Chapter 11 What's a Business-to-Business Company? B2B Knowledge of Future Business Leaders

Abstract

This chapter helps to establish a characterization system for industrial and consumer companies. Marketing science shows that industrial brands and consumer brands have to be managed in significant different ways. The reason is the variety of distinctions. Marketing literature often fall back to the same definition for companies. Usually, companies are defined business-to-business (B2B) when they deal with other companies and business-to-consumer (B2C) when they make their revenues with private consumers. However, both definitions do not represent the knowledge from marketing literature about the specifications in both market categories. The characterization system here separates companies by the demand drivers (derivate and origin) of their costumers, by their communication strategy, by the roles individuals play in the buying process, and recommend the appropriate branding strategy. The results of a survey about B2B knowledge show how important such a characterizing system for the discussion is. Often managers have no clear picture of a company in terms of B2B and B2C marketing. The system helps them to find a common basis for understanding the crucial issues, based on an empirical analysis.

Citation

Pfoertsch, W. and Scheel, H. (2012), "Chapter 11 What's a Business-to-Business Company? B2B Knowledge of Future Business Leaders", Glynn, M.S. and Woodside, A.G. (Ed.) Business-to-Business Marketing Management: Strategies, Cases, and Solutions (Advances in Business Marketing and Purchasing, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 263-282. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1069-0964(2012)0000018016