B2B Setting Research Articles

Incorporating usage data for B2B churn prediction modeling

The potential for predicting churn in B2B contexts remains untapped despite the growing availability of digital customer traces, particularly usage data. Nevertheless, this source provides valuable insights into customer behavior and product interaction, serving as a powerful tool for understanding customer needs and improving retention efforts. This paper aims to explore the value of usage data for B2B customer churn prediction using a real-world dataset with 3959 subscriptions from a European software provider. The contribution to literature is two-fold. First, we define a framework to structure usage data into cross-sectional features that could be included in predictive models. We study the impact of usage information on churn prediction performance along three primary components– timing, granularity, and expertise. The findings confirm the value of this data source and two of the three examined components, particularly in terms of AUC and TDL. Second, we provide insights into the carbon footprint of the entire modeling process required to integrate usage data into different machine-learning algorithms. Furthermore, to strengthen the robustness of our findings, we compare five common machine-learning algorithms in CCP. Consequently, this study uncovered unexplored aspects of usage data and practical implications for enhancing churn prediction in a B2B setting.

The Implications of AI Powered Design Innovation in Emerging Industries

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, human- centred design offers the potential for positive change. Navigating the complexities of emerging fields in a B2B setting poses an opportunity to mindfully combine AI and human approaches and expedite the process, from context and user research to ideation.

The effect of social disruption on the use of technologies to digitize B2B processes and its impact on corporate performance

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the effect of social disruption on the use of technologies for digitizing business-to-business (B2B) processes. The aim is to assess how digitalization technologies (DT) may impact corporate performance (CP) in B2B settings.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is based on a questionnaire survey in Norway, and a deductive research design. A total of 216 usable questionnaires out of 356 were returned, generating a response rate of 60.6%.FindingsThis study shows that there is an effect of social disruption on DT (such as digital communication tools, social media and customer relationship management systems) in B2B settings that may impact CP.Research limitations/implicationsThis study indicates that the use of technologies to digitize B2B processes may enhance CP when social disruption occurs.Practical implicationsThis study offers insights to companies that need help in adapting their business processes to the changing social and technological environment. This study also highlights the importance of digitalization for business survival in the marketplace and society.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the effect of social disruption on DT and provides opportunities for managing CP.

Learning Experiences of Chinese Salesman in B2B Settings: A Present Situation Analysis

Learning Experiences of Chinese Salesman in B2B Settings: A Present Situation Analysis

Exploring the impact of green supply chain strategies and sustainable practices on circular supply chains

Purpose The study attempts to explore the effectiveness of green supply chain strategies (GSCS) and sustainable practices (SP) in achieving a circular supply chain (CSC) within a business-to-business (B2B) context. The study further investigates the moderating role of green innovation (GIN) on the relationship between GSCS and SP.Design/methodology/approach The conceptual model was developed by adopting constructs from the existing studies. A self-administered tool was created, and data were gathered from supply chain (SC) specialists in the food, energy, tire, textile and paper industries. The structural equation model was employed to test the hypothesis, analyzing 243 responses obtained.Findings The findings indicate an affirmative association between GSCS, SP and the achievement of CSC, with SP acting as a partial mediator between GSCS and CSC. Results show that GSCS and SP are crucial for transitioning toward a circular model in the SC, emphasizing resource regeneration and sustainability. The data from our sample suggest that GIN significantly moderates the relationship between GSCS and CSC. These insights underline the importance of green strategies and sustainable practices (SP) in fostering CSCs in a B2B setting. The study’s implications are significant for SC management, suggesting that firms must integrate green and SP to achieve circularity and long-term viability.Originality/value This article brings forward a distinctive perspective on sustainability within the field of SC management emphasizing the crucial need for implementing CSC and GSCS in a B2B context.

Unlocking B2B Purchase Engagement: Investigating Its Drivers and Consequences in App-Based Service Subscriptions for MSMEs

Objective: This study aims to highlight the role of purchase engagement in the business-to-business (B2B) context, which is mainly under-explored due to the intricacy and diverseness of stakeholders embroiled in B2B purchasing decisions. This paper fills the gap by studying purchase engagement in the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) B2B setting, particularly for app-based service subscriptions. Design/Methods/Approach: The study recruited responses from 215 MSME owners and managers, current customers of a subscription-based point-of-sales (POS) service. The PLS-SEM technique empirically validated the conceptual framework and the research hypotheses. Findings: The findings indicate that the conceptual model of customization, identification with virtual communities, and loyalty to account managers are exogenous factors influencing purchase engagement, perceived dependency, and willingness to pay for price premiums. Originality/Value: This study aims to understand purchase engagement in B2B, focusing on transactional drivers. This framework also investigates a particular set of drivers and results from purchase engagement factors in B2B app-based service subscriptions. Practical/Policy implication: B2B app-based service subscription stakeholders must ensure that all efforts to engage with customers strengthen their dependency on the service by starting with purchase engagement, customization, identification with virtual communities, and loyalty to account managers.

B2B strategies for surviving global crises: A resource dependence perspective on the COVID−19 pandemic

Global crises like the COVID−19 pandemic can have unprecedented consequences for the operations and performance of all types of companies, including business-to-business (B2B) firms. Drawing upon resource dependence theory, we postulate a negative impact of the pandemic on B2B firms’ stock returns, and we propose that a high level of machinery assets, more focused business, and a low level of customer concentration make a B2B firm better mitigate losses in such a crisis. Using a sample of 2,981 US-listed firms during the COVID−19 pandemic period, we quantitatively demonstrate the impact of the COVID−19 crisis and empirically validate our theory. These findings contribute to the literature on crisis management in B2B settings and resource dependence theory, and they have practical implications for B2B firms that are assessing their resilience to future global crises.

The influence of managerial perceptions on adopting environmental strategies in B2B: An exploratory study from emerging countries

Environmental concerns are becoming ever more urgent in the agendas of governments, executives, marketing scholars, and other stakeholders around the world. While the academic field has made several calls to understand the forces that drive firms to deploy environmental strategies as well as the performance implications of these strategies, such studies remain limited. This study introduces managerial perception as a key factor that affects environmental strategy adoption in B2B settings. In addition, this study investigates the role of resources and capabilities in adopting such strategies. Using survey methodology, a model was created and evaluated. Data collected from 234 firms in the Arabian Gulf region were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) method. The results demonstrate that firms with an entrepreneurial and political frame of reference (FoR) are more likely to use environmental strategies to reflect environmental challenges. Furthermore, organizational resources and capabilities show a strong correlation with the implementation of environmental strategies. The exploratory nature of this work necessitates the discussion and highlighting of a number of its limitations. This is one of the first studies, to the authors' knowledge, to look at how managerial preconceptions and environmental strategy interact and what impact it has on performance.

Commitment, trust, relative dependence, and customer loyalty in the B2B setting: the role of customer satisfaction

Purpose This study aims to explore the role customer satisfaction play in mediating the nexus between commitment, trust, relative dependence and customer loyalty from an emerging market context under a business-to-business (B2B) setting. Design/methodology/approach The study was a descriptive survey, and using convenience sampling technique, questionnaires were used to gather data from 356 businesses that were distributors of Guinness Ghana Company Limited. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses for this study, and macro-PROCESS was performed to test the mediating effect of customer satisfaction. Findings The findings show that relative dependence had the most considerable significant and positive impact on B2B partners satisfaction, followed by commitment and trust, respectively. A positive and significant relationship was also found between B2B firms’ satisfaction and loyalty. The result also indicates that customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between commitment, trust, relative dependence and B2B loyalty. Practical implications Practitioners can manipulate specific relative dependence, commitment and trust features to increase customer satisfaction with their firm’s services, thus ensuring longer-term customer loyalty. Originality/value Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study provides a more profound perspective focusing on an emerging market context, by examining from a B2B setting the significance of commitment, trust, relative dependence and B2B partners satisfaction on loyalty.

Managing resource loops in circular supply chains: A taxonomy of multi-sided platforms in the B2B setting

Multi-sided platforms have been increasingly recognized as enablers for circular supply chains. This notwithstanding, scholars are still struggling with a lack of deep understanding of the different roles that multi-sided platforms may play to enable inter-organizational collaborations among supply chain actors to foster the creation of circular supply chains, especially in the business-to-business setting. To address this research gap, the paper develops a taxonomy of multi-sided platforms enabling circular supply chains in the business-to-business setting, by leveraging existing literature as well as an empirical analysis that included 26 multi-sided platforms. Such platforms have been identified through the involvement of a panel of experts into this research area and analysed through a Delphi method. The proposed taxonomy is characterized by two dimensions: (i) the circular supply chain strategy that can be fulfilled through multi-sided platforms, i.e., closing, slowing, or narrowing of resource loops; and ii) the supply chain(s) involved by the resource loops to fulfil such strategies, i.e., either the supply chain in which a resource was originally addressed to or different supply chains. The taxonomy includes six clusters of multi-sided platforms enabling circular supply chains in the business-to-business setting. The study represents the first attempt to provide an overarching conceptualization of the different roles of multi-sided platforms enabling circular supply chains in the business-to-business setting. Furthermore, it informs managers on how multi-sided platforms can be exploited by companies to foster the creation of circular supply chains in this setting.

Customer success management, customer health, and retention in B2B industries

Customer Success (CS) Management is an emerging B2B marketing strategy. The task of CS management is to increase customer retention through dedicated and ongoing proactive attention to improving the value customers realize from a product or solution. Leveraging a theories-in-use approach, we demonstrate the adoption of CS management across a wide range of B2B settings and unpack how the implementation of a CS strategy can complement existing sales and service efforts to increase customer retention. We find that a central element to CS management is the tracking of customer health, which is a new marketing metric that is viewed as the pulse of CS strategy. Customer health is a formative metric comprised of objective and subjective data points that track (1) relationship quality, (2) product usage, and (3) customer value realization. CS managers leverage customer health data to proactively manage B2B relationships and reduce churn. While CS management has been widely adopted, we also find that not all CS implementations are initially successful. As such, we describe contingency factors related to short-term ambiguities within the organization and long-term factors that impact implementation of CS management. Given the nascent nature of research on CS management in the marketing literature, our article closes with a comprehensive set of future research opportunities and emerging challenges for firms focusing on customer success.

Salespeople’s sales performance skills in B2B of services firms – a cross-industrial study

PurposeThis study aims to examine the role of salespeople’s skills in relative and absolute SP in business-to-business (B2B) settings of services firms. This conceptual logic reported in meta-analytical works, that salespeople’s skills relate directly to their sales performance (SP), is questioned.Design/methodology/approachhis research relies on existing theory and previous studies on SP drivers and SP measures. The literature identifies a set of common denominators on the role of salespeople’s skills regarding their SP, all of which are tested in this study. Based on a deductive approach and questionnaire survey, 732 service firms in Norway were targeted. A total of 389 questionnaires were returned, generating a response rate of 53.1%.FindingsA total of 10 out of 12 hypothesized relationships in the research model dealing with the relationship between SP drivers and SP turn out to be non-significant. The hypothesized relationship in the research model between relative and absolute SP is also supported.Research limitations/implicationsThe results reported in this study, based on a large sample of service firms, empirically confirm that the direct effect is generally overestimated. Empirical evidence is provided that sheds additional light on the role of salespeople’s skills in relative and absolute SP in B2B settings of services firms.Practical implicationsThis study offers meaningful and relevant insights into the monitoring of SP drivers to practitioners in B2B sales settings of services firms. Salespeople need to learn about gathering knowledge in training programs about each customer and their specific situation. Firms should strive to recruit salespeople who possess the appropriate skills, taking into consideration their customers and specific situations related to them, such as experiences from competitors. Salespeople may be organized around similar customers and similar customer situations, rather than geographical assignments.Originality/valueOverall, this research contributes insights into the role played by salespeople’s skills in relative and absolute SP in B2B settings of services firms. In particular, the research contributes additional insights into the non-existent role of interpersonal presentation and communication skills, adaptiveness of sales approach and sales behavior skills and product/technology-related knowledge skills in salespeople’s relative and absolute SP in B2B settings of services firms.

Disruptive AI: the response depends on the buyer’s political ideology

PurposeThe recent pandemic disrupted the way in which businesses transact with each other. In response to maintaining cleanliness in business-to-business (B2B) settings, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled robots have been adopted as substitutes for cleaning personnel, yet their implications remain largely underexamined. This study aims to examine B2B buyer responses to cleaning information notices (human vs AI-enabled agent) placed at either the entry to the premises or the sales counter, thereby adding to the nascent literature in this line of inquiry.Design/methodology/approachThree field experiments were conducted across diverse B2B businesses (wholesalers in Studies 1–2 and a commercial business in Study 3). To achieve greater empirical rigor and generalizability, this research used diverse stimuli across different B2B settings. In addition, the results ruled out alternate explanations and shed light upon political ideology as a boundary condition. Finally, a single-paper meta-analysis confirmed H1, consolidating the established effect.FindingsFeaturing over 1,000 B2B buyers, the results show that politically liberal B2B buyers express greater preference for human over AI-performed cleaning while labor-orientated buyers are indifferent. Importantly, this effect is driven by greater relaxation associated with humans, which in turn, increases their future patronage and referral intent.Originality/valueThe results enrich the collective knowledge of the adoption of AI-enabled robots, reinforcing for marketing practitioners and businesses that the reliance on human-based outcomes remains a preferred touchpoint in B2B settings, particularly for liberals.

Identifying factors needed for business actor engagement in sustainable development goal (SDG) initiatives

PurposeThis study aims to offer a mid-range theory conceptualization of factors central to understanding and facilitating business actor engagement (BAE). Reports on a study of real estate companies and their sustainable development goal (SDG) driven business initiatives. The aim is to identify the factors that need to be in place to facilitate positive engagement amongst actors in business-to-business (B2B) settings.Design/methodology/approachA case study of real estate companies (landlords of business premises) and their business customers (tenants of offices and warehouses) – comprising interviews and workshops – offer insights related to the factors that need to be in place to facilitate BAE types and outcomes.FindingsThe identified central factors of BAE – needed to understand and facilitate positive engagement to unfold – are the actors’ perception of: willingness (to act), resourcefulness (to contribute and solve issues) and influence (to affect decisions) regarding solutions related to the business initiative at hand. Failing to facilitate these factors may result in negative outcomes of BAE where “engagement” merely constitutes perceived obligations and responsibilities.Research limitations/implicationsThe study offers theoretical and managerial insights on how to manage the factors needed for BAE. It also sheds light on how actors can use SDG-driven business initiatives to achieve sustainability goals.Originality/valueIt contributes to the concept of BAE, by emphasizing the dynamics of engagement, from the motivational and behavioral dimensions specific to B2B settings. It offers insights how to managerially cogovern rather than control BAE. It presents central factors needed to include and capacitate customers, facilitating successful implementations of SDG-driven business initiatives to reduce absent or negative outcomes.

Effects of interfirm IT capability and interfirm trust on omnichannel integration: the mediating role of interfirm integration

PurposeAlthough past studies have suggested that business-to-business (B2B) interfirm relationship management contributes to a firm’s omnichannel integration, little research has been undertaken to reveal how that happens. This study aims to draw upon the relational view to propose a research model that associates interfirm information technology (IT) capability and interfirm trust with omnichannel integration through interfirm integration (i.e. authority integration and cooperative integration). Furthermore, this work considers a firm’s channel usage variety as the boundary condition of the interfirm integration’s influence.Design/methodology/approachThe research model was examined using a seemingly unrelated regression of archival data and matched a survey of 324 Chinese omnichannel firms.FindingsInterfirm IT capability positively relates to authority integration, and interfirm trust positively relates to cooperative integration. Authority integration and cooperative integration are both positively associated with omnichannel integration. A high level of channel usage variety strengthens the relationship between cooperative integration and omnichannel integration.Originality/valuePrior literature has called for research on the factors influencing omnichannel integration within a B2B setting. This study answers this research call by examining interfirm IT capability, interfirm trust and interfirm integration as factors associated with omnichannel integration. This work also examines how channel usage variety regulates the relationship between interfirm integration and omnichannel integration.

Digitalizing customer journeys in B2B markets

This paper explores the digitalization of business-to-business (B2B) customer journeys, which is recognized as a top research priority, but one that has not yet received substantial academic attention. Due to their complexity, customer journeys are particularly relevant in B2B settings, and this is further emphasized through the increasing use of digital technologies. This paper identifies three key dimensions of B2B customer journeys that are influenced by digitalization. These are the digitalization of touchpoints (i.e., adding digital touchpoints and transforming or facilitating touchpoints), the change of roles in digitalized journeys (i.e., introducing new roles, activating customers, and emphasizing collectivity), and the digitalization of the overall process (i.e., extending, enhancing, and supporting the process). The research is based on an in-depth case study of a B2B firm and four customers. Insights from the research add to the customer journey literature through the exploration of digitalized B2B customer journeys, providing guidance for academics and practitioners.

Proactive customer retention management in a non-contractual B2B setting based on churn prediction with random forests

Customer churn prediction enables companies to target customers at risk with proactive retention measures. We develop a churn prediction model for a non-contractual business-to-business (B2B) wholesale setting and apply it in a field study. Our experiment shows that compared to random targeting, contacting the customers with the highest predicted churn probabilities reduces churn in the population significantly. We demonstrate that this also entails a positive financial impact in terms of revenue development.In addition to validating B2B churn prediction and retention in the field, we contribute to the literature by identifying the most important features. On top of the common recency, frequency and monetary value features, we show that features specific to customer relationship management such as the recency of the last contact with a field representative are important. We provide a concept on how to integrate proactive churn management into operations by leveraging existing customer care processes.

Adaptive selling in business-to-business markets: Contextual boundary of a selling strategy from retailing

A recent study of a selling strategy adapted by some retail salespeople recommended that salespeople should expeditiously disengage from a customer interaction when they believe that a customer with whom they are interacting is unlikely to make a purchase (Cron et al. 2021). The question addressed in this study is whether this sales strategy is similarly effective for salespeople in a B2B context. The B2B context for this study is a low purchasing complexity environment where the majority of sales revenue stems from customers’ reordering current supplies and equipment. Similar to the outcomes observed in a retail environment, the results suggest that B2B salespeople’s use of an NC2 strategy (short for No Conversion, No Conversation) increases sales revenues if salespeople work in an environment characterized by time scarcity and if they are relationship building oriented. Critically, if B2B salespeople apply the NC2 sales strategy with a low relationship building orientation, results show detrimental effects of the strategy over time. This potentially harmful effect did not emerge in retail settings. Moreover, unlike the results in a retail setting the effectiveness of the NC2 sales strategy does not depend on salespeople’s experience. For practitioners in B2B settings these findings are meaningful and actionable.

Sustainable Value Co-Production and Co-Creation in Virtual Reality: An Exploratory Research on Business-to-Business Interactions

The objective of this study is to identify the environment for business interactions in virtual reality in the value co-production and co-creation process and to understand how such an environment enables the sustainable development of co-creational activities. This paper takes the concepts of value co-production and co-creation and presence and the Actors, Resources, and Activities Model as conceptual references for the exploration of interactions in virtual reality. Using ten in-depth interviews with senior managers, this paper takes an exploratory case analysis perspective. Results show how the sense of presence—level of immersion to which a medium that produces seemingly accurate representations of objects, events, and people, can submerge the perceptual system of a user—is the primary technical resource enabling the performance of value co-production and co-creational activities inside VR simulations. Additionally, the VR consultants and the hiring firms become the actors, organizing the value-co-production and co-creation practices; those customers and employees are the actors performing five co-creational activities that can result in valuable outcomes for the VR consultants and the hiring firms. Virtual reality is one of the newest vehicles used for the co-production and co-creation of value, for innovating existing products, for sustainable creation of new marketing offerings, or for managing network relations. This study contributes to existent literature by showing the process and practice of value co-production and value co-creation taking place in virtual reality simulations in B2B settings.

Multi-homing in B2B services: a psychological perspective

PurposeExtant literature on business-to-business (B2B) has largely ignored studying multi-homing through a psychological lens. This paper aims to outline the results of three constituent studies, which were designed to reveal potential differences in multi-homers’ versus single-homers’ loyalty behaviors in a B2B and supply chain management (SCM) setting; identify factors that differentiate single-homers and multi-homers in these settings; and examine the relevance and effect of perceived risk on multi-homing behaviors.Design/methodology/approachIn Studies 1 and 2, the authors used a questionnaire-based survey to capture the perceptions of 503 and 458 SCM experts, respectively. They then deployed AMOS v.21 to perform structural equation modeling. In Study 3, the authors used a mixed-methods approach to interview 18 SCM experts and then applied these insights to a survey with 242 SCM experts.FindingsStudy 1 reveals that multi-homers’ loyalty toward their preferred SP has a weaker effect on willingness to pay premium prices and share-of-wallet than single-homers’ loyalty. Study 2 establishes that several attitudinal factors distinguish multi-homers from single-homers in a loyalty framework. Study 3 concludes that perceived risk dimensions promote multi-homing intention, which in turn promotes multi-homing behavior.Originality/valueThrough empirical investigation, the present research succeeds in establishing that multi-homing is a concern for SPs, deciphering the attitudinal factors that distinguish multi-homers and single-homers in a loyalty framework, and confirming the influence of perceived risk dimensions on multi-homing. Thus, the study has several theoretical and practical implications for B2B services in emerging economies.