Business to Business

Basic similarities among the several service-registry standards that exist today suggest the potential for interoperability. Given that service registries are key components inWeb services architectures, interoperability will play an increasingly important role in facilitating dynamic ...

A number of recent research studies have demonstrated the presence of a positive link between customer-contact employees' work satisfaction and customer satisfaction. However, existing studies have largely neglected describing conditions under which the link between these two constructs is stronger or weaker. The authors of this study argue that certain customer characteristics (such as customer trust, customer price consciousness, and the importance of product/service to the customer) and salesperson characteristics (such as empathy, expertise, and reliability) moderate the relationship between salespeople's work satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Balance theory is used to justify the hypotheses of the study. Tests of the hypotheses are based on a dyadic data set collected across manufacturing and services industries in a business-to-business context. Results reveal that the link between work satisfaction and customer satisfaction is systematically moderated by the salesperson and customer characteristics under consideration.

The paper raises the question of if and how informa tion technology impacts on social exchange relation ships. The aim of the study is to investigate changes of s ocial interaction patterns due to information techn ology in business relationships, by analyzing one specific a spect of interaction in business relationships, nam ely the effect of information technology on the need for pe rsonal meetings. The theoretical view is constructe d on interaction, focusing on the need for personal meet ings and information technology. The method employed is statistical and a total of 354 business relationshi ps on the Swedish business to business market are c ollected and analyzed. Information technology in business re lationships is examined by the level of use of info rmation technology and the influence its use has on the nee d for personal meetings of the business relationshi p. The result shows that business relationships in which i nformation technology increases or decreases the ne ed f...

This article aims to analyze, on the context of business-to-business marketing, the implementation of reverse logistics as a strategic alternative for market development, intending to serve a new customers segment. Initially, a review of the literature about market development and market segmentation strategies, and reverse logistics is presented,

Due to the recent evolution of telecommunications infrastructure and the Internet as a commodity market for bandwidth, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) encounter new issues concerned with bandwidth management for the network interconnection. Bandwidth commodity exchange is considered a new B2B (Business-to-Business) electronic commerce application that brings new market opportunities to carriers and service providers for managing their bandwidth resources. This paper develops market-based bandwidth management optimization models for Differentiated Service (DiffServ) QoS (Quality of Service) networks using an implementation of the bandwidth management agent, BMP (Bandwidth Management Point). We use network economic models to formulate an optimization problem for the interconnection and resource allocation policy of the DiffServ network. We formulate and develop those economic models as optimization problems of LP, NLP, MILP and mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP), and discuss the pricing mechanisms and available solution approaches for the implementation of the BMP's resource optimization process. Different opportunity costs are estimated based on the results of a network simulation using traffic flow statistics measured from a recent Internet backbone. We then numerically simulate the behavior of backbone network ISPs to optimize their profits for various demand scenarios.

A review of the history and current prevalence of outdoor advertising suggests that although the medium is very effective it is not widely used in business-to-business markets. A case for using outdoor advertising is deductively made based on the unique characteristics of ...

Today, research in electronic negotiations focuses on negotiation protocols that support the negotiation of only a few properties. These protocols are mainly designed for automated negotiations between software agents. However, for peer-to-peer negotiations in business-to-business electronic marketplaces, such protocols are less appropriate. For example, negotiations about multiple attributes, complex attribute combinations, or frame contracts require more sophisticated support of the involved interactions and communication acts. In this paper we present a novel approach to the eective support of electronic negotiations among human negotiators. Our approach is based on the following observation. The outcome of a successful negotiation process is a business contract. The contract evolves during the negotiation, coordinated through the exchange of structured messages such as oers, requests, quotations, counteroers, and acceptances. Therefore, each negotiation between business partners involves the exchanges of documents and messages. Furthermore, documents and messages are interrelated in that a message leads to a new contract version which itself is the medium for a new negotiation step and thus initiates a new message. In contrast to the current practice of separate management of messages and documents, we create a powerful framework for eective negotiation support in electronic marketplaces by combining communication and document management. Our approach enables monitoring of contractual obligations and traceability of both documents and messages and their interrelations. Ó

Collaborative business models among enterprises require defining collaborative business processes. Enterprises implement B2B collaborations to execute these processes. In B2B collaborations the integration and interoperability of processes and systems of the enterprises are required to support the execution of collaborative processes. From a collaborative process model, which describes the global view of the enterprise interactions, each enterprise must define the interface process that represents the role it performs in the collaborative process in order to implement the process in a Business Process Management System. Hence, in this work we propose a method for the automatic generation of the interface process model of each enterprise from a collaborative process model. This method is based on a Model-Driven Architecture to transform collaborative process models into interface process models. By applying this method, interface processes are guaranteed to be interoperable and defined according to a collaborative process.

ABSTRACT Historically, researchers have addressed pricing issues from many different perspectives, including the firm's business model (cost structure, experience curve), stakeholders (customers and channel partners), competition (market structure and intensity), and macroeconomic issues (interest rates, economic growth). An important dimension of organizational price setting that has been neglected is the impact that the firm's internal political system, reflected in interdepartmental coordination and rivalry, has upon price setting. A study of managers who are influential in shaping the firm's pricing strategy was conducted to identify intraorganizational issues and their relative impact on the firm's pricing strategy. The results of the study provide important implications for the development and execution of a firm's pricing strategy.

Home > Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing > Volume 22 issue 6 > Sources of brand benefits in manufacturer-reseller... ... Icon: Abstract. Icon: Backfiles. Icon: Print. Icon: Reprints & permissions. ... Purpose – The aim of the paper is to develop a conceptual framework ...

As a phenomenon of modified value-chain structures the economic importance of business-to-business markets has been growing immensely during the past decades. This paper delivers a quantified overview of the market dimensions in terms of transactional volume. In addition, it explains the causes for this market development such as an increased service orientation in business transactions, higher degrees of customization, and influential factors on a macro level. In this context, future trends in this sector will be outlined as well.

In this paper we explore the ethics of business-to-business electronic commerce, with a focus on the banking sector. A case study of online foreign exchange developments at an investment bank is used to help illustrate some key moral issues. Important areas identified for further research include freedom of choice, trust and transparency of business-to-business transactions and limits to responsibility with regard to the facilitation of fraud. It is concluded that only with careful consideration of a broad range of management issues will traditional companies effectively address the challenges of electronic commerce. The barriers to be dealt with are far from being just technical solutions to doing business in cyberspace.

Section I In this paper, a theoretical framework is developed for the analysis of industrial buyer-seller relationships, using the concepts of search, experience and credence qualities, as known from Economics of Information theory. For this purpose, a dynamic perspective on this configuration is offered. By assuming a shift from experience qualities to search qualities in successive transactions, the evolution of the industrial buyer-seller relationship is explained. Section II The analysis indicates that Economics of Information theory may be a useful approach to analyzing industrial buyer-seller relationships. It allows an economic perspective on the phenomenon, while being measurable. The relationship-building can be explained and the changing dynamics of relationships over time can be described.

Purpose -The aim of this article is to provide an understanding of how satisfaction, quality, and value affect repurchase and positive word-of-mouth in a business-to-business (B2B) setting. Most previous studies in this area apply to business-to-consumer (B2C) situations. Design/methodology/approach -A survey of 382 users of freight services was undertaken in the USA. An exploratory pilot study was undertaken to gain a better understanding of these users and to test the research instrument. Structural equation modeling was used to test the constructs. Findings -The results showing the best-fit model identified a number of relationships that were unexpected. These are discussed in detail. Practical implications -Managers have a model, survey instrument and methodology that service firms can use to establish what they are doing right or wrong to retain customers. Managers are also given guidelines on how to increase customer satisfaction in B2B services. Originality/value -This paper deals with these constructs in a B2B service environment.

The use of EDI in business transactions is considered a prerequisite in turning both private and public business towards electronic commerce in the next century. The national strategy in Denmark has been to promote the usage of EDIFACT-based EDI in both the public and private sector. In our study of EDI-usage in Denmark, we have found this strategy only partially fruitful, so far.

It is becoming increasingly important from both theoretical and managerial perspectives to measure Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a key intangible asset. This paper seeks to bring relationship marketing theory into practice by developing a new measure of relationship performance between two firms, the business-to-business relationship performance (B2B-RELPERF) scale. Survey findings from a sample of approximately 400 purchasing managers operating in a B2B e-marketplace reveal that relationship performance is a high-order concept, composed of several distinct, yet related, dimensions: (1) relationship policies and practices, (2) relationship commitment; (3) trust in the relationship, (4) mutual cooperation; and (5) relationship satisfaction. Findings reveal that the B2B-RELPERF scale relates positively and significantly with customer loyalty. The paper also presents the B2B-RELPERF balanced scorecard, which combines tangible and intangible metrics. While existing IT solutions usually focus exclusively on the use of tangible CRM indicators, this new tool includes the "voice of the customer". At the managerial level, both the scale and scorecard could act as useful instruments for short-and long-term management, controlling, planning, and improvement of B2B relationships. Implications for relationship marketing theory are also presented.

Prior research suggests that while business-to-business (B2B) brands influence organizational buying decisions, their relative importance is modest at best. Unfortunately, extant studies are largely silent about the determinants of brand importance in business markets. This research effort begins to address this important knowledge gap by investigating the moderated relationships between brand consciousness, brand preference, brand sensitivity, and brand importance. We propose that these four constructs represent a belief-attitude-intention-behavior hierarchy of effects (HOE) capable of explaining why the relative importance of brands differs across purchase situations. Data provided by 273 organizational buying center members provide strong support for the proposed HOE model and suggest that: (1) under conditions of low competitive intensity or when marketing maintenance repair and operations (MRO) supplies, brand consciousness is the primary determinant of brand importance, and (2) under conditions of high competitive intensity or when marketing high-tech products, brand preference is the primary determinant of brand importance. Moreover, the results indicate that distinctions between the four HOE brand constructs evaluated within this study are important and have substantive implications for branding research and practice.

Purpose -In today's competitive markets where market offerings are far more complicated and customer interfaces are far broader than conventional marketing models assume, marketing has become increasingly tactical and lost control of the customer management process. The purpose of this paper is to develop a promise management-based approach to marketing with the goal of regaining customer management for marketing. Design/methodology/approach -The approach takes the form of a conceptual analysis Findings -According to the promise management approach marketing is viewed as a process of enabling and making promises as well as keeping promises in order to meet expectations created by promises made. Value creation in customer processes is considered the goal for marketing. It is claimed that by taking this view marketing can once again take full responsibility for customer management.

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to report empirical research that examined the impact of conflict in two different buyer-seller situations, an ongoing relationship and a choice situation where the buyer had to choose between two or more alternative suppliers. Conflict was defined as social conflict and has two distinct types, affective and cognitive. Methodology/Approach. The methodology used was two mail surveys to a random sample of purchasing association members who had buying responsibilities in their firms. In one survey respondents were asked to self-select a current buyer-seller relationship they had for a period of at least one year and to indicate the degree of perceived conflict they had with the key supplier representative as well as the amount of relationship loyalty they perceived they had with that supplier. The second survey randomly assigned respondents to evaluate either a supplier whom they gave business to in a choice situation or one they did not, thus establishing as the dependent variable the actual choice of whom they gave business to. Findings. The findings are clear for affective types of conflict. When affective conflict is perceived as higher the chance of getting an order in a choice situation as well as the magnitude of the relationship loyalty perception is negatively related. Cognitive conflict is not as clear. In choice situations conflict was negatively related to choice, whereas in on going relationships there was no impact. There was no indication of cognitive conflict having a positive relationship. Originality/Value/Contribution of the paper. This study is the first to examine perceptions of conflict with a significant other in a buyer-seller relationship to try to determine how those perceptions might relate to either buyer choice or loyalty. While the findings support the expected relationship between affective conflict and outcomes, the findings with regards to cognitive conflict suggest that this may be more complex then originally thought and further points out the difficulty in managing conflict across organizational boundaries.

Based on top of Web protocols and XML language, Web services are emerging as a framework to provide applicationto-application interaction. An important challenge is their integration in order to provide new value-added composite services, allowing consequently Business-to-Business relationships. Therefore, many composition languages have been proposed in the past few years. However, a weakness of these languages is that they are difficult to use in early stages of development, such as specification. Thus, an extension to UML 2.0, named UML-S, was introduced to develop composite Web services conforming to the modeldriven engineering vision. This paper introduces the necessary transformation rules between UML-S and low-level code to comply with MDE approach.

The concept of trust has been used in a growing number of empirical and theoretical marketing studies of business to business relationships. Examination of a number of in¯uential studies indicates a lack of clarity in their conceptualization of trust. The nature of this lack of clarity is examined and it is proposed that there are a number of features of trust which account should be taken of when conducting such studies.

It has been recognised that brands play a role in industrial markets, but to date a comprehensive model of business-to-business (B2B) branding does not exist, nor has there been an empirical study of the applicability of a full brand equity model in a B2B context. This paper is the first to begin to address these issues. The paper introduces the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model by Kevin , and empirically tests its applicability in the market of electronic tracking systems for waste management. While Keller claims that the CBBE pyramid can be applied in a B2B context, this research highlights challenges of such an application, and suggests changes to the model are required. Assessing the equity of manufacturers' brand names is more appropriate than measuring the equity of individual product brands as suggested by Keller. Secondly, the building blocks of Keller's model appear useful in an organisational context, although differences in the subdimensions are required. Brand feelings appear to lack relevance in the industrial market investigated, and the pinnacle of Keller's pyramid, resonance, needs serious modifications. Finally, company representatives play a role in building brand equity, indicating a need for this human element to be recognised in a B2B model.

The dominant perspective on organizational buying behavior suggests that buyers tend to rely on objective criteria when making product choice decisions and that the potential influence of subjective cues, such as brands, on buyer decision making decreases with increasing risk. An alternative perspective, confirmed in this study by in-depth interviews with various managers, suggests that brands serve as a risk-reduction heuristic, whereby the influence of brands on decision making increases as a function of risk. Building on risk and information processing theories, this research builds on these complementary perspectives to propose that risk and brand sensitivity relate in a U-shaped manner, where brand sensitivity is highest in relatively low-or high-risk situations. The results of scenario-and survey-based field studies-involving 206 and 180 members of buying centers, respectively-suggest that both perspectives have merit and support the proposed nonlinear relationship. Moreover, the findings reveal that the risk-brand sensitivity relationship is moderated by competitive intensity, such that the linear (negative) and quadratic (positive) effects are stronger when competitive intensity is low.

The government purchasing market constitutes the largest business sector in the world. While marketers would benefit from a deep understanding of both sectors, how the two sectors differ in terms of ethics and strategy largely remains unknown. The purpose of this research, therefore, is to explore differences between the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors on two critical aspects of business-to-business procurement: ethics and strategy. Using survey data from a sample of 328 procurement professionals in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, key differences are explored. Findings suggest that buyers in the for-profit sector are more likely to behave opportunistically. Conversely, the buyers' leaders in the not-for-profit sector behave more opportunistically and are more willing to turn a blind eye to their subordinate buyers' opportunistic behaviors. In addition, key differences in procurement strategy are unveiled suggesting that not-for-profit procurement practices have some room for improvement. Based on the findings, theoretical and managerial implications are drawn, and a future research agenda is proposed.

A review of the history and current prevalence of outdoor advertising suggests that although the medium is very effective it is not widely used in business-to-business markets. A case for using outdoor advertising is deductively made based on the unique characteristics of business markets such as: geographic concentration of buyers, need to target buying center members, advantages of having integrated communication, possibility of creating derived demand, and targeting trade shows. This paper offers recommendations on when and how to use outdoor advertising based on unique business market characteristics, industrial promotional objectives and business product classification. Research propositions and directions for future research are offered. D

This research empirically examines for the first time the determinants of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction (CS/D) in the context of business professional services. The simultaneous effect of key CS/D constructs (expectations, performance, and disconfirmation) and several variables--fairness (equity), purchase situation (novelty, importance, and complexity)----and individual-level variables (decision uncertainty and stakeholding) are examined in a causal path framework. Data were obtained from a two-stage longitudinal survey of client organizations.

Business renovation is a key aspect of electronic business and a high-level strategy for managing change that generally cannot be handled by continuous improvement and organizational restructuring methods. Business process modeling and the evaluation of different alternative scenarios for improvement are usually the driving factors of the business reengineering process. This study investigates business process simulation as a tool for deriving new knowledge about current business processes, such as additional in-depth understanding of how the process is executed and identifying sources of the problems observed during the process execution. The main objective of the paper is to investigate the potential benefits and outcomes of e-business transitioning that can be assessed in advance by using simulation modeling. An example is presented of how simulation modeling can be used to understand a procurement process and evaluate how the proposed improvements and the introduction of electronic business will influence system performance.

An integrative framework from information privacy and relationship marketing arenas was employed to investigate whether a traditional business-to-business relationship marketing framework could be applied to the information-intensive online business-to-consumer channel. Roles of consumers' privacy concerns and perceived e-tailer's reputation on their trust in, commitment toward, and purchase intent toward a services e-tailer were examined. Effects of opt-in versus opt-out choice strategies on consumers' privacy concerns and trust were also studied. Results showed that the strongest relationships leading to online purchase intent were those between trust in and commitment toward an e-tailer and between firm reputation and trust. Privacy concerns influenced purchase intent with strong negative effects, both directly and indirectly through trust. No difference was observed in respective direct effects of choice strategy on privacy concerns, nor were strategies found to moderate reputation on privacy concerns or trust. Managerial implications are discussed.

This paper presents an approach for the specification and implementation of business contracts needed for Business-to-Business (B2B) services. We first examine typical elements of business contracts and their usage. This analysis sets a foundation for 1) modeling contracts and 2) developing a role-based architecture that supports typical operations in the contract's lifetime. We explore how contracts can be encoded in XML and present an approach for monitoring and enforcing of contracts. This approach provides a flexible way of modifying rules of enforcement, as trading arrangements change. A real-world contract example is used to illustrate the concepts described.

A software quality model acts as a framework for the evaluation of attributes of an application that contribute to the software quality. In this paper, a quality model is presented for evaluation of B2B applications. First, the most well-known quality models are studied, and reasons for using ISO 9126 quality model as the basis are discussed. This model, then, is customized in accordance with special characteristics of B2B applications. The customization is done by extracting the quality factors from web applications and B2B e-commerce applications, weighting these factors from the viewpoints of both developers and end users, and adding them to the model. Finally, as a case study, ISACO portal is evaluated by the proposed model.

Developing country of India is one of the world's leading emerging markets, growing at a rate of 6-7% even through an era of global economic downturn. The introduction of e-commerce has increased transparency and liquidity in the marketplace. Online sales are expected to overtake traditional sales in less than 10 years. The US was the 2010 leader in global e-commerce sales at 27% of worldwide volume; US e-commerce retail sales totaled about $177bn in 2010, up an average of 13% from 2009. New avenues for e-commerce e.g. daily deals, private sales, etc.

The Web Service Level Agreement (WSLA) is a Web Service specification language developed to provide a SLA template to capture all the information negotiated and agreed upon by a service provider and service consumer. Though this specification is suitable for many Business-to-Business collaborations involving two parties, it does not fulfil the requirement of a new business model involving multiple parties, where a party provides multiple services to other parties and consumes services provided by other parties. To address this requirement, this paper proposes an extension to the WSLA language to capture multi-party collaborations, called WSLA+.

The authors examine the influence of a firm's market orientation and salesperson customer orientation on buyer -seller relationships. Data from a national manufacturer's sales force and retail trade customers were used to test the influence of sales managers' perceptions on salesperson attitudes toward a firm's market orientation and its salesperson customer orientation. The impact of salesperson attitudes on customers' perceptions of service delivery and their propensity to switch suppliers was also examined. The results suggest that a firm's market orientation positively influences salesperson work attitudes. Sales managers influence salesperson customer orientation through their organizational commitment, and salesperson customer orientation influences industrial customers' switching intentions. D

Information technology (IT) has long been applied to support the exchange of goods, services and information between organizations. Early on, when interorganizational information systems (IOIS) like EDI systems were introduced, electronic markets emerged for business purchasing. However, it is only with the advent of Internet-based e-procurement systems and business-to-business (B2B) electronic markets that the real opportunities for any-to-any (A2A) online transactions have opened up across space and over time. The extensive connectivity offered by online trading networks creates value by lowering communication and search costs. But this benefit is just one aspect of what is desired by adopting firms. The other aspect is that purchasing firms expect to maintain established long-term relationships with preferred suppliers. As a result, private aggregating and negotiating mechanisms are being adopted for large quantity business supply purchases, while public market mechanisms are more often adopted when firms face uncertain and high variance demand. This paper draws on IS and economics theory to investigate the motivation for the various online business models, and the adoption requirements of purchasing firms, through the examination of a set of mini-cases.

There is an absence of research on business-to-business eCommerce in developing countries which covers wide-ranging issues beyond contextual imperatives. This paper analyzes eCommerce adoption by businesses in China from internal, external and contextual perspectives.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to propose a systematic and rigorous process of data collection and fieldwork in qualitative research using four empirical studies of customer interactions in new product development (NPD) as examples. The intention is to dispel a misconception that the qualitative research lacks objectivity and methodological robustness. Design/methodology/approach -To collect data for all the four studies a preliminary process of conducting fieldwork was first developed from the extant literature. This preliminary framework was applied in the first study and subsequently revised twice in the second and third study by incorporating necessary changes and additions. Finally, the framework was tested and further refined in the fourth study. Findings -The findings from these four empirical qualitative studies have demonstrated that a theory generating idiographic research such as field interviews could be carried out systematically. These findings also provide a basis for proposing a structured framework for data collection.

By integrating existing conceptual models and research findings, this effort examines the noteworthy differences between the B2B and the consumer market contexts and the implications of those differences on the formulation of B2B brand strategies. We introduce the B2B-Consumer Market Dimensions Continuum as a tool to identify key differences between the two markets. The continuum is used to suggest the branding approach that is most likely to be successful in a B2B organization's brand-building efforts.

Electronic Customer Relationship Management (e-CRM) Analytics is the process of analyzing and reporting online customer/visitor behavior patterns with the objective of acquiring and retaining customers through stronger customer relationships. ...

The Internet has grown rapidly over the last 5 years. It is predicted that more than 100 million households will be connected to the World Wide Web by 2002. But what about the use of the Internet in business-to-business supply chain applications? Here, the greatest potential of the Internet is being realized by speeding up communication between customers and their suppliers, improving service levels, and reducing logistics costs. In this article, the authors discuss for the first time how the Internet is being used in managing the major components of supply chains including transportation, purchasing, inventory management, customer service, production scheduling, warehousing, and vendor relations. The study breaks down each area and describes to what extent and how the Internet is being applied. The study also looks at the development of Intranets and Extranets in supply chains.

Purpose -To examine the nature of Chinese business negotiating style in Sino-Western business negotiations in business-to-business markets involving large industrial projects from a social cultural point of view. Design/methodology/approach -A conceptual approach developed from personal interviews. Findings -This study reveals that the Chinese negotiator does not possess an absolute negotiating style but rather embraces a mixture of different roles together: "Maoist bureaucrat in learning", "Confucian gentleman", and "Sun Tzu-like strategist". The Chinese negotiating strategy is essentially a combination of cooperation and competition (termed as the "coop-comp" negotiation strategy in this study). Trust is the ultimate indicator of Chinese negotiating propensities and role choices.