B2B Environment Research Articles

Community-Led Growth als Markteintrittsstrategie für Software-Startups im B2B-Umfeld

ZusammenfassungCommunity-gesteuerte Marketing- und Vertriebsaktivitäten nehmen seit dem Pandemiejahr stetig zu und etablieren sich in den USA bereits als vielversprechende Markteintrittsstrategie für Software-Startups. Innerhalb der Entrepreneurial Marketing Forschung ist der Ansatz bislang wenig diskutiert, birgt aber großes Potenzial wertschöpfende Interaktionen mit Nutzern und Kunden zu generieren, indem frühzeitig eine Community aufgebaut wird. Mit dem Community-Led Growth Ansatz können insbesondere Herausforderungen von Software-Startups im B2B-Umfeld adressiert werden. Da die Kundenakquise hier besonders langwierig und komplex ist, kann mithilfe einer Community eine kundenzentrierte Produktentwicklung mit vielen direkten Berührungspunkten fokussiert werden. Somit können Markteintrittsbarrieren reduziert, Expertise und Kredibilität aufgebaut und erste Kontakte zu potenziellen Kunden oder späteren Vertriebskanälen und Multiplikatoren geknüpft werden. Dieser Artikel liefert einen konzeptionellen Beitrag zu Community-Led Growth und reflektiert, wie die Dynamik von Communities entlang der Customer Journey Wert für Unternehmen wie z. B. geringere Servicekosten oder eine stärkere Produktaffinität und daraus resultierend eine stärkere Kundenzufriedenheit und -bindung schaffen kann. Basierend auf dem Orbit Model und dem Community Grid wird zunächst aufgezeigt, wie Community-Mitglieder segmentiert werden können und wer zum initialen Kern einer Community gehört. Ein Vergleich von drei Modellen zum Aufbau von Communities (Community Canvas, Community-Led Growth Model und Community Experience) zeigt auf, welche internen und externen Voraussetzungen für den Aufbau einer Community notwendig sind. Abschließend werden auf Basis einer Minimum Viable Community Canvas Handlungsempfehlungen für Software-Startups abgeleitet und ein erweitertes Framework mit iterativen und zielorientierten Komponenten skizziert.

Factors affecting customer satisfaction in the customer journey in B2B and B2C e-commerce environment

Factors affecting customer satisfaction in the customer journey in B2B and B2C e-commerce environment

Factors affecting customer satisfaction in the customer journey in B2B and B2C e-commerce environment

Factors affecting customer satisfaction in the customer journey in B2B and B2C e-commerce environment

The effects of tour operator’s service quality on travel agents’s customer value, satisfaction and loyalty in Vietnam

Service quality is the most important factor of tour operators determining the relationship between travel agents and tour operators. The authors surveyed 288 travel agents in Vietnam and used Smart-PLS software to test the research hypotheses: Tour operator's service quality positively impacts travel agent’s customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty; Tour operator's service quality impacts travel agent’s loyalty through customer value, satisfaction; Customer value impacts travel agent’s loyalty through satisfaction. The result confirmed these relationships in the travel industry B2B environment, satisfaction includes process satisfaction and outcome satisfaction, loyalty includes behavioral loyalty and attitudinal loyalty. Research results help tour operators in Vietnam achieve business efficiency through travel agents to increase satisfaction and maintain travel agents's loyalty to tour operators, including: (1) providing stable service quality; (2) providing service quality as commitment; (3) providing service as the end consumer’s expectation; (4) always improve service quality; (5) provide competitive products.

Language in intercultural business interactions: A self-perceived power perspective

Intercultural business interaction has received limited scholarly attention in business-to-business (B2B) marketing research, with language and culture particularly being largely neglected topics despite the literature noting their importance in B2B marketing. This study addresses this omission by focusing on how managers make sense of the role of language in intercultural business interactions. We also explore the role of language as a potential source of individual power in international business (IB) relationships. The empirical enquiry focuses on an extreme case of Russians' intercultural business interactions with Finns or in Finland before the war in Ukraine. The findings show that context and language, as well as translation power dynamics are intertwined, generating an additional level of power dynamics that emerge from the business per se. Language particularly influences self-perceived power in business relationships and can lead to dependence or frustration due to linguistic limitations. The study contributes to research on B2B marketing and IB by highlighting that individual-level exposure to intercultural business interactions entails significant linguistic challenges that cannot be solved only by using English. Specifically, it contributes to addressing the issue of language in use, which has rarely been examined in the literature on intercultural interaction in the B2B environment.

B2B Adoption of Mobile Payment Systems: Manager Insights Using a Qualitative Approach

Mobile payments have become one of the most disruptive financial instruments in the B2C (Business-to-Consumer) market this decade by revolutionizing the consumer shopping experience. Despite the technology’s success in the B2C model, it has not brought a similar adoption experience for B2B (Business-to-Business) applications. Research in this area has been limited to identifying the resistance to adoption in the B2B environment. This exploratory research identified that while barriers exist, there are opportunities to increase the adoption of mobile payment technologies within B2B organizations. There is a large amount of misinformation about the processes associated with adoption that need further investigation. The application of the technology could flow naturally into the B2B sector, but internal organizational struggles could prevent exploring the options. The future of adoption may instead rest on the concept of “reverse adoption,” whereby clients would need to request mobile payment options, otherwise, investments in the technology would not be considered by the organization.

Managing customer experience dimensions in B2B express delivery services for better customer satisfaction: a PLS-SEM illustration

PurposeThis article aims to open the black box of the relationship between customer experience and customer satisfaction. The authors also take a fine-grained approach to the concept of customer experience analysis in terms of four dimensions: basic service experience (BSE), moments of truth (MT), focus on results (FR) and peace of mind (PM).Design/methodology/approachA total sample of 185 industrial customers in Spain was collected via an online platform from March to April 2020. The data were analysed using partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe results indicated that the four dimensions of customer experience are the foundation of commercial success (i.e. customer satisfaction) for express parcel companies in the business-to-business (B2B) environment. Therefore, the most innovative express parcel companies should not only pay attention to providing services in accordance with the customer agreement but also go beyond that; hence, these companies must understand customer needs to be able to offer a unique experience. Therefore, these companies must design experiences that go beyond pure technical delivery services.Originality/valueAlthough previous work has linked customer experience to customer satisfaction, there is little work that does so specifically in an industry as in vogue as express parcels and less so in the B2B environment. In addition, this work analyses fine-grained customer experience in terms of grain's four dimensions, and therefore, the authors analyse how each dimension (e.g. more rational or more subjective dimensions) impacts customer satisfaction. Few studies have focussed on this type of analysis for express parcel companies in the B2B environment.

Does polychronicity among sales employees develop B2B service recovery? A dual assessment through ambidextrous leadership

PurposeThis research explores the determinants and consequences of salesperson polychronicity in a business-to-business (B2B) sales environment. Additionally, the study examined the link between the antecedents and consequences of salesperson polychronicity using resistance to change (RC) and manager trust in salesperson (MT) as moderators.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework was developed by testing eight hypotheses based on data collected from 378 salesperson-manager dyads.FindingsThe authors find that opening leader behavior is positively associated with salesperson polychronicity, while closing leader behavior negatively influences salesperson polychronicity. In addition, salesperson polychronicity positively affects service recovery performance and customer-directed organizational citizen behaviors (OCB). Finally, the RC and MT significantly and positively moderate the linkage between the antecedents and consequences of salesperson polychronicity.Originality/valueThis study is original because this is the first study to address polychronicity as an individual trait in a B2B environment where multitasking behavior is of paramount importance.

Possible futures of crowd logistics for manufacturers: results of a strategic foresight study

Purpose Although crowd logistics (CL) is a promising digital solution, its future development remains uncertain. This paper aims to suggest multiple possible futures of CL in terms of business relationships and value co-creation between manufacturers and digital platforms. Design/methodology/approach This paper offers a systemic and multistakeholder approach related to the field of strategic foresight, based on the scenario method. The scenarios construction involved 22 participants (practitioners, academic researchers and foresight experts). Findings Four scenarios emerged from the strategic foresight study. For each scenario, the configuration, diffusion and coordination of CL – as well as the balance of power between manufacturers, digital platforms and customers – are specified. Research limitations/implications The foresight analysis reveals not one certain future, but multiple potential business configurations and research avenues related to the development of CL. Practical implications The adopted multistakeholders perspective, including macro factors, regarding CL allows business-to-business (B2B) managers to rethink its potential. Managers can use the scenarios to consider multiple types of coordination with digital platforms and its implication for value co-creation. Social implications This paper provides insights into social changes that may constitute drivers and consequences of the development of CL and identifies two forms of coupling that may drive the development of CL: regulation–social transformation and technology–environment. Originality/value This research contributes to IMP research on B2B relationships in digital contexts, by showing that CL presents an opportunity for the co-creation of distribution value in a B2B environment.

XAI for Churn Prediction in B2B Models: A Use Case in an Enterprise Software Company

The literature related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) models and customer churn prediction is extensive and rich in Business to Customer (B2C) environments; however, research in Business to Business (B2B) environments is not sufficiently addressed. Customer churn in the business environment and more so in a B2B context is critical, as the impact on turnover is generally greater than in B2C environments. On the other hand, the data used in the context of this paper point to the importance of the relationship between customer and brand through the Contact Center. Therefore, the recency, frequency, importance and duration (RFID) model used to obtain the customer’s assessment from the point of view of their interactions with the Contact Center is a novelty and an additional source of information to traditional models based on purchase transactions, recency, frequency, and monetary (RFM). The objective of this work consists of the design of a methodological process that contributes to analyzing the explainability of AI algorithm predictions, Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI), for which we analyze the binary target variable abandonment in a B2B environment, considering the relationships that the partner (customer) has with the Contact Center, and focusing on a business software distribution company. The model can be generalized to any environment in which classification or regression algorithms are required.

Kapter: pursuing innovation and competitive advantage in the Mexican B2B ecosystem

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: to assess the competitive position of a small business-to-business (B2B) company to remain competitive in a developing country; to identify and shape the business opportunity that represents serving small and medium enterprises that would lead to competitive positioning in the B2B environment; and to compare innovation and commercialization projects through strategic dimensions related to managing a technology company in a way that fosters business profitability and growth. Case overview/Synopsis Margarita Kaplun, founder and CEO of Kapter, a small company providing country-wide technical and consultant services on thermography to industrial hubs in Mexico, had positioned the company as a reputed provider. However, the company had experienced razor-thin margins. Margarita needs to decide whether they pursue the following grant to fund a project on technology development that will source the competitive position or pursue a commercial project that help them achieve a larger customer base to reap higher income. Complexity academic level The case is oriented for an undergraduate audience, attending entrepreneurship, innovation and industrial organization courses. It depicts issues of technology-based entrepreneurship and is suitable for students in business, management and engineering. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Is group‐buying price mechanism a good choice in the business‐to‐business system?

AbstractGroup‐buying price mechanism is useful for online sales since the 1990s, yet it has not been widely applied in the business‐to‐business (B2B) environment. In this study, we consider a B2B supply chain with one supplier and multiple retailers. With our analytical model, we compare the supplier's profit under the flat price mechanism, individual quantity discount mechanism, and group‐buying price mechanism. The results show that when retailers are homogeneous, the individual quantity discount mechanism is the best choice for the supplier. In situations with heterogeneous retailers (i.e., a large retailer and multiple small retailers), the group‐buying price mechanism is the best choice when there is a moderate difference in market scale between retailers. However, the condition is quite strict. These findings also hold with a step‐wise price menu set by the supplier. Our conclusions explain why the group‐buying price mechanism is not widely used in the B2B environment and provide some advice for the supplier on how to choose suitable pricing mechanisms.

The role of loyalty and satisfaction in forming word-of-mouth influence in a B2B environment: EvIdence from the knitting industry of Indonesia

This research aims to find how effective word of mouth in a B2B environment is based on loyalty and customer satisfaction. Word of mouth (WOM) influence among the knitting industry is very important, since it provides sustainability for the business itself. Using PLS (Partial Least Square) modeling, this study provides additional evidence indicating customer satisfaction has both direct and indirect effects on B2B partners’ positive WOM activities. The B2B samples were collected from knitting industries in Indonesia. The research finding indicates that a high level of customer satisfaction directly increases positive WOM activities; the mediation effect of customer loyalty between customer satisfaction and WOM activities also has a significant effect.

ANALYSIS OF COOPERATION, ADAPTATION, EXPERTISE, AND COMMUNICATION EFFECTS ON SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY OF TELKOMSEL DISTRIBUTOR PARTNERS IN PADANG BRANCH

This paper aims to clarify the relationship between cooperation, adaptation, expertise, and communication affecting customer satisfaction and loyalty in B2B environment. We use purposive sampling method and collect primary data: documentation and questionnaire as the media of data collection. The partial least square regression become the technique of analysis to test the probabilities of influences (direct/indirect) to asses the validity and realibility for outer model and structural model. The relationship quality aspects of telecommunication service (communication and expertise) positively related with customer loyalty which is mediated trough customer satisfaction. The study is one of the few empirical investigations into marketing relationship in B2B concept, based on cooperation, adaptation, expertise, communication and examining the mediating effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. This study suggest that in developing country like Indonesia, communicatian on social media and celebrity endorsement more efficient in regional, but in district area we suggest that focus on salesman training (competences) and economy incentive for partners.

B2B Networking, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability

While the benefits and advantages of using renewable energies are remarkable, and their prices have been decreasing dramatically and are expected to fall further, the diffusion and adoption of renewable energies still lag fossil energies. This paper improves our understanding regarding the role of the interrelationship among businesses (as an example of B2B networking amongst parent and subsidiary firms). Furthermore, it demonstrates the way/s that such interrelationships can contribute to the diffusion and adoption of sustainable and energy-efficient technologies. This study describes four diffusion channels in the interrelated firms which can help with promoting and using renewable and sustainable energies. The paper also reports the actual share of each diffusion channel contributing to implementing sustainable energy-efficient technologies in practice. The findings suggest that parent organisations enforce the majority (over 50%) of sustainable and energy-efficient technologies implemented in a B2B environment. In comparison, inter-subsidiary relationships are responsible for less than 30% of the implemented sustainable and energy-efficient technologies in organisations. The findings are in line with the forced perspective theory. They could, to some degree, explain the differences in the levels of implementation of sustainable and energy-efficient technologies in practice. These findings can help practitioners prioritise the diffusion channels when they want to facilitate the implementation of new technologies in their organisations. While some organisations may expect a more successful implementation of innovations initiated by subsidiaries than those enforced by parent organisations, the levels of success of the adoption of sustainable and energy-efficient technologies are not examined in this study. Further research is recommended to investigate the extent of association between different diffusion channels and the levels of success in terms of the adoption of innovation. We did not find similar studies to compare the results, which could be one of the limitations of this study.

“I am Delighted!”: The Effect of Perceived Customer Value on Repurchase and Advocacy Intention in B2B Express Delivery Services

Express parcel delivery has increased significantly in recent years because of changes in technology and consumer habits, as has the number of express parcel delivery companies and the competitiveness among them. For an express parcel business to be sustainable, it must succeed in increasing customer perceived value (CPV). This study aims to investigate the business-to-business (B2B) performance between companies and their main express parcel service provider. The main objective was to analyze the impact of CPV on both the intention to repurchase services and the intention to recommend such services in the business-to-business (B2B) express parcel delivery sector. This study develops a research model that is analyzed in the express parcel sector in Spain using the variance-based structural equation technique, partial least squares (PLS-SEM), for data analysis. The findings reveal that with express parcel services in the B2B sector, perceived value was positively associated with the customer’s perceived satisfaction and trust, which in turn enhances the intention to repurchase and stimulates advocacy. In a market as competitive as the express parcel market in the B2B environment, customer perceived value is a critical factor in ensuring company sustainability.

Transitioning to Platform-based Services and Business Models in a B2B Environment

Given the considerable success of companies such as Apple, Amazon or Airbnb, the term platform is on everyone’s lips today. Accordingly, platforms have long since also found their way into service science. However, mastering the transition from established product-sales-based offerings to platform-based services and business models comes with a multitude of challenges. In a B2B context, incumbent companies need to carefully evaluate how they can benefit from the establishment of platforms, especially in light of the effects on their existing business models and ties to other actors. Hence, we invited scholars with different backgrounds to provide viewpoints on the opportunities and challenges of the transition to platform-based services and business models in a B2B environment. The individual commentaries provide various insights on how to conduct this transition and benefit from it successfully. To do so, they contrast different approaches for establishing and governing ecosystems around platforms, discuss B2B-specific pitfalls and opportunities of platform business models, uncover the supporting role of platforms for smart service development, and stress the importance of platform and ecosystem thinking as a necessary mindset.

Brand strategies of container shipping lines following mergers and acquisitions: carriers’ visual identity options

Brand strategy is a fundamental part of corporate strategy and constitutes a key condition for companies operating in international B2B contexts, enabling them to manage relations with customers, stakeholders and shareholders effectively. Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are drivers of change in both brand architecture and brand portfolio strategies pursued by B2B companies. This paper aims to investigate brand architecture and brand portfolio management strategies in the B2B domain by focusing on the branding decisions of container shipping lines in the context of M&As. A taxonomy of branding options available to B2B companies is presented and empirically applied to the container shipping industry, which has undergone several waves of M&A activities in recent decades. The brand strategies of some of the most M&A active players in the industry (i.e. Maersk Line, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM) are examined, with a particular focus on corporate visual identity (i.e. the name and visual devices such as logo, typeface and colour) adopted after an M&A transaction. Our empirical dataset on M&As in container shipping includes the names of the acquirer and acquired company or merging entities, the geographical scale of the shipping networks of the acquirer and acquired, the type of transaction, the year of the the M&A’s formal completion, the adopted corporate visual identity after the M&A and the financials of the M&A transaction. Moreover, we propose a conceptualisation of the factors, drivers and impediments that shape ocean carriers’ attitude towards the different branding options and strategies. The results demonstrate two dominant strategies, for example the new entity adopts the visual identity and name of the acquirer (‘backing the stronger horse’), or the lead and target brands continue to exist independently after the M&A activity (‘business as usual’, often as part of a broader multi-brand strategy). These two strategies and the hybrid option of combining them represent 78% of the M&A cases. The remaining M&A cases strongly relied on hybrid strategies involving a change in the adopted strategy many months, or even years after the M&A. We show that the decisions of shipping lines regarding branding in an M&A context are influenced by a complex set of interacting drivers and factors which can differ from one case to another and can change over time. This paper contributes to extant literature by demonstrating a more comprehensive typology of possible brand strategies by providing an empirical analysis in a B2B environment and by presenting a novel conceptualisation of the factors affecting brand strategy in an M&A context.

Understanding the Factors Affecting Employees’ Motivation to Engage in Co-Creation in the Banking Industry

Increasing digitalization and new technological possibilities also entail substantial changes for working methods in the B2B (business-to-business) environment in banking. In this context, the concept of co-creation is critical. Although this concept and the motivation factors behind it have been thoroughly investigated in the B2C (business-to-consumer) sector, only a few research results exist for the B2B context. This study aims to bridge the current knowledge gap and investigate individuals’ motivation to participate in B2B co-creation. By using a case study and qualitative interviews, this study focuses on two aspects: (a) It reveals how a co-creation measure is used in practice in the B2B environment; and (b) it provides information on the motivation factors and outcome from the point of view of the participants in the B2B co-creation project. The paper concludes with an integrative model of the main motivation factors behind B2B co-creation and their effects.

The Role of Supplier Quality in e-Procurement Negotiation

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the significance and the role of supplier rating as a formalised supplier quality measure to achieve better- negotiated prices and to identify price premium resulting from improved rating.Methodology/Approach: Data from real B2B environment of electronic reverse auction SW solution ProeBiz were obtained and processed. Data from the reverse rating approach were used where the default rating value is 1 and improvements of rating lead to decreasing the rating value. Except standard descriptive statistics, non-parametric correlation and Kruskal-Wallis tests, the knowledge discovery techniques by decision trees CHAID algorithm were used.Findings: From our empirical research results, there is the evidence of a significant positive relation of supplier quality or rating improvements on a negotiated price for suppliers. Improving rating from the default value (1.00) to (0.98-0.95) can lead to better- negotiated prices for suppliers in English auction expressed as price premium in the value of 4%.Research Limitation/implication: Research has several limitations, esp. in the size of the sample and sectorial view as the research is based on data from construction, electro-mechanics and logistics sector.Originality/Value of paper: The paper is original and not published in other publications.