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ISBM Pulse: Curated B2B Research

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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.

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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.  

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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Relationship Governance Dynamics: The Roles of Partner Selection Efforts and Mutual Investments (Wathne et al.) (open access)

Reseller selection efforts are costly, time consuming, and are sometimes questioned as effective governance mechanisms. Nevertheless, reseller selection efforts are justified as they lower suppliers’ ex post transaction costs amd weaken the likelihood of resellers’ possible exploitation of supplier-reseller relationship in the case of supplier’s investments in the relationship, and promote value creation. Analyzing two waves of surveys in a B2B supplier-reseller context, the authors of this study insights on relationship governance dynamics of reseller selection efforts.

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Dynamic Governance Matching in Solution Development (Colm, Ordanini, and Bornemann)

B2B firms are increasingly shifting to offer service solutions as competitive and commoditization threats increase. However, much of these shifts to service-oriented offerings have generated mixed results. The authors investigate this problem as a governance problem and highlight that the different phases of solutions development (experimentation, integration, and evolution) expose actors to various governance tensions.

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Understanding the Impact of Customer Relationship Disruptions Resulting from Salesperson Change (Schmitz et al.)

It is widely believed that a B2B relationship disruption, which refers to the change of the salesperson in a customer relationship with another salesperson within the same firm, results in negative consequences such as a loss of customer knowledge, diminished interpersonal trust, and increased uncertainty. However, some B2B relationship disruptions also have positive effects that countervails some of the negative effects of disruptions. Results of this study indicate that relationship disruption can decrease resale value by 28.8% but it can also revitalize the relationship and increase new sales revenue by 52.2%.

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Partnering with Nonprofits to Confront a Crisis (Ballesteros and Gatignon)

The private sector cannot wait and see until the COVID-19 storm is over. They need to act, and be part of the solution. Helping out now may regain the trust that the private sector has lost recently, by demonstrating its ability of mobilizing resources, generating innovations, and scaling them up fast. However, in doing so, firms should consider the unique abilities of the nonprofit sector in times of disaster and crises.

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Understanding the Long-Term Implications of Retailer Returns in B2B relationships (Beitelspacher et al.)

Beitelspacher et al. (2018), used longitudinal survey data and supplier CRM data of a global sporting goods supplier to analyze the effects of returns on salespeople behavior and future retailers returns. The authors found that conceptualization of exchanges between suppliers and retailers as reciprocal rather than negotiated enhances relationship building efforts. This article also highlights the importance of salespeople’s ability to recognize that negative occurrences (i.e. returns that might lower their sales achievements and commissions) could be turned into positive opportunities.