B2B

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore marketing issues for foreign industrial companies of large, small and medium size entering emerging markets (EMs), particularly transition economies in Eastern Europe. The vast majority of current studies about emerging markets focus only on defining suitable strategies related to large consumer goods corporations.

Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a multiple case study approach. Five Italian companies belonging to different business-to-business industries that have entered emerging countries in Eastern Europe were selected for investigation.

Findings
Empirical analysis uncovered recurring issues related to: institutional factors causing market uncertainty and instability; difficulties in building a sales network; a need for product adaptation to guarantee satisfactory performance; choices related to communication, branding and trade fairs; and considerations about competition and first mover advantage. Results can be interpreted as an extension of the analysis of institutional voids by Khanna and Palepu (1997).

Research limitations/implications
The study is based on the analysis of five case studies of companies operating in specific emerging markets, namely in Eastern Europe Countries (EEc) Further research based on different samples and different emerging countries is needed before generalizing results.

Practical implications
The study shows that the main institutional void affecting business-to-business companies entering emerging markets (EEc) is the lack of locally developed sales and after-sales networks. This institutional void slows the entry process of business-to-business companies in EMs. Given these constraints, from the perspective of business-to-business SMEs, it may be fruitful to pursue niche positioning in EMs.

Originality/value
The study analyzes emerging markets opportunities and entry strategies from the business-to-business marketing perspective, uncovering the most critical issues.

Purpose
Previous research has shown that business-to-business (B2B) brand image has positive effects on customer loyalty. However, the results have been inconsistent because they have highlighted that B2B brand image has either direct or mediated effects on loyalty. Drawing on the framework of service transition, this study develops and tests a model that reconciles previous findings. This model suggests that goods-related and service-related B2B brand images coexist in customers’ perceptions and impact customer loyalty in different ways.

Design/methodology/approach
A model was developed and estimated using covariance-based structural equation modeling. The data used in the analysis were collected through a survey in the Italian healthcare industry, focusing on the relationship between hearing aid manufacturers and audiologists.

Findings
Both goods-related and service-related B2B brand images have positive effects on loyalty. However, while the effects of goods-related image on loyalty are fully mediated by satisfaction, service-related image has both direct and mediated effects on loyalty.

Research limitations/implications
This study reconciles previous work arguing that B2B brand image has either direct or mediated effects on loyalty by focusing on the transition from a goods-oriented logic for branding to service branding. In particular, the analysis focuses on the role of the brand in the co-creation process, suggesting that a service-related brand image reflects the value unfolding over time through co-created experiences. However, additional research needs to be conducted in other industries before the results can be generalized.

Practical implications
The findings provide managers with insights for the co-creation of their B2B brand images. In particular, the results urge managers to integrate the traditional goods-oriented approach to branding with service branding, showing that enriching B2B brand image with service-related aspects will have a direct and positive effect on loyalty. However, brand image cannot be created or changed unilaterally by the firm as it is determined by the customer based on co-creation experiences.

Originality/value
This is the first study to explicitly and separately consider the effects of goods-related and service-related aspects of B2B brand image on loyalty. It also one of the first studies to apply service logic to B2B branding issues.

Tesis presentada por Marcos Pueyrredon y aprobada con nota final 10 y dictamen del jurado de defensa de tesis de Sobresaliente para la Maestría en Administración de Negocios con Orientación en Dirección de Proyectos Digitales en convenio de Cooperación académica con University at Albany, State University of New York y con Georgetown University, Washington DC sobre la tematica: Incorporacion del Canal Online en una Empresa Brick & Mortar fabricante de productos de consumo masivo :: Modelo de Negocios Hibrido Mixto Integral B2C + B2B + B2B2C + B2B2B

Apprenticeship Business Administration - Unit 5 – Principles of Business:
Explain the characteristics of different business markets
Explain the nature of interactions between businesses within a market
Explain how an organisation's goals may be shaped by the market in which it operates
Describe the legal obligations of a business
Define business innovation
Explain the uses of models of business innovation
Identify sources of support and guidance for business innovation
Explain the process of product or service development
Explain the benefits, risks and implications associated with innovation
Explain the importance of financial viability for an organisation
Explain the consequences of poor financial management
Explain different financial terminology
Explain the uses of a budget
Explain how to manage a budget
Explain the principles of marketing
Explain a sales process
Explain the features and uses of market research
Explain the value of a brand to an organisation
Explain the relationship between sales and marketing

İletişim teknolojileri 1990’lardan bu yana yükselen bir ivmeyle gelişmekte ve Dijital Pazarlama da aynı hızla önem kazanmaktadır. Bu gelişme mesafeleri yok etmesi bakımından ihracat yapan işletmelere, maliyetleri düşürmesi bakımından da KOBİlere yeni fırsatlar sunmaktadır. Türkiye ekonomisinin öncelikli problemlerinden olan dış ticaret dengesinin negatif seyri ise bu fırsatların değerlendirilmesini daha da önemli kılmaktadır.

Bu bağlamda konusu belirlenen çalışmanın amacı, Türkiye’deki ihracatçı işletmelerin Dijital Pazarlama araçlarını kullanım seviyelerini ve işletme özellikleri itibarıyla bu seviyeler arasında anlamlı farklılıklar bulunup bulunmadığını tespit etmektir.

İhracat yapan işletmelerin kullanabilecekleri güncel Dijital Pazarlama araçları ilgili literatürden derlenerek çalışmanın kavramsal çerçevesi belirlenmiştir. Uygulama aşamasında yapılan istatistiki analizler sonucunda elde edilen bulgulara göre, araştırmaya katılan işletmelerin sadece %3,2’si Dijital Pazarlama araçlarını çok aktif olarak kullanırken, %5,9’unun ise hiç kullanmadıkları ortaya çıkmıştır. Ayrıca işletmelerin faaliyet alanları ve Dijital Pazarlamaya ayırdıkları bütçe oranı itibarıyla Dijital Pazarlama kullanım seviyeleri arasında anlamlı farklılıklar tespit edilmiştir. Bununla birlikte katılımcı işletmeler en fazla “yeni müşteri bulma” beklentisiyle Dijital Pazarlama araçlarını kullandıklarını ifade etmişlerdir.

"Over last few years the popularity of e-commerce has enormously increased due to its quick and easy way of exchanging goods and global services. India will be booming ground for e-commerce business models. The present study is conceptual and descriptive nature. It attempts to explain the concept of ecommerce, business models for e-commerce, merits and limitations of e-commerce. It concludes that e-commerce offers several benefits to the various stakeholders. However, at present time it has several limitations, legal and technical barriers in the development of e-commerce in India which could fade away in years to come. Hence we should equip ourselves to give worm welcome to e-commerce which is an obvious outcome of globalization and technological revolution around the globe. Ms. Ayushi Y. Vadwala | Ms. Maitri S. Vadwala""E-Commerce: Merits and Demerits A Review Paper"" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-1 | Issue-4 , June 2017, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd106.pdf
Article URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/engineering/computer-engineering/106/e-commerce-merits-and-demerits-a-review-paper/ms-ayushi-y-vadwala"

The Indian B2B marketplace in Information Technology sector is going through a transformation. Both existing and new players are experimenting with new purchasing solutions through the Internet as they lack a seamless flow of information among customers, suppliers, and their employees. The way business organisations purchase products is one of the most important concern for marketing managers of today. In fact, people involved in the purchase process form buying centre in purchase process; some say it as a complex and dynamic process that requires plenty of information and in reality, the Internet is a vast source of information which can influence purchase to a great extent. Recent developments in the Internet have forced business organisations to adapt their purchase process. In addition, the Internet also offers a blend of opportunities to companies due to its speed, variety, control, communication access, and strong distribution. Therefore, this research paper investigates the influence of the Internet on the B2B marketplace for IT organisations in India.

This chapter investigated factors that affect e-shopping acceptance among Nigerians. The extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) model was adopted with some adjustments. Since the study focused on investigating technology adoption in cognitive perceptions and service quality contexts, a review of relevant literature suggested incorporating three key constructs from the Service Quality (SERVQUAL) model, namely reliability, empathy and responsiveness into the conceptual model of this study. A pre-tested and validated 40-item questionnaire was administered to 380 university undergraduate students in Nigeria. The reliability coefficient of the items ranged between .755 and .876. The chapter concludes cognitive perceptions of the use of technology to purchase products or services online and service quality perceptions critically influence e-shopping acceptance among Nigerians.

Brand management always requires the definition of a strategy, in order to maintain and strengthen relationships with customers. Brand management makes it possible for companies to pursue a variety of goals, which is the aim of every company. This is irrespective of the fact that every organization can scale their intensity and priorities on the basis of their specific strategic guidelines, influenced by endogenous and exogenous variables to the company. Also in B2B, it is crucial to properly assess the opportunities, and the related commitments, linked to brand management. A particular business-to-business context occurs due to the progressively growing phenomenon of private labels. After their success in supermarkets, private labels have also gained a foothold in the wholesale trade. Therefore, for some manufacturing firms, a different channel is feasible and is represented by commercial companies that wish to submit their own brand products to end customers (supermarket chains) and professional operators (wholesale warehouses).

Objective: The objective of this paper is to evaluate how companies use the relationship capital when initiating the internationalisation process and how the development of a business network affects this process.

Research Design & Methods: The paper presents a comparative analysis of case studies of seven companies based in Poland and operating in foreign markets. This set of primary data and a comprehensive literature review served as a stimulus for the development of a typology of relationship capital mediating agents.

Findings: The cornerstone of the article is the assumption that in order to accelerate in-ternationalisation, entities trying to enter foreign markets have to " borrow " relationship capital from one or more of several mediating agents. The article identifies these agents and outlines the role of different types of relationships during the market entry phase.

Implications & Recommendations: The article proposes a typology of relationship capital mediating agents such as: foreign and domestic intermediaries, individual insiders, own international and corporate network, own network expansion, and corporate or personal referrals. It also outlines the limited role of social relationships in concluding a successful market entry, placing them as one of the possible, but not necessary, options.

Contribution & Value Added: The originality of this work lies in the application of the concept of the relationship assets/capital to the network approach in internationalisa-tion as proposed by the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) and the development of a typology of relationship capital mediating agents. Article type: conceptual paper

Purpose
The purpose of this research is to study organizational purchasing and relationship formation in interactions between customers and suppliers of capital equipment and the factors affecting the ability of reference marketing programs to deliver their expected purchasing benefits.

Design/methodology/approach
This work adopts an inductive research strategy and combines a critical realist approach with a qualitative research method consisting of in-depth interviews with purchasing managers from the energy industry.

Findings
By presenting a new theoretical model that aims to explain the referencing phenomenon, this study offers a deeper understanding of referencing and thus new perspectives on how and under what circumstances the customer–supplier relationship can be leveraged.

Research limitations/implications
Because of the qualitative nature of the research, no claim to statistical significance can be made. The model presented here helps the authors to understand the empirical phenomena as exhibited in the recorded interviews, but it does not allow for statistical generalization. The model allows for a certain degree of analytic inference but only within the study’s boundaries and limitations because the above findings are specific to the electric power industry.

Practical implications
A deeper understanding of this phenomenon allows suppliers to pursue strategies based on efficient reference marketing programs. The paper ends by presenting useful recommendations for reference marketing best practices and suggestions for improving the use of references in organizational purchasing.

Originality/value
The available literature on referencing does not clarify the factors that affect the ability of reference marketing to deliver its purchasing benefits. Thus, the facts and circumstances associated with the influence that reference marketing programs have on purchasing behavior have yet to be determined.

This paper investigates co-production in a B2B Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) service contract where the firm is tasked to deliver outcomes of MRO service rather than activities directly related to maintenance and repair. Our qualitative
findings show that the promise of outcomes has extended the boundary of the firm to include the customer system within its responsibility, resulting in the allowance of customer variety into the firm’s system as the consumption of the service is contextual
and varied. The ability to deliver the service in such an environment requires the firm’s operations process design to be extended beyond supply chain management for material/equipment transformation, but to include information and people transformation as well. Through a quantitative study and Partial Least Squares analysis, the paper shows that outcome-based contract performance is dependent on the co-production
alignments of behaviors and information but not material/equipment, with the alignments partially driven by the co-production inputs of complementary competencies and congruence of expectations.

"El uso de Internet como medio de comunicación está generalizándose en todos los ámbitos de la economía, la sociedad y la cultura de nuestra época. Este hecho no ha pasado desapercibido para las empresas españolas que, con mayor o menor éxito, están incorporando los medios que ofrece la Red en su actividad cotidiana. En el presente trabajo recopilamos los modelos de negocio que se han originado en los últimos años a partir del uso de la Web con el fin de realizar una clasificación de las iniciativas que las empresas productoras de aceite de oliva en España han adoptado en relación a su presencia en la Red global. Concluimos este trabajo con una serie de implicaciones estratégicas que se derivan de los resultados obtenidos en el análisis empírico."

Business to business branding has received an increasing interest in the last few years. Several issues related to industrial branding have been studied: e.g. antecedents and consequences of brand equity, ingredient branding strategies, and so on. Anyway it is still difficult to summarize available findings in a comprehensive model of business to business branding.
This article aims at giving some further contributions to this issue by filling some gaps in the existing literature. First of all it considers the role of brand reputation in a multiple supplier situation. Moreover the interaction between internal knowledge and brand reputation is tested. From a methodological point of view this paper is the first one to study industrial branding through logistic regression. In particular a cross-sectional research was conducted in the accounting and auditing industry. 171 questionnaires were returned and analyzed, highlighting new interesting insights about business-to-business branding.

Electronic data exchange along the supply chain has been discussed in the academic IS literature for many years and remains a practical problem for enterprises worldwide. In this paper we are presenting a Maturity Model for B2B Integration, the so-called BIMM. The model is a result of a longitudinal research project on B2B integration. The BIMM was developed to assess the capability level for electronic document exchange of players in a supply chain and addresses current challenges of exiting maturity models. The a-priori BIMM was developed from an extensive literature review and an explorative study of 112 company cases (current state of research presented in this paper). In the next step it is our intention to validate the model using real-world data from leading B2B integration providers.

Purpose
– This paper explores the process of mutual value creation in a component co-branding relationship between an unknown component supplier and a well-known Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). In particular, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of parties’ willingness to engage in mutual value creation, thus enriching Grönroos and Helle’s (2010, 2012) model of mutual value creation.

Design/methodology/approach
– An in-depth longitudinal analysis of a single case study in the cycling wear industry is presented based on data gathered from several sources, including long interviews with managers of a component supplier and an OEM, promotional materials, press releases and articles in cycling-related publications and on web portals, and online conversations among amateur cyclists.

Findings
– Four antecedents of the willingness to engage in mutual value creation are identified: mutual trust; the perceived easiness of alignment between the supplier’s and OEM’s processes and resources relevant to value creation; the expected creation of a substantial level of additional mutual value; and the expected value gains for each party.

Research limitations/implications
– The study analyses only one case in a single industry and adopts a dyadic perspective.

Practical implications
– This study suggests that – contrary to the traditional view – when specific antecedents for mutual value creation are present, the component co-branding strategy is available to many innovative small- and medium-sized firms without strong brands.

Originality/value
– Beyond enriching Grönroos and Helle’s (2010, 2012) model, this study explains why co-branding relationships can be established even in the absence of a strong component brand.

This paper discusses the inseparability characteristic in business to business (B2B) services. In the first proposition, we argue that four types of uncertainties arise due to the inseparability of purchase and consumption.
This brings about valuation risk at point of consumption that, in turn, has a crucial impact at the point of contracting and pricing. In the second proposition, we elaborate on the dynamics of co-creation of value by the customer and the firm and propose a benefit-based framework for a revised understanding of service capability and an end-to-end visualization of service that may be
applicable to solutions-oriented B2B service contracts.

The article considers the main changes taking place in the economy due to the development of information technologies. Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution, the digitalization of the economy, and digital management are exactly the new realities in management that are rapidly changing the social production and the life of society in general. Many researchers speak of an unprecedented rate of change. But in order to be able to take advantage of progress, one needs a flexible environment ready for constant updates. At that, the main components of such an environment should be innovative technological infrastructure and psychological readiness of contemporary society, business, and the state to master advanced technologies and use them in their activities. It is these factors that influence digitalization as a phenomenon that creates a new level of development of the economic and social sector, the effectiveness of public administration, corresponding to the concept of Smart State. The present study was carried out using the methods of system approach, as well as statistical and economic analysis. Over the past two decades, Industry 4.0, having impact on organizations, industries, and consumer markets, has created new models of interaction between market participants, i.e. the business environment.

1) Формирование у обучающихся твердых знаний в области специальных дисциплин, ориентированных на практическое применение;
2) Достижение лидерства в подготовке специалистов в области сервисного обслуживания для компании Samsung;
3) Реализация поставленных правительством РК стратегических задач развития системы образования;
4) Подготовка высококвалифицированных специалистов, имеющих конкурентоспособные преимущества для работы  не только в Республике Казахстан, но и за рубежом;

Businesses are increasingly engaging in interorganizational collaboration. At the same time, assessing the benefits and the success of an interorganizational system is still a challenge. Academia and businesses alike struggle with insufficient assessment methods and benefits measurement processes. Our research applies and extends a recently developed framework for the assessment of expected and realized benefits in IS implementation projects (expectations-benefits framework). The framework was developed using an established case study methodology (eXperience methodology) including more than 140 case studies of real-world IS projects. In this paper we selected a sample of 16 suitable cases for the study of inter-organizational information systems and found 190 realized and 59 unexpected benefits in the described implementation projects. The findings show several patterns in the benefits in relation to the existing integration scenarios and the benefits categories.

With the ongoing process of building business networks in today’s economy, business-to-business integration (B2B Integration) has become a strategic tool for utilizing and optimizing information exchange between business partners. Industry and academia have made remarkable progress in implementing and conceptualizing different kinds of electronic inter-company relationships in the last years. Nevertheless, academic findings generally focus exclusively on certain aspects of the research object, e.g. document standards, process integration or other descriptive criteria. Without a common framework these results stay unrelated and their mutual impact on each other remains largely unexplained. In this paper we explore motivational factors of B2B integration in practice. In a research project using a uniform taxonomy (eXperience methodology) we classified real-world B2B integration projects from a pool of over 400 case studies using a pre-developed framework for integration scenarios. The result of our partly exploratory research shows the influence of the role of a company in the supply chain and its motive to invest in a B2B solution.

Given the increasing competitive nature of global markets, consumers are able to choose from an ever-increasing quality of products and services with constant declining prices. Hence, better understanding of B2B value co-creation activities that governs suppliers' relationship with a direct impact on consumer is of great importance. The general purpose behind the study is that customers are willing to buy products only if consumers are in demand of the manufactured products, and therefore, the marketing efforts should target the ultimate consumer as opposed to the buyer. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of B2B value co-creation on consumers in South East Asia's manufacturing industry. The research questions of this study are as following; what is the impact of B2B value co-creation on consumer satisfaction? What is the effect of value co-creation behavior on repurchase Intention? What is the effect of value co-creation behavior on willingness to pay premium? Available literature that deals with B2B co-creation in SouthEast Asia is primarily concerned with examining the concept of value co-creation behavior and its impact within organizational settings, with little consideration given to B2B value co-creation from consumer standpoint. Hence, an approach that attempts to assess B2B value co-creation impact on the ultimate consumer provides a new insights and a greater understanding of B2B value co-creation relationship within this important geographical part of the Asian market. Findings show that B2B value co-creation activities have a positive impact on consumer satisfaction in SE-Asian manufacturing sector. Findings also reveal that B2B value co-creation activities have a positive effect on ultimate consumer repurchase intentions. This suggests that B2B activities involving value co-creation have a positive effect on ultimate product consumer repurchase intention.

Der Bedarf an überbetrieblicher Kooperation bei Unternehmen wächst zunehmend. Technologische und marktbedingte Entwicklungen drängen zur Kooperation mit Partnern, wobei sich die Integrationsreife vieler Organisationen immer noch auf einem niedrigen Niveau befindet. Nutzenpotenziale von überbetrieblicher Integration werden kaum von den beteiligten Partnern innerhalb eines Integrationsszenarios genutzt, da die zur Verfügung stehenden Technologien nur selten eingesetzt werden. Empirische Studien aus jüngerer Vergangenheit zeigen, dass trotz zahlreicher Erkenntnisse und Fortschritte aus der Forschung die gelebte Realität immer noch um Jahre hinterherhinkt. Dieser Unterschied zwischen wissenschaftlicher Forschung und wirtschaftlicher Realität lieferte die Motivation dazu, eine Literaturuntersuchung durchzuführen, die den gegenwärtigen Stand und Impulse für die zukünftige Entwicklung der B2B-Forschung aufzeigen sollte. Insgesamt wurden 15116 Artikel aus 40 wissenschaftlichen Journalen mit den Themenschwerpunkten Wirtschaftsinformatik, Informationsmanagement und Electronic Commerce aus den Jahren 2000 bis 2008 untersucht und analysiert. Das Ergebnis zeigt, dass die wichtigsten Fokusthemen für B2B-Integration Technologische Anpassung, Technologische Auswirkung und Design-orientierte Entwicklung von Artefakten sind.

A supply chain is a set of geographically dispersed facilities that store and transform products, and that are connected by a transportation network. The main task of supply chain management is to design the supply chain so that a given set of objectives is achieved, for example by deciding the location and capacity of new production plants, or the location of
warehouses. Since suppliers also play a key role in performance maximization, it is natural to integrate them in the supply chain as well [8]. For this reason, selection of potential suppliers has become a fundamental component of supply chain management; this is even more true in the globalized market of today. The problem of supplier selection can be easily understood as a multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem: businesses express their preferences with respect to suppliers, which can then be ranked and selected. Doing so, however, does not take into account the temporal evolution of supplier performances, neither can it be easily applied when considering more than one customer. To overcome these problems, we introduce a model for supplier selection that extends the classic MCDM model by introducing feedback, and consider its application in the context of multiple customers by means of linear programming.

Purpose of the paper: In Algeria, brokerage firms of soft commodities (Wheat, oils, milk powder, rice, coffee, etc…) are actually operating in a niche market within an environment of intense competition and highly demanding customers. Increasingly, relationship marketing strategies are becoming vital for such firms in order to secure a competitive advantage. As soft commodities are raw materials with few standardized specifications, the striking success of the brokerage function, in a great deal of situations, depends on the close relationship formed between the actors (Broker, seller and a buyer). As brokers, intermediaries and /or agents, act between a buyer and a supplier, they bring together suppliers and buyers. Thus, brokers ensure a good and smooth execution of the contract. i.e., finding the required goods and at an appropriate price for their clients. Therefore, this paper explores the relationship between brokers and their clients in the Algerian soft commodities market. Driven by this aim, this study also attempts to develop a "conceptual framework of relationship development" specific to soft commodities market. Design/methodology/ approach: Given the complex nature of the study, a phenomenological approach is used to explore lived experiences, i.e., an in-depth understanding and insight into the brokerage relationship. As one researcher is a broker himself with years of experience in the industry, a participant observation with clients is also adopted. Thus, an interview guide is designed for face-to-face interviews and a diary is used as a record for participants' observation. For the collected data (interviews) are recorded, transcribed and analysed using a thematical method. Findings: This study presents its preliminary results for discussion and examines further exploration of the phenomenon under investigation. This new and growing market has attracted international/global brokerage firms and suppliers. This market presents countless opportunities but, at the same time, exposes small local brokerage firms to real threats. A number of strategies used by soft commodities brokerage firms are highlighted and discussed such as criteria of selection, lack of loyalties, and preference to using foreign firms. In order to recruit new clients and keep existing ones, a set of strategies are written and a framework guide for soft commodities brokers is developed and recommended. Research limitations Implications: A number of limitations are worth noting. As the data is gathered in three languages (English, French and Arabic), researchers have to use their languages' skills to switch between them and focus on the subject in the interview guide without losing meanings in the clients' responses. Although, the study is to explore the relationship between broker and client, it would have given a better insight if the suppliers, who interact with clients, provide their views. This study is examined from a client relationship perspective. Consequently, the study focuses on a dyadic relationship between brokers and their clients without involving the suppliers of soft commodities. Originality/value of paper: As first of its nature in soft commodities in North Africa, this study is believed to a theoretical contribution to fill the gap in the body of the literature by providing a better understanding of B2B relationship development in soft commodities market. From practitioners' side, it helps to develop marketing strategies for the brokers. Paper Type: Empirical, work-in-progress.

The B2B marketplace is going through a major transformation. Both existing and new players are experimenting with new marketing solutions as they lack a seamless flow of information among customers, suppliers and their employees. One of the most important concern for marketing managers of today is the way business organisations purchase products. Customer satisfaction is the key to every organization’s success. One ultimately wants customers to be happy with products and services it provides. Therefore customer insight is vital to any business. Organizations constantly try to grab the opportunity of getting more and more quality customers as well as retain them in a long run with the help of their relationships. Business organisations have been forced to adapt their marketing and purchase process due to the recent developments in global environments. The B2B marketplace offers a blend of opportunities to the organizations due to its speed, variety, control, communication access and strong distribution. Therefore, the book investigates the B2B markets in Mineral sector in Indian Sub-continent.

The importance of business-to-business (B2B) branding has significantly increased in many industrial markets. Nonetheless knowledge about B2B branding strategies is still limited. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to present an overview of current scientific knowledge on this issue; second, to analyze the case study of Schneider Electric. This case study offers interesting insights about several branding decisions and strategies in B2B markets, such as: brand positioning decisions, brand portfolio management, (ingredient) co-branding initiatives. In addition, as Schneider Electric has been heavily investing on branding in the last 10 years, it is possible to appreciate the medium to long-term effects of some specific B2B branding strategies. Drawing on this analysis, the paper also suggests some implications and guidelines for firms interested in starting B2B branding strategies.

The latest B2B Marketing Outlook Report, published by Green Hat in conjunction with ADMA, provides valuable data insights into the current state of B2B marketing in Australia by examining areas such as content marketing, B2B social media, automation, revenue and much more.

If you're a B2B marketer - or are striving to become one - you are sure to find value in this research - the only one of its kind in Australia.

Paper relates to the core process of business relationships. Matching customer’s expectations is yet the marketing paradigm. However in reality it means ongoing decisions on the scope and level of matching because it relates to costs. The purpose of the paper is to identify the range of adaptive activities undertaken by suppliers in relationships with customers and to compare it with negative relationship outcomes – blocked resources and costs. Thus the paper links two constructs developed by IMP Group: adaptation and relationship outcomes. That led us to ask a question about the nature of activities-outcomes dependence. To find the answer we had to conduct the quantitative research among sales managers.
Our findings concern the complexity of adaptation process regarding financial, technical, administrative, logistic and knowledge-related issues. We show that in construction industry a size of a company and business profile do not affect the adaptation level. Configuration of adaptation affects the level of the negative relationship effects. Companies operate their
specific structure of those issues what allows us to discuss types of adaptation-outcomes settings.
The paper develops the idea of adaptation within the IMP framework and enriches it by binding the process with perception of negative relationship outcomes. As the level and scope of adaptation is the managerial issue the paper shows the configurations that are more and less effective.

The authors present a few thoughts on the EU Commission initiative to create unified rules on international trade applicable inside the EU. To begin, there is a summary of the legislative works
leading to the draft Regulation on the Common European Sales Law. This law represents the first foray of the European legislators into the unification of the law through creation of an autonomous “28th regime” standing next to 27 MS national legal regimes. The authors then ruminate over the functionality of such a solution, as well as over the content of the proposed Regulation itself. Among the areas discussed are the practical issues of the application of the Regulation as well as polemics, whether the new Regulation could stand the test of the present international law and if, at the end, it could satisfy its purpose of simplifying the intra EU sales law.