyers in the B2B context may bring forth positive financial outcomes.

November 14, 2020

Social Comparison in Retailer–Supplier Relationships: Referent Discrepancy Effects (Lee and Griffith 2019)

While maintaining relationships between different parties proves imperative across business contexts, the task often becomes challenging in the business-to-business (B2B) domain. Perceptions of fairness in retailer-supplier relationships are a key issue in B2B relationships. Due to multiple suppliers often having active relationships with the same retailer, these perceptions can lead to conflicts. Recent research by Lee and Griffith (2019) studied the social comparisons that occurs, and focus on distributive fairness, reference discrepancies, and tie strength.

November 7, 2020

The Relative Effects of B2B (vs. B2C) Service Innovations on Firm Value (Dotzel and Shankar 2019)

As B2B firms increasingly become service-dominant in hopes of building lasting customer relationships, it becomes imperative to determine if the resources and expertise needed to implement B2B service innovations also create increased risk for B2B firms. The differences between customer and business markets find that the impact of service innovations varies across B2B and B2C domains.

November 1, 2020

Business-to-Business E-Negotiations and Influence Tactics (Singh et al. 2020)

Sales negotiation over email exchanges between sellers and buyers (e-negotiation) is increasingly common in B2B sales. The use of influential tactics as textual cues in emails to manage buyers’ attention significantly affects sales outcomes. To test the effectiveness of influential tactics in e-negotiations, the authors of this study analyze seller-buyer emails over a two-year period part of 40 e-negotiations, along with other data sources and a controlled experiment. In an era where remote working is more prevalent than ever, e-negotiations are more important than ever. It underscores the relevance of this research.

September 28, 2020

Should a B2B Firm Have a Customer on the Board of Directors? (Bommaraju et al.)

One way to gain insight into their customers’ needs is to invite customers to have a seat on the board of directors. Based on a sample of 329 B2B firms in S&P 900 firms over nine-year period (2007-2015), Bommaraju et al. (2019) concluded that having a customer on the board of directors enhances customer orientation of firms and provides unique insights, especially when demand uncertainty is high.

September 3, 2020

The Relative Influence of Economic and Relational Direct Marketing Communications on Buying Behavior in B2B Markets (Kim and Kumar)

B2B firms spend significant resources in direct marketing to manage their customer relationships. Firms should understand how customers evaluate these organizational marketing communications, which ultimately affect their buying behaviors. Based on four years of customer relationship management data of a Fortune 500 B2B service firm, Kim and Kumar (2018) built a model that aids B2B firms to strategically allocate marketing resources across economic and relational value messaging.

August 31, 2020

The Temporary Marketing Organization (Hadida, Heide, and Bell)

As marketing departments are shrinking and CMO tenures are getting shorter, marketers are increasingly relying on temporary marketing organizations to meets objectives with immediate impacts. However, temporary marketing organizations’ outcomes exhibit high variance. Thus, Hadida et al. (2019) propose a conceptual framework to guide firms in determination of the most appropriate selection and enforcement mechanisms depending on the form of temporary marketing organization.

August 11, 2020

Strategies to Connect with Barricaded Buyers (Chase and Murtha)

When responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) in both the public and the private sector, suppliers’ access to buyers is often restricted due to law and informal rules of engagement. The authors term these buyers ‘barricaded buyers’. Despite having limited access to these individuals, suppliers can still increase their competitiveness and selection likelihood when selling to barricaded buyers.

August 6, 2020

Business Cycles Research in Marketing (Dekimpe and Deleersnyder) (open access)

Facing the economic consequences of the current COVID-19 pandemic, a recession seems inevitable. In the light of a likely downturn in the economy, academic research on business cycles is more relevant than ever before. For this purpose, we selected a review article by Marnik Dekimpe and Barbara Deleersnyder (Tilburg University), published in 2018, that synergizes the evidence presented in 31 post-2000 marketing studies focusing on the impact of business cycles.

July 17, 2020

Announcement: Journal of Marketing Webinar on Social Responsibility

On July 15, the Journal of Marketing Webinar Series ‘Insights for Managers’ will deal with firm’s social responsibility. Two research projects will be presented. The first presentation discusses corporate sociopolitical activism, the second presentation discusses corporate social irresponsibility.

June 20, 2020

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