ISBM Research Newsletter - Volume 18, Issue 2 - November 2025

Table of Contents

In This Issue . . .

Greetings from Happy Valley, we hope you are having a wonderful fall semester! In this Newsletter, we share several ISBM news items, initiatives, and events to look forward to.

First, we hope to see you at the 2026 ISBM PhD Camp and Academic Conference at Emory University. We are grateful to Sandy Jap for co-hosting the events, and to Lisa Scheer and Kersi Antia for once again organizing the Doctoral Camp. Given the success and enthusiastic feedback in 2024, we will organize the academic events in parallel with the Corporate Members Meeting and facilitate interactions between academics and executives. More details in our Feature.

Second, please encourage your doctoral students in B2B marketing to submit their abstracts to the 2025 Doctoral Support Award Competition. Up to three winners will join a list of 130 past recipients of dissertation support awards and receive grants ranging from $5,000 to $7,500. Deadline: November 18!

Third, last year ISBM started a new initiative—an annual research competition around a specific, urgent research priority. We are happy to announce three winners of our 2025 ISBM Research Competition on “Coping with Climate Change in Business Markets”. More details can be found here. Congrats to the winners!

Fourth, we announce our 2026 ISBM Research Competition on “AI-Powered Marketing in Business Markets”. We stimulate research on AI’s role in addressing B2B-specific opportunities and challenges and plan to support several research teams with grants up to $10,000 each. Abstracts are due June 30, 2026, giving you plenty of time to develop new research ideas.

Fifth, Andrew Petersen shares the latest on the ISBM PhD Seminar Series (IPSS), with a very interesting offering from Professor Colleen Harmeling for spring 2026.

Lynn Yanyo reflects on the many exciting things happening on the ISBM corporate side, including the recent addition of Paul Drees to the ISBM team.

And finally, please see the various “calls for nominations and paper submissions” to complete this newsletter.

Warm greetings,

Stefan and Andrew

Stefan Wuyts
Director, ISBM
Email: suw282@psu.edu

J. Andrew Petersen
Associate Director, ISBM
Email: jap57@psu.edu

Emory to Host 2026 ISBM B2B PhD Camp, Academic Conference & Corporate Members Meeting

Mark your calendars! We are pleased to announce that Emory University will be hosting the 2026 Institute for the Study of Business Market’s Biennial ISBM PhD Camp and the B2B Academic Conference, and the ISBM Corporate Members Meeting at the Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, GA.

Given the positive feedback received from the 2024 conference, we have decided to once again hold the conference jointly with the ISBM corporate members. While we are still finalizing all the event logistics, we expect to host pre-conference and camp events on Mon June 22, PhD Camp on Tue June 23, and the Academic Conference & Corporate Members Meeting on Wed & Thr June 24 & 25, 2026.

Some features of the events:

  • PhD Camp: Designed for students who have completed at least one year of doctoral work and have interest in or are thinking of pursuing work in B2B marketing and management. There are no geographic or field restrictions; we anticipate that students studying in fields including marketing, strategy, management, R&D management, information systems, and business logistics/supply chain management will find the Camp attractive and beneficial.

 

  • Academic Conference & Corporate Members Meeting: Since these events will be held jointly, there will be lots of opportunities to connect and engage with marketing executives from our ISBM Member firms. Since this event follows the PhD Camp, doctoral students are encouraged to register and stay for both events so that they can mix with prominent faculty and young, promising scholars and executives. In the past, many students have stayed around for the entire event.

 

  • Invited plus competitive paper sessions: We will hold many concurrent sessions, as well as some joint plenary sessions with the corporate members. Academics and executives will have the option to attend any of the concurrent track sessions. We are interested in papers and special sessions which focus on important and emerging topics related to B2B Marketing, and our most recent key priority domains (2025-2027 ISBM Research Priorities), as well as other B2B marketing topics not explicitly covered here.

 

  • Call for Proposals and Special Sessions: is featured later in this newsletter, but special consideration will be given to sessions and papers which have a significant connection to B2B practice.

 

In the meantime, if you have any questions or suggestions for the committees, please feel free to contact any one of us.

Academic Conference Committee:

Andrew Petersen, jap57@psu.edu; Stefan Wuyts, suw282@psu.edu; and Sandy Jap, sjap@emory.edu

 

PhD Camp Committee:

Lisa Scheer, Scheer@missouri.edu, and Kersi Antia, kantia@ivey.uwo.ca

 

Academic Conference and Camp Administrator:

Lori Nicolini, LNicolini@psu.edu

2025 Doctoral Support Award Competition Submission Deadline November 18

Penn State’s Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) is now holding its 35th annual Business Marketing Doctoral Support Award Competition.  This year’s deadline to submit abstract submissions is November 18, 2025.

Up to three candidates in accredited doctoral programs will receive dissertation support awards. Dissertations in any area of business-to-business (B2B) marketing or in any of the methodological areas that support advances in business marketing will be considered. 

We welcome submissions on various B2B topics, including traditional areas such as B2B innovation, buying behavior, customer analytics, and interorganizational relationships. 

In addition to applications from PhD students in marketing, we encourage applications from students in economics, management science, organizational psychology, statistics, anthropology and other disciplines whose developments help advance our understanding of the operation of the B2B marketplace.

Beyond a good fit with ISBM and a clear focus on a B2B marketing problem, good submissions have the following criteria:

  1. Important to B2B marketing practice;
  2. Important to B2B marketing academia;
  3. Rigorous in terms of the proposed research methodology;
  4. At a stage where ISBM support can make a difference.

Doctoral students can submit at various stages of their dissertation process.

The Award consists of:

  • Up to $7,500 in financial assistance to be used for travel, conference attendance, data collection, and other expenses of conducting and presenting the results of the research.
  • Assistance, as needed, in gaining the cooperation of both ISBM member firms and non-member firms for data, interview, etc.

 

PhD candidates interested in the competition should submit an abstract of their research not to exceed five double-spaced pages, along with a current vita and a vita of their dissertation advisor. The abstract should address the potential importance of their work to business marketing practice, its theoretical contributions, the research methodology, and the amount and kind of support requested. 

For complete competition details and electronic submission procedures visit https://isbm.org/doctoral-support-award-competition/.

Any questions regarding submissions can be emailed to the Program Manager, Lori Nicolini LNicolini@psu.edu.

Headquartered in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State, the ISBM has been supporting business-to-business marketing research and practice since 1983. To date, ISBM has supported 130 doctoral students. Funding for this competition comes from the generous support of the ISBM Corporate Members and ISBM Donors.

Winners Announced 2025 ISBM Research Competition - “Coping with Climate Change in Business Markets”

Winners have been announced in the 2025 ISBM Competition “Coping with Climate Change in Business Markets.

The ISBM is pleased to announce the winners for the 2025 ISBM Research Competition “Coping with Climate Change in Business Markets”.

This year, three teams are being awarded for their research and will receive financial support for this research:

Winning Research Proposals

  • A Typology of Climate Strategies in B2B Markets:  A Data-Driven Exploration of Strategic Approaches and Their Impact on Stakeholder Outcomes
    • Sakshi Sanjay Babar (University of Georgia) and Sundar Bharadwaj (University of Georgia)

 

  • Bridging the Climate Credibility Gap:  Stakeholder Alignment and Innovation in B2B FMCG Supply Chains
    • Mahdi Vesal (La Trobe University) and Peren Ozturan-Sabahat (Copenhagen Business School)

 

  • Resilience in Salesperson-Customer Relationships in the Wake of a Natural Disaster:  Insights from Hurricane Harvey
    • Phillip Wiseman (Texas Tech University), Michael Ahearne (University of Houston), Irene Nahm (University of Minnesota), and Seshadri Tirunillai (University of Houston)

 

This year there were seven submissions from which three winners were selected.

Proposals were judged by an academic panel, consisting of representatives of the ISBM and qualified faculty members for other universities. 

For more information about the 2026 competition, see separate article in this newsletter or visit our website. 

Call for Research Proposals 2026 ISBM Research Competition on "AI-Powered Marketing in Business Markets"

The rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been met with early enthusiasm and much experimentation. However, many firms struggle to implement AI in organizational operations and customer interactions. Further, much of the research in academia to date on AI has not addressed challenges specific to B2B markets.

ISBM has recognized AI as one of the 2025-2027 ISBM Research Priorities, based on a recent trend study. Interactions with ISBM Corporate Members and industry leaders reveal that while many B2B firms experiment with AI, they hesitate to fully incorporate AI in B2B decision making. Therefore, ISBM incentivizes research on AI in B2B Marketing. Topics can include, but are not limited to:

  • AI and B2B customer interactions/experience (from automation to agentic AI)
  • AI and sales processes (e.g., lead generation)
  • AI and new product development and management
  • AI readiness of B2B firms and value chains
  • From isolated experimentation to AI integration
  • Utilizing synthetic respondents
  • Responsible AI, ethical guardrails, managing risk
  • Reconciling AI use with climate goals
 

Further details:

  • Support: ISBM grants up to $10,000 depending on the need for monetary support and the number of top-quality submissions
  • Target: Research teams across the globe and across disciplines (marketing, supply chain, risk management, strategy, industrial engineering, computer sciences, etc.)
  • Eligibility: Research proposals showing clear implications for business markets, in alignment with the ISBM mission to advance the theory and practice of B2B marketing.
  • Procedure: The competition consists of two rounds, with the following deadlines:
    • June 30 – Abstracts are due
    • July 15 – Selected finalists are invited to submit full research proposals
    • Sept 30 – Finalists’ full proposals are due
    • Oct 31 – Winners are announced
 

For more details visit https://isbm.org/2026-research-competition-ai-powered-marketing-in-business-markets/.

This research competition is made possible thanks to the generous support of the ISBM Founders Fund.

Spring 2026 IPSS Course - Theory Building from Data

Spring 2026:  Colleen Harmeling (Florida State University) will teach the course Theory Building from Data.

This course covers the basics for acquiring, analyzing and presenting data that contributes to theory development, validation, and communication for business school PhD students. Along the way, we discuss issues in data sourcing, various analysis techniques, and the presentation of data as evidence for theory building. It will cover construct definition, operationalization, and validity, strategic literature reviews, hypothesis writing and testing, data structuring and evaluation, research design selection and justification, and academic reporting. The course is also designed to provide familiarity with the major journals in the discipline and the nature of scholarly publication. 

Please bring this PhD seminar to the attention of your promising B2B PhD students. Students should follow the “Admission Procedure” and can register online.

The course will consist of ten sessions of 120 minutes each. The course will be offered on Thursdays from 12:00PM – 2:00PM EST beginning on February 5, 2026. 

For the complete course description and overview visit the course page.

To make the IPSS seminars as accessible as possible, we now offer up to 80% scholarships for eligible students. In order to be considered for the scholarship, students must follow the Admission Procedures which includes:

  • Statement of purpose indicating interest in B2B Marketing
  • One recommendation letter from a faculty member or advisor
  • Completion of the online registration form

 

Materials will be reviewed by our admissions faculty and staff before scholarships are awarded.

We look forward to seeing you at upcoming programs. Additionally, if you have any feedback or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

J. Andrew Petersen
Associate Director
ISBM, Penn State
Email:  jap57@psu.edu

Greetings from the ISBM Membership

With changes from the new administration and changes in technology, particularly AI, what a busy year we’ve had!  

We hosted our Member’s Meeting May 20-22 at founding member company DuPont at their Experimental Station. The theme was Changes in the Early Stages of Innovation – the Role of Marketing and AI.

We had a world-class collection of speakers and you can find all of their presentations on ISBM.com website under Recent Events. Just a few of note:  ISBM Fellow Gerry Tellis started us off thinking about the role of AI in innovation, Michael Koenka of Lightbeam talked about finding AI foresight, ISBM Practice Fellow Laura Patterson shared her thoughts on reducing confirmation bias in AI driven research, and David Bland provided a case study on the use of lean innovation to reduce risk.

Also in May, we were delighted to announce the addition of Paul Drees as our third Executive Director for ISBM’s Corporate Membership.

Paul is a former Business Director at ICI and has partnered with over 200 B2B companies to achieve profitable growth through strategy, marketing, sales, and innovation, most recently through his company, Market Edge.

Paul has developed and delivers Marketing Capability Assessments to measure and benchmark individual knowledge, skills, and tools as well as company specific Marketing Toolboxes that ensure consistent, practical application of sales and marketing concepts.

We are so excited to add Paul’s talents and experiences to support ISBM’s Corporate membership. 

In the past month we hosted our most recent Jam Session, “AI Agents, from Hype to Productive Use” in Wilmington Delaware. We explored the use of AI Agents with Ainzel (ainzel.com) and three member company teams. In the span of just 6 hours, the teams were able to create digital team members and prompts that were able to provide detailed responses for broad business inquiries. The responses were equivalent to 3-8 weeks of conventional team efforts.

We are excited to be planning another joint Academic and Membership meeting in 2026 at Emory University in Atlanta. Please mark your calendars for June 22-25.  The membership theme is Risk and DeRisking. I expect AI will continue to be prominently discussed in this meeting as well!

Very best wishes for the rest of 2025,
Lynn

Lynn Yanyo
Executive Director, ISBM Corporate
Email: Lynn.Yanyo@isbmb2b.com

Call for Nominations for New ISBM Distinguished Research Fellows

The ISBM (Institute for the Study of Business Markets) is seeking nominations for its 2026 Class of ISBM Distinguished Research Fellows.

An “ISBM Fellow” is:

  1. A recognized senior scholar and thought leader in one or more domains of B2B marketing,
  2. Dedicated to the Institute’s mission of advancing both the theory and the practice of the discipline,
  3. Dedicated to working with practitioners, is deeply involved in B2B education, is active in field research and publication in respected journals, and
  4. Active in ISBM academic meetings, practitioner meetings and/or ISBM educational programs.

 

Nomination: Any existing Fellow may make a nomination (click here for list of current Fellows).  The nomination should include:

  1. A recent vita of the candidate and
  2. A letter (max 2 pages) addressing the following three dimensions for selection.
    1. Contributions to B2B Scholarship
    2. Contributions to B2B Practice
    3. Involvement in ISBM Activities

 

If you feel you or someone you know would be an appropriate candidate for a Fellow, please connect with and work with any of the existing Fellows (https://isbm.org/isbm-fellows/) to prepare a nomination.

Nominations are due no later than January 31, 2026.  Please email nominations to Lori Nicolini (LNicolini@psu.edu).

Call for Nominations 2026 ISBM-David T. Wilson-Sheth Foundation Award for Long Term Impact in B2B Marketing

Nominations are due no later than January 31, 2026 for the ISBM-David T. Wilson-Sheth Foundation Award for Long Term Impact in B2B Marketing. This award is made to a paper published in a refereed journal that has made a significant long term impact on the theory and practice of B2B Marketing.

The award is named in honor of the late Penn State Professor David T. Wilson, a leading B2B scholar and founding Managing Director of the ISBM (Institute for the Study of Business Markets).

The winner will receive a cash award of $2500 along with a plaque of recognition and will be honored at a special session of the ISBM Academic Conference at Emory University, Goizueta Business School, June 24-25, 2026.

Eligibility

To be eligible, a paper should have been published between 2011 and 2020.

The paper should be primarily or exclusively on an issue or issues specific to B2B marketing, that is, the building of mutual value-generating relationships (including goods and services) between organizations (which include businesses, government agencies and not-for-profit organizations) and the many individuals within them. Thus manufacturer-retailer, pharmaceutical firm-doctor, firm-information intermediary, firm-government, and agribusiness-farmer relationships fall within the B2B domain as defined here.

Measures of Impact

The winning paper should have made significant impact, both in academia and in practice. As measures of impact, nominators should consider the following criteria, and possibly others.

  • citations
  • press coverage
  • magnitude of subsequent work that builds on the paper
  • applications in practice
  • applications in litigation
  • use in PhD reading lists and seminars
  • use in undergrad, MBA or Executive teaching

 

High impact papers normally have one or more of the following characteristics: (1) show the field something that it did not know before, (2) show a new way of thinking about a problem or issue and/or (3) open up a new field of inquiry.

Procedure

Nominations are invited from any individuals and self-nominations are permitted. The nominations should include a pdf of the nominated paper, as well as, a nominating letter, not to exceed 500 words, that addresses the impact criteria above.

Nominations should be emailed to Stefan Wuyts, ISBM Director (suw282@psu.edu) with a copy to Lori Nicolini, Program Manager (LNicolini@psu.edu). Stefan, will serve as chair of the award committee; other committee members are Andrew Petersen, Penn State and ISBM Associate Research Director and Doug Bowman, Emory University, and Sheth Foundation Board President.

The winner will be announced March 1, 2026.

2026 ISBM PhD Camp - Call for Student Nominations

Institute for the Study of Business Markets PhD Camp  June 23, 2026

Penn State’s Institute for the Study of Business Markets is sponsoring its 11th PhD Camp for Research in Business-to-Business Markets. In addition to the Camp, it is likely that an optional, additional pre-camp

The Camp is designed to educate students about research opportunities in the B-to-B realm, to introduce students to the network of B2B students and scholars, and to help cultivate relationships among those researchers. The Camp enables students to interact with prominent faculty and young, promising scholars, get acquainted with research topics and issues in business-to-business strategy, marketing, and management.

Camp counselors will offer insights on topics such as, but not limited to:

  • Making a compelling case for your research and its contributions
  • Developing and nurturing important academic relationships
  • Obtaining data creatively
  • Building a career while dealing with life’s unexpected twists

 

Camp participants will also get feedback on their own early-stage research ideas!

Campers are encouraged to attend the ISBM Academic Conference, which offers additional opportunities to network with B-to-B scholars and learn about research-in-progress, research methods, and other important topics. This year ISBM is holding a concurrent practitioner Conference, offering more networking & learning potential.

ISBM Academic Conference– June 24 & 25, 2026

ELIGIBILITY, SELECTION CRITERIA, & APPLICATION PROCESS

The Camp is open to all doctoral students, but it is particularly targeted to students in their first 3 years of study. The Camp is designed for students who are interested in pursuing research in B-to-B marketing or management. There are no geographic or field restrictions; students studying marketing, strategy, management, R&D management, information systems, business logistics/supply chain management and others will find the Camp attractive and beneficial.

Each university can submit up to 2 student nominees. E-mail nominations to Lisa Scheer (Scheer@missouri.edu) by January 30, 2026. Those accepted for the Camp will be notified by February 9. For each nomination, attach a single file (Word, pdf) bearing the applicant’s name as the file name that contains:

  1. Student’s Vita

 

  1. Faculty Recommendation Letter
    This is used to verify the motivation and ability of the student, as well as the student’s interest in the domain of B-to-B.

 

  1. Student’s Early-Stage Research Idea

 

The Camp features small-group Research Workshops in which students share ideas and get feedback from researchers. Students accepted for the Camp may be invited to share their proposed research idea during a Research Workshop.

Applicants must submit an early-stage B-to-B research idea. Students benefit most from submitting: (1) a new research project prior to initial data collection or (2) an ongoing project for which additional future data collection is planned. Applicants alternatively may submit (3) a research question/issue of interest for brainstorming. Although not essential, applicants may consider ISBM’s Research Priorities (https://isbm.org/research-priorities/), which opens opportunities for future funding or competition proposals.

Applicants should provide a summary of the proposed research idea consisting of (a) maximum 1000-word text description, (b) an illustrative diagram or figure, and (c) maximum 1 page of references.

Lisa Scheer
Camp Director
University of Graz, Austria
Email: scheerl@missouri.edu

Kersi Antia
Camp Co-Director
Western University
Email: kantia@ivey.ca

2026 ISBM Academic Conference Call for Papers & Special Sessions

Institute for the Study of Business Markets Academic Conference June 24-25, 2026

The Institute for the Study of Business Markets will be holding its 2026 biennial Academic Conference in Atlanta, GA on June 22 – 25, 2026. The venue will be Emory University, Goizueta Business School, Atlanta, GA. 

Given the positive feedback received from the 2024 conference, we have decided to once again hold the conference jointly with the ISBM corporate members. While we are still finalizing all the event logistics, we expect to host pre-conference and camp events on Mon, June 22, PhD Camp on Tue, June 23, and the Academic Conference & Corporate Members meeting on Wed & Thr, June 24 & 25, 2026.

The objective of the conference, as always, is to develop new ideas and new ways to address the pressing issues at the interface of the B2B academic communities; generate new research approaches and ideas; and to provide a forum for interaction amongst the world’s leading B2B researchers.

We are interested in papers and special sessions which focus on important and emerging topics related to B2B Marketing, and our most recent key priority domains (organized around, Marketing Analytics, AI, Digitized Exchange, Climate Change, Value Creation, and Growth), see the whitepaper for the 2025-2027 ISBM Research Priorities.  We also welcome submissions on other B2B marketing topics not explicitly covered here.

Finally, since the ISBM will be holding its Corporate Members Meeting jointly with us, there will be lots of opportunities to connect and engage with marketing executives from our ISBM Member firms. Special consideration will be given to sessions and papers which have significant connection to B2B practice.  

Conference details and registration are forthcoming, and will be added to our website when available https://isbm.org/academic_conferences/isbm-academic-conference/. We invite you to submit an abstract and/or special session for the conference before the due date of January 15, 2026. 

Special Session:  If you are considering putting together a special session on one of these topics (or another your feel is important), please include the following information:

  1. Special Session Name & Topic
  2. Name of Chair
  3. Presenters & Paper Titles (3-4) or Panelists (3-4)
  4. If there is more than one author on a paper, please indicate which author is planning to present.

 

General Submission Guidelines:

  1. Abstracts should be approximately 250-500 words double-spaced (about a ½ page typed).
  2. Correspondence will be directed to submitting author, unless directed otherwise.
  3. Corresponding author will receive notice of acceptance by February 15, 2026.
  4. If there are multiple authors, please indicate which author is presenting the paper in the submission. Note: Authors can be part of multiple submissions as co-authors, but can only be the presenter on one submission.
  5. After acceptance, your presentation will not be considered confirmed and will not be placed on the schedule until at least the presenting author has registered to attend the conference.

 

Please email your special session proposals and abstracts to Lori Nicolini, Conference Administrator (LNicolini@psu.edu) with a copy to Andrew Petersen, Conference Chair (jap57@psu.edu).

We hope you will be able to attend the conference.  If you have any questions, please email Lori Nicolini (LNicolini@psu.edu). 

J. Andrew Petersen
Academic Conference Chair
ISBM, Penn State
Email:  jap57@psu.edu

Stefan Wuyts
Academic Conference Co-Chair
ISBM, Penn State
Email:  suw282@psu.edu 

Sandy Jap
Academic Conference Co-Chair
Emory University
Email:  sjap@emory.edu

ISBM Support and Founders Fund

Many ongoing ISBM activities are possible thanks to the continued support of ISBM Corporate Members (isbm.com). Additional support comes from the recently formed ISBM Founders Fund. The goal of the fund, created by ISBM founders Gary Lilien, Irv Gross and Ralph Oliva, is to support the ISBM in its mission to provide B2B thought leadership globally. Follow these links to learn more or to make a contribution. Contributions directly support academic B2B Research.