B2B Setting Research Articles

Effects of Extrinsic Attributes on Perceived Quality, Customer Value, and Behavioral Intentions in B2B Settings: A Comparison Across Goods and Service Industries

ABSTRACT The traditional formulation of customer value is a trade off of benefits and sacrifices, with intrinsic quality typically being the primary benefit, and price typically being the primary sacrifice. While additional sacrifices have been proposed in the literature (e.g., time and effort), we explore three additional benefits, the extrinsic attributes of industry leadership, innovation, and customer focus and their effects on a hierarchical quality-value-intention system. Data gathered from two distinct business-to-business domains, one goods and one services, showed that extrinsic attributes impacted elements of the quality-value-intention system. It was also found that quality and customer focus (an extrinsic attribute) differed in their effects across goods and services contexts. Managerial implications are discussed for creating customer perceived value in goods and services industries.

Customer service strategy options: A multiple case study in a B2B setting

This study addresses the question whether customer service actually has order winning potential in B2B situations, which customer service strategies are deployed, and what determines customer service relevance. A literature review was followed by a multiple case study, using 12 organizations from different industries and from different positions in supply chains. Based on having both problem solving and transfer characteristics, four customer service strategy options are identified: customer integration, customer adaptation, logistical precision, and standard customer service. Many organizations are positioned in the least attractive customer service strategy option: customer adaptation. Partially, this is caused by difficulties in assessing the customer service capability and the customer's sensitivity for customer service. The article concludes with the theoretical and managerial implications.