research priorities for b2b marketing researchers

INTRODUCTION

The discipline of business-to-business mar-keting has a long history (HADJIKHANI andLAPLACA, 2013) and for almost as longresearchers have sought to understand andexplain how business-to-business marketsoperate (HUNT, 2013; MÖLLER, 2013; SHETH, etal. 1988; CONNOR, 1991). However, for thegreater part of the twentieth century, the bulkof academic research in the field of marketinghas focused on consumer markets (LAPLACAand KATRICHIS, 2009) rather than businessmarkets. Beginning in 1971 with the introduc-tion of Industrial Marketing Management, thefirst journal dedicated to business-to-businessmarkets, academic researchers have had anincreasing number of publication outlets avail-

able to them. IMM was followed by the Jour-nal of Business Research (1973), Journal ofBusiness and Industrial Marketing (1985),Advances in Business Marketing and Purchas-ing (1986), Journal of Business-to-BusinessMarketing (1992) and the IMP Journal (2006).As these journals were launched, they gradual-ly grew in impact to the field of marketing. Atthe same time the number of marketingresearchers focusing on B2B markets wasundergoing significant growth. While the aca-demic field of marketing is dominated bythose researching consumer markets, this doesnot reflect the significance of B2B markets inthe United States economy or in economiesaround the world.The latest data on sales transactions in the

United States shows the following comparison:

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R E V I S T A E S P A Ñ O L A D E I N V E S T I G A C I O N D E M A R K E T I N G E S I C

Revista Española de Investigación de Marketing ESICSeptiembre 2013, Vol. 17, n.º 2 (135-150)

RESEARCH PRIORITIES FOR B2BMARKETING RESEARCHERS

Peter J. LaPlaca1

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, INDUSTRIAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT

2011 2010

Sales in Millions of USD Sales in Millions of USD

Sector Total E-Commerce Total E-Commerce

Business 11,967,721 4,274,436 10,672,209 3,777,578

Consumer 15,671,497 539,964 14,999,035 473,023

Total Sales 27,639,218 4,814,400 25,671,244 4,250,601

Percent of total sales Percent of total sales

Business 43.30% 88.78% 41.57% 88.87%

Consumer 56.70% 11.22% 58.43% 11.13%

1 Peter LaPlaca, Ph.D., has been Editor in Chief of Industrial Marketing Management since 1994. He was the founding editor of theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing (1985-93). He has taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, State University of New Yorkat Albany, The University of Connecticut (emeritus), and the University of Hartford.

Peter LaPlaca, Ph.D. Editor, Industrial Marketing Management. 24 Quarry Drive, Suite 201. Vernon, CT 06066-4917 USA. 860-875-8017. Mail to: [email protected]

According to the analyst at the US CensusBureau who supplied the data, several simplify-ing assumptions are made that under-reportactual B2B sales. Specifically, ALL services arecounted as B2C. For example, ALL electricaltransmissions are counted as B2C (while weknow that a significant portion goes to industri-al and commercial sectors). Likewise, ALLtransportation services and ALL data process-ing services are counted as B2C. Therefore, it ishighly likely that B2B sales exceed fifty percentof total US sales dollars and over ninety percentof all e-commerce sales. Businesses have longrecognized the power of internet-based e-com-merce as a value-added driver to achieve com-petitive advantage (WALTERS, 2008).Indeed the number of B2B researchers has

grown far faster than the publication outletshave grown, and it has become increasinglymore difficult for researchers to have papersaccepted at these journals. While there aremany reasons that submitted papers are reject-ed by journal reviewers and editors, by far themost common reason is lack of significant con-tribution to the development of the field. Lackof contribution can stem from several sources:

• Poorly designed research design• Poorly implemented research procedures• Weak or insufficient language (particular-ly when submitting research papers tojournals published in a language differentfrom the authors’ native language(s)

• Research focused on topics or areas thatare not of interest or not consistent withjournal objectives.

This paper focuses on the last of thesesources of limited contribution to the field.Of course it is quite understandable that

researchers want to conduct their research onsubjects that are near and dear to their hearts.Faculty who teach sales management tend toconduct their research in the area of selling andsales management; those teaching channels ofdistribution likewise focus their research in the

area of distribution. To help marketingresearchers undertake research projects that arelikely to be published, it would be useful toresearchers to know which areas of research areseen as most necessary. To determine theimportance of research topics, I undertook fourapproaches:

1. Review the research priorities issued bythe Marketing Science Institute

2. Review the research priorities issues bythe Institute for the Study of BusinessMarkets

3. Calls for papers for special issues of B2Bjournals

4. Survey of IMM reviewers

MARKETING SCIENCE INSTITUTE

The Marketing Science Institute (MSI) pub-lished its research priorities every two years.The last one was in 2012 and covers the period2012 – 2014 (MSI, 2012). While most of theresearch priorities discussed by MSI are con-cerned with marketing to consumers, somespecific research priorities do focus on indus-trial markets.MSI suggests that we need research that inte-

grates our knowledge of consumer experiencemarketing in the services and retail sectors andapply that to products in other industries. Forexample, can ordering experiences for industri-al goods and services be improved by applyinglessons from ordering experiences at consumercompanies such as LL Bean, American Girl,Diesel, Panera Bread, Starbucks, Sub Zero orViking Range.Another MSI research priority is for a better

understanding how mobile marketing plat-forms impact market operations. As stated byMSI (2012): “The first is a call for business-to-business applications. We are interested instudies of their use in firm-client relationships,and in sales force management, both for com-munication and for transaction. Will mobile

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platforms make value chains more efficient,and will elements within the value chain be dis-intermediated?”The explosive growth of data needs better

scrutiny. The growth of e-commerce and itsability to collect huge amounts of data hasimplications for how managers can make betterdecisions. MSI is looking for research propos-als that will help understand how managers canbetter utilize big data. Given that the great bulkof e-commerce is B2B, it seems that B2Bresearchers can successfully explore thisresearch area.Marketing organizations are continuously

pressured to adapt to changing customer land-scapes. Customers have access to more andmore information on an almost instantaneousbasis. How can B2B marketing organizationschange to better serve new and improved busi-ness customers? How do new forms of market-ing organization impact the company’s marketstrength and financial performance?

ISBM RESEARCH PRIORITIES

The Institute for the Study of Business Mar-kets (at Pennsylvania State University) is theleading B2B research center that is guided bythe needs of its business members. In a recent-ly published article, Fred WIERSEMA (2013),chairman of ISBM’s B2B Leadership Board,reports on the current state of B2B marketingbased on a survey of 72 B2B executives and 30leading B2B researchers. This study was key toISBM’s development of its priorities for fund-ing B2B research. The broad categories are:

• Product Policy• Marketing Strategies and Operations• Buying Strategies and Operations• Customer Value• Business Relationships• Market Channels• Exchange Design and Analysis• Market Communications

• Business Marketing Information Systemsand Electronic Markets

• Business Market Research• Marketing Engineering

These broad categories contain dozens ofspecific research topics that would provide use-ful knowledge to further advance the field ofB2B marketing. As such, well designed andimplemented research focused on these topicswould be welcomes by leading B2B journals.The link to the ISBM research priorities website is provided in the references.

CALLS FOR PAPERS

When journal editors issue a call for papersfor a specific topic, it is a directive forresearchers to focus their research on specificareas of high interest. Calls for papers can usu-ally be found on individual journal web sites oron the postings section of the ELMAR (ELec-tronic MARketing) site (http://ama-acade-mics.communityzero.com/elmar then click onPostings and Calls: Issues). The calls for paperscontain detailed information about the types ofpapers sought for the special issue along withsuggested topics, submission procedures anddeadlines. CFPs may be issued as much as ayear prior to submission deadline so there isample opportunity to design and implement asound research project.Below I have listed specific calls for papers

for industrial marketing journals whose sub-mission deadlines have not yet occurred:

Journal of Business and IndustrialMarketing

• Contemporary Purchasing Practices• B2B Research and Relevance• Digital Communications in IndustrialMarketing

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Industrial Marketing Management

• Corporate Industrial Brands in, from, andto Emerging Markets

• Innovation and Emerging Economies• Co-Management of Purchasing and Mar-keting

• Power in Business, Customer, and MarketRelationships

• Accounting and Marketing Perspectives ofValue Creation in Inter-firm Collaborationin Industrial Markets

• From Strategy Frameworks to Value-in-use: Implementing Strategies and Theo-ries of B2B Marketing and Sales Manage-ment

Journal of Selling and Major AccountManagement

• Value Creation and the Sales Force

Journal of Personal Selling and SalesManagement

• Ethics in sales and sales management

SURVEY OF IMM REVIEWERS

Because of the broad, global set of 402 IMMreviewers, it was appropriate to survey theseexperienced B2B researchers1. One half of thereviewers (every other reviewer in an alphabet-ical list) was sent an e-mail asking that theyname the 3-5 top needs for B2B research. With-in three weeks 107 reviewers had responded.The research needs identified by these respon-dents could be classified into the following cat-egories:

• Selling and sales management• Global marketing• Branding• B2B use of social media• Innovation• Sustainability• Business networks• B2B services• Marketing organizations• Distribution and channel management• B2B marketing theory

These will be discussed below. It will beapparent that there is significant overlap inmany of these topics and the specific researchfocus could be investigated by teams ofresearchers, each with a slightly differentresearch background, to bring a multifacetedapproach to the study. Research studies thatfocus on more than one of these broad researchcategories will have a better fit across journalsand therefore have a greater likelihood ofacceptance.

Selling and Sales Management

Since so many IMM reviewers conductresearch into sales activities, it is not surprisingthat more specific research topics were identi-fied in sales management and selling. Whilewe have been researching industrial sales formany decades, it is clear that changing timesand changing environments have necessitatedcontinuing research efforts to maintain ourunderstanding of traditional selling activitiesand to gain a better understanding of new situ-ations that industrial sales people must faceevery day (see for example: TERHO, et al 2012;SINGH and KOSHY 2011; AVLONITIS andPANAGOPOULOS 2010; DAVIES et al 2010; GUE-SALAGA and JOHNSTON 2010; MADHAVARAM andMCDONALD 2010; and KAUPPILA et al 2010).

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1 It is a requirement to become an IMM reviewer that one has published in a leading B2B or general marketing journal.

Over fifty IMM reviewers gave suggestions forpriority research needs in selling and salesmanagement including these specific topicsbelow:

1. Sales department interaction with mar-keting, operations, finance/accounting,R&D/innovation

2. Role of senior sales executives at theBoard level (If we have CMOs why notCSOs?)

3. Update the seven step selling process4. Sales use of social media, especially B2B5. Behavioral issues on the use of sales

technologies (PDAs, tablets, smartphones, etc.)

6. Interface between pricing and selling7. The role of the sales force in value cre-

ation8. Consultative/solutions selling9. Effectiveness of alternative sales force

structures10. How sellers and buyers perceive/utilize

sales presentation tools (e.g. Power-Point, videos, sales brochures, etc.)

11. Salesperson health and wellness12. Realizing when transactional selling is

more appropriate than relationship selling13. The sales force and channel conflict14. The selling role of facilitators within

channels of distribution15. Preferred metrics for sales force evalua-

tion within a channel system16. Heavily incentivized vs. low incen-

tivized sales compensation systems17. Linking sales compensation to strategic

objectives rather than sales volume18. The use of technology to manage and

evaluate sales efforts within a channel.19. How economic crises and recessions

influence and alter sales managementpractices

20. Transitioning to a key account (globalaccount) perspective across the salesforce

21. Sales ethics and national cultures22. Sales training models across cultures23. How sales personnel impact B2B brand-

ing using social media

Global Marketing

The second most mentioned area for B2Bresearch is in global markets. While the global-ization of consumer markets garners consider-able press in business periodicals, businessmarkets have been considered as global mar-kets for several decades. But while our experi-ence in global marketing is long, there aremany gaps in our knowledge (especially pre-dictive knowledge) of how and why somestrategies work and others fail. Global B2Bmarketing research has focused on strategy(ELG et al 2012; LISBOA et al 2011), influenceof the global supply and distribution chains(GIANNAKIS et al 2012; SKARMEAS et al 2008),and global e-commerce (SAMIEE 2008) amongother topics. The IMM reviewers indicatednumerous specific research topics that are ofkeen interest.

• Emerging Markets•• In the relationship paradigm, the stabil-ity/changeability of relationships in thedeveloping countries or developingindustries requires further study.

•• B2B studies of emerging markets suchas BRICS, Latin America, etc.

•• Industrial distribution channels in Indiaand China

•• Greater cultural understanding in busi-ness markets to leverage performanceparticularly in emerging economies

•• Building B2B networks in emergingcountries

•• Innovation with B2B partners inemerging economies vs. developedeconomies

•• The role of business to business in Bot-tom of the Pyramid Markets

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• Culture•• The role and importance of foreign lan-guage competence in establishing andmaintaining cross-cultural B2B rela-tionships

•• Trust and commitment in B2B businessrelationships including cultural differ-ences

•• The effect of cultural context of partiesconcerned, on B2B relationships: theestablishment and maintenance of busi-ness networks “high context” as com-pared with “low” context cultures.What happens when both sides are h/c,or both are l/c, or when there is a mix-ture?

• Ethical relationships among businessesespecially international transactions.

• International trade/transactions amongU.S. and European, Chinese, or LatinAmerica partners.

• International joint ventures and globalsupply chains

• International Brand Management by B2BSuppliers & Export Performance

• Sales management in a global context• Globalized marketing and production,regulatory compliance, and B2B relation-ships

• Global marketing of B2B services• Cross-national differences in B2B rela-tionship management (e.g., how to curbopportunism, how to use favors/sweet-heart deals)

• Business Performance Metrics acrossglobal markets and cultures

Emerging markets are clearly a priority areafor investigations. Generally greater rates ofmarket growth than developed markets, lack ofentrenched market leaders, limited experiencein these markets, divergent cultures and greaterrisk all require study to help marketers effec-tively enter these markets and achieve desiredsuccess.

Branding

In the past five years Industrial MarketingManagement has published 42 research articleson B2B branding (including a special issue in2011). Research has focused on the value ofbrands in B2B markets (LEEK and CHRISTO-DOULIDES 2012; BROWN et al 2012; HERBST etal 2012), how to build B2B brands (BACKHAUSet al 2011; VALLASTER and LINDGREEN 2011;HERBST and MERZ 2011) and the role of busi-ness brands in the purchase decision (VELOUT-SOU and TAYLOR 2012). LEEK and CHRISTO-DOULIDES (2011) provide an excellent overviewof B2B brand research needs. Specific researchtopics mentioned by IMM reviewers include:

• The effects of branding, personal sellingand advertising on B2B marketing

• The impact of culture on global B2Bbrands

• The interaction of sales-efforts and brand-ing expenditure of an organization (doesbranding lead to reduced sales efforts?)

• Differential impact of B2B brandingacross industries

• International Brand Management by B2BSuppliers & Export Performance

• Differences between product and servicebranding in business markets

B2B use of social media

Social media research has been mainly con-cerned with consumer markets (see TRAINORet al 2013 and KIETZMANN et al 2011), butthere is a growing interest in the use of socialmedia in business markets. (See for exampleMICHAELIDOU et al 2011). Some of the specif-ic topics for future research suggested by thereviewers are:

• Social media in B2B contexts - includingcrowdsourcing and open innovation con-tests

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• Social media and e marketing in terms oftheir effect on business markets

• Integrating and budgeting social media inB2B communications

• Use and misuse of social media in person-al selling

• Social media as a tool for prospecting • Social media - particularly related tosocial media monitoring - dashboards -and C-Suite use of that real time informa-tion

• Using social media effectively in B2Bmarketing strategies

• Return of investment for businesses usingsocial media

• Digital marketing and social media (e.g.professional networks and business socialmedia) as a foreseeable evolution of socialnetworks

• How information technology, currentlysocial and mobile media, are changingB2B marketing practices (selling, buying,relationships etc.)

Research into B2B social media should notonly look at the mechanisms of how this con-sumer marketing tool can be applied to busi-ness markets, but also at the top and bottomline impacts of the media for business mar-keters.

Innovation

Innovation is the life blood for continuedsuccess in both business and consumer mar-kets. While numerous business, engineeringand science journals serve as outlets forresearch into innovation theory and practice,the Journal of Product Innovation Managementand Industrial Marketing Management areprime targets for researchers looking into inno-vation in business markets. JPIM is the clearleader in having published almost 1000 articlessince 2000; over the same period IMM has pub-lished 100 articles on innovation. JPIM pub-

lishes articles on all aspects of product and ser-vice innovation across all market sectors whileIMM focuses on innovation in B2B markets.While IMM reviewers suggested numerousspecific topics for B2B innovation research,most focused on partnering with customers andsuppliers for innovation (See: CORSARO et al2012; MUNKSGAARD et al 2012; THOMAS 2013;SPRING and ARAUJO 2013; ELLIS et al 2012;SISODIYA et al 2013), how to successfully com-mercialize innovative products and services(SIMMONS et al 2013 and BOEHM and HOGAN

2013), global innovation (see CHANG et al2012); green innovation (see SHARMA and Iyer2012) and effective strategies for disruptive andradical innovations (see OBAL 2013). CORBETT

et al (2013) have an excellent analysis of cur-rent innovation research as well as an agenda offuture research needs.

Business networks

Business networks can range from supplychains, to buying cooperatives or distributionnetworks; they are a common fact of life inB2B markets. Since the 1980s the IMP Grouphas championed research focused on networksand many of the IMM reviewers reinforced thisperspective.

Network research in B2B markets is veryvaried. Some examples of current research areservice networks (LAI and CHEN 2013;KOHTAMÄKI et al 2013), network development(MCGRATH and O’TOOLE 2013; SEPULVEDAand GABRIELSSON 2013), innovation in net-works (MATTHYSSENS et al 2013; VON RAES-FELD et al 2012) and network dynamics(GUERCINI and RUNFOLA 2012; LOWE et al2012). Among the many specific research top-ics mentioned by the reviewers, these were themost prevalent:

• Ethics in business relationships and net-works

• Negotiations within and between networks

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• “Networking” and business networks (asopposed to rigorous social network analysis)

• Research focused on conflict and conflictresolution processes within a context of arelational mindset. The extant conflict lit-erature is largely nested in the power-con-flict paradigm of the 1970s and needs tobe recast within the contemporary B2Bcontext of more domesticated, strategicalliance and networked minded industrialreality.

• Identification and measurement of net-work synergies

• Ethical issues of exchange in business net-works

• Building B2B networks in emerging coun-tries

• How we can integrate the concept of meta-organizations (organizations of organiza-tions) in BtB marketing

• What are the antecedents of formation ofsuccessful (versus unsuccessful) horizon-tal and vertical networks? Requires pairedcomparisons.

• How does network structure (broadlydefined in terms of centrality, between-ness, etc., and also the relationship qualitywithin the network) differ across horizon-tal and vertical networks? Does purposematter (e.g., for entering new markets, fordeveloping radical new products, fordeveloping services, for supply, for com-mercialization, etc.)?

• In terms of networks, some have held theview that networks are unique, and thatyou cannot talk of ‘different kinds’ of net-works; however, there is an evolving per-spective that we can categorize networksin some meaningful way. Social NetworkAnalysis may become an insightful tool tohelp understand different network types.

• The impact of digital technology on net-work development and efficiency.

• Network relationships according to across-cultural perspective (considering inparticular emerging markets)

• Imbalance in networks; how do small andmedium enterprises can do business withvery large companies (i.e. Wal-Mart)without taking too much risks and beingsatisfied (is it possible?)

Research on global networks presents anopportunity to develop global networks ofresearchers to collect and analyze data and casestudies. This looks to be essential for long-termstudies of network development and evolution.

Sustainability

Sustainability, green marketing or environ-mental marketing has increased significantly,albeit at different rates, around the world. ManyIMM reviewers expressed interest in more B2Bresearch in these areas. Some specific researchtopics include: innovation and sustainability(MARIADOSS et al 2011), logistics and sustain-ability (LEE and LAM 2012) and the impact ofthe supply chain on environmental effective-ness (CHAN et al 2012).

B2B services

The service sector continues to grow, bothfor consumer and business markets, butresearch into B2B services has not kept pacewith our knowledge of consumer services.Examples of recent B2B services researchfocus on services in networks (KOHTAMÄKI et al2013; PALO and TÄHTINEN 2013), project-basedservices (OJANSIVU et al 2013), service innova-tion (O’CASS and SOK 2013) and knowledge-intensive business services (ZAEFARIAN et al2013). The IMM reviewers surveyed suggested sev-

eral interesting research needs in this area:

• Understanding service infusion in prod-uct-based companies beyond the showcas-es such as IBM, Rolls Royce, Xerox etc.

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• Customer Service Representative issues inrelation to B2B markets

• Selling B2B services and mixed offerings • Branding of business services• Product differentiation through serviceinnovation

• The value of service support in businessmarketing

• Should service follow product or vice ver-sa?

• How can global business services be bet-ter managed?

• What are the best practices in B2B ser-vices?

Marketing organizations

Marketing functions in B2B firms areextremely varied and of widely divergent effec-tiveness and efficiency. Faced with dynamicmarket conditions, marketing organizations areconstantly evolving and adapting to market-place realities. Of course we are always inter-ested in how organizations develop marketingstrategies (NEILL et al 2007). IMM reviewerssuggested the following research topics:

• How are marketing decisions actuallymade in B2B organizations?

• How can interaction between marketingand R&D be made more effective?

• What is the role of marketing or sales intop management?

• Sales and marketing alignment in B2Bfirms

• How can improved integration betweensales and purchasing improve the firm’smarketing effectiveness?

Distribution and channel management

The great majority of B2B firms reach theircustomers through various channels of distrib-ution; these channels are constantly evolving

(OLSON et al 2013). Independent channel mem-ber performance is impacted by trust amongchannel members (NEVINS and MONEY 2008;ROSE et al 2007). IMM reviewers indicatednumerous research topics in the area of distrib-ution and channel management:

• Coordination of distribution channelsacross cultures

• Developing distribution channels inemerging markets (especially China andIndia)

• Distributors as service implementers• Channel management and marketinginteraction

• Collaboration in joint marketing and dis-tribution - e.g., when a product is adver-tised and delivered by two or more parties.

• Ethics in channel management• Conflict resolution among channel mem-bers

• How should B2B marketing managersdeal with downstream customers? Thefact that demand for their products isderived from the demand for their cus-tomers’ products is probably the most dis-tinctive characteristic of B2B marketing,but surprisingly little academic attentionis given to that in B2B marketing litera-ture.

• Selection of channel partners: How andwhat criteria are and should be used toselect channel partners in B2B markets.Virtually no recent research on this veryimportant issue.

• Motivation of channel partners: How domanufacturers motivate distributors to doa better job of selling their products andprovide better service to customers. Thisis an old and pervasive issue but still high-ly relevant today. Surprisingly very littleresearch on this topic.

• Evaluation of channel member perfor-mance: How is channel member perfor-mance evaluated? How should it be evalu-ated? What metrics should be used etc.?

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• Trust between channel members in theirsocial networks

• Multiple channels, the internet and B2Bchannel management

• How do small distributors interact withlarge customers and vice versa?

B2B marketing theory

The foundation of all research is solid theo-ry. B2B marketing theory may have had itsbeginning in HOWARD and SHETH (1969), butdespite twenty-five years of research, we arestill a long way from fully understanding howbusiness markets function. Hunt’s article(2013) compares several theoretical founda-tions to B2B marketing theory, but as our IMMreviewers indicated, there is ample room foradditional research.

• Macro level frameworks - including insti-tutional theory, resource dependence, net-work analysis and political theory - andhow they apply to contemporary formula-tion of business marketing strategy.

• Theoretical reflection of B2B marketing:sorting the underlying theories and dis-cussion of future developments.

• B2B for SMEs: much of theory relates toB2B between large corporations but thereis a counter trend towards fragmentationof organizations and growth of SMEs forwhich existing theory is not appropriate

• How practitioners can implement B2Bmarketing theory, since without demon-strable value why should companies giveus access?

• Micro-foundations of B2B marketing.Companies and markets do not innovate,implement market strategies, etc. – indi-viduals do. Nevertheless, in our researchwe frequently attach labels to companies(“more innovative”) as if companies wereable to act on their own. If thus seems afruitful research avenue to examine the

micro-foundations of industrial marketingstrategy, i.e. the antecedents to individualactor propensity to innovate, to conceiveof and implement radical innovation, etc.Also, an extension to the meso-area(examining how teams of individuals)craft and implement B2B marketingstrategies seems warranted.

• Behavioral aspects of B2B marketing.LEVINTHAL (2011) asks the question “Abehavioral approach to strategy – what’sthe alternative?” Recent developments infinance, organization theory and market-ing have moved behavioral aspects ofdecision making solidly within main-stream research. The majority of researchin this area has been conducted in con-sumer markets – in many instances withstudent samples – leaving implications forindustrial marketing largely unexplored.Understanding phenomena such as biasesin decision making, cognitive fallacies,preference construction, encoding/stor-ing/decoding of information by actors inindustrial markets is largely an underex-plored, but interesting, research field.

• Institutional theory in business marketing

Other topics

The research topics discussed above repre-sent about two-thirds of the specific topicsmentioned by the IMM reviewers. OBAL andLANCIONI (2013) present needed research inbuyer-seller relationships; research papersalong the lines they discus would also be wel-come. Some of the topics which I, as editor,would find quite interesting are listed here:

• We probably know a lot about the creationof new markets by consumer good compa-nies, e.g. Starbucks, Apple, etc. The samecannot be said about industrial companies,probably because the general public (andor reviewers/researchers) are less interest-

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ed in the process of new market creationby electronic component suppliers, spe-cialty chemical companies or industrialservice providers. Nevertheless, marketcreation is a pervasive phenomenon alsoin industrial companies: Monsanto (nearlysingle-handedly) created the market forgenetically modified seeds, Bayer createdthe market for a new type of treatment inagrochemicals, etc. Understanding theantecedents of new market creation inB2B is of interest.

• Companies and markets do not innovate,implement market strategies, etc. – indi-viduals do. Nevertheless, in our researchwe frequently attach labels to companies(“more innovative”) as if companies wereable to act on their own. If thus seems afruitful research avenue to examine themicro-foundations of industrial marketingstrategy, i.e. the antecedents to individualactor propensity to innovate, to conceiveof and implement radical innovation, etc.Also, an extension to the meso-area(examining how teams of individuals)craft and implement B2B marketingstrategies seems warranted.

• We do not know enough about how theDMU makes decisions – this goes back toSheth’s original 1973 observation that alljoint decisions are political ones. But justhow does this work – this takes us into therealm of group decision making.

• Multidisciplinary perspectives on firmperformance. While B2B has studied eco-nomic and behavioral factors in manager-ial decisions and firm operations, we needmore studies that link B2B activities tofirm performance measures, especiallyfinancial performance

• Systems/solutions selling, deployment,and post-deployment. Much research onservitization/service infusion in manufac-turing has emerged the last 10 years but akey challenge for most of these firms is tosuccessfully integrate goods and services

and provide systems for their businesscustomers. The concept goes back toLARS-GUNNAR MATTSSON (1973) andHANNAFORD (1976) but with the IT revo-lution and the explosion of new serviceopportunities (remote control, cloud ser-vices, etc.) and the demand for new out-come-based revenue models these issuesbecome critical once again, albeit differentthan in the 1970s.

• Research related to platforms whetherthey are product, technology, digital orproduct-service platforms is on the rise.This is because of success of such b-to-cservices like amazon.com and AppleiTunes, not to mention mobile ecosystems.Platform business models are becomingmore relevant in B-to-B context becausefirms will have to make choices whetherthey are complementors, owners/orches-trator, or end users in which platforms.Locking-in a certain platform createsresource dependencies and new possibili-ties to study inter-firm networks born inplatforms.

Research Methods

In order to be accepted for publication, anyresearch paper must utilize acceptable researchmethodologies. The IMM reviewers indicatedseveral methodological topics which could bepublished in leading B2B journals. See PETERSet al (2013) for an excellent discussion of alter-native research methodologies. Some of thespecific methodological topics that IMMreviewers would like to see include:

• Longitudinal studies in real-life behaviorin B2B contexts

• Real-life decision processes (not 5-pointand 7-point scales)

• More emphasis on publishing qualitativestudies in B2B marketing. In quantitativestudies, more emphasis should be given on

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longitudinal studies especially in studiesrelated to buyer-seller relationships, andbuying and selling cycles, and purchasedecisions

• Longitudinal studies tracking how B2Bmarketing has evolved within companiesand the implications for company perfor-mance

• More of an effort to generate objectivedata and improved use of hard-to-obtainsecondary data

• Multilevel research designs; the unintend-ed consequences of b2b studied phenome-na

• Better handle on the temporal effects ofour models with longitudinal researchdesigns

• Multi-method research. Many studies areeither based on case studies or surveys butthere are many benefits of being able tocombine qualitative and quantitativemethods in innovative ways

Conclusion

The field of B2B marketing is rapidly grow-ing as a research focus and academic researchershave ample opportunity to conduct research witha high likelihood of publication if they focus onresearch topics of importance and interest andthey follow accepted research methodologies.This paper has presented numerous researchtopics that practitioners, editors, reviewers andother researchers have identified and being ofhigh interest and importance.

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research priorities for b2b marketing researchers

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