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Over the last five decades, business to business (B2B) marketing has evolved from a transactional model to a behavioral model. This evolution is a consequence of the rise in thoughts of managing customer journeys, services marketing and acknowledging value co-creation amongst stakeholders. The contemporary B2B marketing strategies of relationship, innovation, sustainability and digital marketing that emerge through the literature review are discussed to demonstrate how they add value to the competitive advantage of firms and facilitate co-creation between business partners to help design the customer journey. The purpose of the paper is to discuss how the apparel industry could implement the B2B marketing strategies highlighted and further suggests a framework of value co-creation. The framework shows the journey between business partners followed by the value propositions as service exchange through resource integration within the service ecosystem.

Through a review of the literature, the evolution of B2B marketing unveils the importance of services marketing and how the marketing strategies discussed add value to the services marketing, this is further explored with propositions of value co-creation between business partners. The propositions are based on the theory of service dominant logic, whereby, the partners in the service ecosystem co-create value from value propositions offered by the business partners in collaboration with supply chain innovation.

A framework is suggested in the context of the apparel industry that demonstrates the value propositions as a part of the B2B marketing strategy. Through resource integration and collaboration between the business partners, the value propositions in the form of services, are exchanged resulting in value co-creation that leads to the ultimate offering to the end customer.

The service dominant logic theory and the supply chain innovation model are the basis of the framework, showing the value propositions made, are in collaboration between the firm and the supply chain partners. The value propositions in the form of services are exchanged as an outcome of resource integration amongst the business partners resulting in value co-creation which will aid apparel manufacturers differentiate their services and manage customer journeys better. The framework will be further researched through primary research to determine its rationality in the real-world context. The nature of the industry being fast paced, the literature will be outdated in a short span of time and with the vast growth, new strategies will need to be executed eventually.

The paper discusses how the apparel industry can move forward with the B2B marketing strategies highlighted through the literature review and further suggests a framework of value co-creation. This will aid apparel manufacturers to focus their marketing efforts in an era of services marketing and compete better globally with service offerings.

The competitive advantage strategies and other key emerging themes of co-creation, value co-creation and customer journeys are highlighted and shows increasing importance to the survival of businesses in an era of service orientation and relationship marketing.

Through a critical literature review of B2B marketing strategies and with the use of theoretical models of service dominant logic and supply chain innovation, the conceptual paper proposes a framework by the authors that allows future research to analyse value co-creation in B2B marketing strategies for the apparel industry.

The increased digital interactions in the B2B industry have enhanced the importance of customer engagement as a measure of firm performance. This study aims to map and analyze temporal and spatial journeys for customer engagement in B2B markets from a bibliometric perspective.

The extant literature on customer engagement research in the B2B context was analyzed using bibliometric analysis. The citation analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis, three-field plot and bibliographic coupling were used to map the intellectual structure of customer engagement in B2B markets.

The research on customer engagement in the B2B context was studied more in western countries. The analysis suggests that customer engagement in B2B markets will take centre stage in the coming times as digital channels make it easier to track critical metrics besides other key factors. Issues like digital transformation, the use of artificial intelligence for virtual engagement, personalization, innovation and salesforce management by leveraging technology would be critical for improved B2B customer engagement.

The study provides a comprehensive reference to scholars working in this domain.

The study makes a pioneering effort to comprehensively analyze the vast corpus of literature on customer engagement in B2B markets for business insights.

The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the B2B customers’ perspective regarding salespeople’s social media use.

The study adopts a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with 26 key informants performing their job in customer role in various industries.

The authors inductively identify five themes regarding the B2B customers’ perspective of social media use in B2B selling. These themes allow for valuable implications for social selling activities and expected outcomes.

Against a growing body of literature on drivers, best practices and outcomes of social media use by B2B salespeople, less attention has been paid to the customer’s side. The authors extend current research by providing a more complete picture of social selling activities and expected outcomes.

This study aims to examine the role relational dynamics, grounded in the theories of social exchange and social capital, play within the context of geographic indication (GI) food supply chain network (FSCN) performance.

A total of 30 qualitative interviews were undertaken with key informant stakeholders across a variety of organizations within Turkish GI FSCNs. An open, axial and selective grounded theory coding process was used for the analysis, teasing out critical themes that underpinned the conceptual framework.

The findings identify the formal and informal mechanisms which govern GI FSCNs. These two forms of governance mechanisms influence network performance, which was found to comprise logistics, production, business and socio-economic performance dimensions. Transparency, GI traceability, trust and psychological contract violations were found to mediate the link between governance and network performance outcomes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore GI FSCNs from the perspective of relationship marketing and through the lens of social exchange and social capital theory. Accordingly, both academics and practitioners can benefit from the study, as it unveils relevant relational factors underpinning such networks.

Drawing on the social presence theory, this study aims to explore how supplier–customer social media interactions influence supplier observers’ trust in the customers and what mechanisms contribute to variation in trust experience.

A total of 36 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Chinese suppliers using WeChat for business-to-business interactions. Data were analyzed in three steps: open coding, axial coding and selective coding.

Findings reveal that varied trust is based not only on the categories of social presence of interaction – whether social presence is embedded in informative interactions – but also on the perceived selectivity in social presence. Observer suppliers who experience selectivity during social and affective interactions create a perception of hidden information and an unhealthy relationship atmosphere, and report a sense of emotional vulnerability, thus eroding cognitive and affective trust.

The findings contribute new understandings to social presence theory by exploring the social presence of interactions in a supplier–supplier–customer triad and offer valuable insights into business-to-business social media literature by adopting a suppliers’ viewpoint to unpack the mechanisms of how social presence of interaction positively and negatively influences suppliers’ trust and behavioral responses.

This study aims to investigate the influence of network power on exploratory and exploitative innovation and examines the moderating effects of power distance and procedural justice on these untested relationships.

This study uses survey data collected from firms in China and explores the influential mechanisms of network power, power distance and procedural justice in firm innovation.

This study empirically shows that network power has an inverted U-shaped effect on exploratory and exploitative innovation. Power distance weakens the effect of network power on exploratory and exploitative innovation, and procedural justice enhances the effect of network power on exploratory and exploitative innovation.

This study extends resource dependence theory and contributes to the literature on innovation management. Future studies should use different collection channels or research methods to provide more evidence for model promotion. In addition, the dynamic power game among network members and the roles of other mediators or moderators warrant further consideration.

Managers should exercise power strategies properly and ensure that their innovation income exceeds expenditures. Managers need to pay serious attention to power distance and procedural justice in the network and formulate suitable cooperation strategies based on actual conditions.

This study applies the resource dependence theory to investigate the influence of network power on exploratory and exploitative innovation. In addition, the moderating roles of power distance and procedural justice in the above relationships, which have rarely been discussed in previous studies, were tested.

This paper aims to examine how market globalization orientation (i.e. a firm’s strategic commitment to developing the target markets beyond national borders) influences business-to-business (B2B) practices to achieve competitive performance outcomes.

A conceptual framework shows how to translate strategic orientation into integrated organizational practices for competitive outcomes. A research model defines key variables (drivers, B2B practices and performance outcomes). The research model is tested using an international survey of 439 firms from four continents. And the analysis results are reported.

The results suggest that market globalization orientation influences organizational practices and external B2B network processes to achieve desirable performance outcomes. Integrated product development is a crucial linkage mechanism that enables firms to translate strategic network coordination and product innovation goals into improved manufacturing and firm performance.

First, macro-level factors (e.g. the changing attitudes of domestic stakeholders toward globalization) do not necessarily dictate the critical aspects of the micro-level responses (e.g. firm-level practices). Despite negative narratives of globalization at the macro-level (e.g. economic inequality, unwanted immigration that spreads transmissible diseases, supply chain disruptions), firm-level responses toward global markets are determined by their missional direction and strategic priorities for achieving competitive advantage by expanding their B2B supply chains and market frontiers (Adams et al., 2019; Kobrin, 2020; Witt, 2019; Zinn and Goldsby, 2020). Second, the findings suggest that many firms take globalization orientation as an essential strategic driver that governs critical operational and network practices for achieving desirable performance outcomes. Market globalization orientation motivates B2B firms of all sizes –including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – to pursue globalization in their unique paths of differentiation. Globalization orientation expands their spheres of influence beyond their local, regional and domestic fronts. The globalization orientation of business leadership motivates firms to stretch their business frontiers without self-imposed geographical constraints.

Competitive firms choose market globalization orientation in their supply flow and implement strategic and operational practices to pursue global market opportunities. Globalization orientation is imperative to firms that seek new growth engines to achieve competitive performance that appeals to diverse market segments of the world.

Outstanding firms expand their value frontiers to secure a flexible supplier base and reach out to diverse B2B customers in their domestic and global market segments. This study also suggests that firms with a market globalization orientation aim to develop novelty products, offer essential services, support the livelihood goals of people and pursue a shared vision of a sustainable planet.

In the context of conflicting societal attitudes and political priorities toward globalization, this study examines the crucial role of market globalization orientation. Using an empirical study, this paper suggests that globalization efforts succeed as firms deploy their internal and network resources to address people’s essential and timeless needs beyond national boundaries.

Online customer communities have become a strategic tool for business-to-business (B2B) firms to drive collaboration among customers around the company’s products and services. This paper aims to argue that the three social capital dimensions, that is, structural, relational and cognitive, themselves driven by brand community trust, can affect brand loyalty for the organization.

The authors use a survey to collect data and structural equation modeling to test the conceptual framework by collecting data from 214 participants across three online B2B communities operated by three technology firms in India.

Brand community trust is found to have a strong association with social network ties, identification and norm of reciprocity and shared vision. These three have concomitant effects on the quality of customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions. Such communication generates functional, emotional and social benefits, which, in turn, curate brand loyalty.

The authors’ findings guide community managers in leveraging such conversations in shaping customer loyalty for the corporate brand.

This work provides an integrated framework to explain the important role of C2C interactions in B2B online brand communities.

This study aims to explore what characteristics contribute to the definition of relevance in business-to-business (B2B) marketing research and how/why different strands of B2B marketing maintain or lose their relevance.

This study is conceptual. It adopts a performative-phenomenal standpoint for B2B marketing research and approaches relevance through the concept of episteme, which is considered pivotal for understanding this phenomenon.

This study proposes four axioms that define the characteristics of relevance in B2B marketing research and discusses their implications for scholars and practitioners. Consequently, an action plan for revitalizing B2B marketing research is developed, comprising learning and temporal dimensions, resulting in nine different relevance types.

The central argument put forward in this study is that different research strands of B2B marketing have deeply rooted epistemic underpinnings that influence their interpretation of relevance. Consequently, fostering dialogue between practitioners and scholars is considered necessary to sustain relevance in B2B marketing research. B2B scholars are urged to think beyond their subspecialized silos and acknowledge how the business environment and the various strands of B2B marketing congruently shape B2B marketing relevance, while also embracing research methods that bring them closer to business practice.

Marketing practitioners and academics continue to drift apart. This study puts forward three recommendations to bring marketing academics and practitioners closer together.

The study contributes to the B2B marketing literature by grappling with the theory-praxis gap and critically exploring what constitutes relevance in B2B marketing research.