Search results

This study aims to explore how business-to-business service failures manifest in a manufacturing context.

The empirical research involved two case studies: case study one included 20 interviews in the metal finishing industry; case study two included 20 interviews in the paint and coatings industry. In both case studies, suppliers and customers’ perceptions were obtained to facilitate a dyadic understanding of the phenomena.

Business-to-business service failure is a complex, dynamic and interactive process. It varies according to type of service, services supporting the products and services supporting the customers, service quality dimensions and the source of the failure. It can have a more profound impact than service failure in a consumer context because it may cause disruption to customers’ production and have a negative influence of failure on their clients in the network.

Business customers may play a role in value co-destruction rather than value co-creation by causing service failures due to errors on their part. The consequences of the domino effects revealed in this study need to be given careful consideration by managers. The research is exploratory, and the findings may be influenced by the manufacturing sector in which the case study firms are based.

Business-to-business service failure has its own distinct characteristics, as it may impact widely in the business-to-business network. Domino effects implicitly dominate business-to-business service failure episodes where negative outcomes cascade downstream and affect service recipients’ customers.

Current marketing theory and practice have recognized that exchanges between buyers and sellers are frequently embedded in social relationships. Despite the vast body of research on interorganizational exchange, there has been little effort to address the role of larger social networks in which business‐to‐business services firms operate. This paper seeks to present a model of how social network theory can help in understanding why some services firms manage to reinvent themselves and continue to succeed in a business‐to‐business environment, while others are slow to change and decline.

Drawing on 81 in‐depth interviews conducted with general managers/chief executive officers operating in information technology, and biotechnology business‐to‐business services contexts, we consider the relative importance of both network strength and network openness in driving business performance.

The authors identify both network strength between firms and openness towards new actors as underpinning competitive advantage in business‐to‐business services.

Data were collected for service firms operating in two different industries in two regions. The paper underscores the importance of examining the network properties that connect exchange partners when discussing firm performance in business‐to‐business service contexts.

The paper makes a series of important contributions to the small, but growing literature on services networks and has direct implications for managers.

Service innovation in networks (SIIN) is of utmost importance particularly to business-to-business firms for their profitability, growth and long-term competitive advantage. This paper aims to investigate several critical aspects of extant SIIN research: its current state, theoretical standpoints, determinants, and outcomes. Based on the findings, implications for business-to-business service innovation research are drawn.

This is a systematic literature review. Extant publications were located from large electronic databases, analyzed, and the findings have been compiled to answer the predefined questions.

The paper illustrates the overall state of extant SIIN research and presents its major topics. It reveals the six key theoretical perspectives that have been applied in SIIN studies. Determinants that affect SIIN, as well as its potential positive and negative outcomes, are shown. In addition, gaps in the existing knowledge-base have been identified and have led to the laying out of paths for future research.

The review does not cover publications that were unavailable in the electronic databases employed, or were not written in English. However, the succinct presentation of accessible knowledge provides multidimensional theoretical understandings as well as empirical insights into SIIN research.

Managers may benefit from this study by understanding the determinants that they may influence, and the potential changes that may accompany the positive and negative outcomes of SIIN.

The analytical review provides a concise synopsis of existing knowledge on service innovation in networks, and discusses its implications for business-to-business research and firms, which will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the process followed by sponsors and sport properties in developing their sponsorship deals as seen from a new service development (NSD) perspective. Sponsorships are expensive and can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage if managed appropriately. Therefore, the authors need to approach sponsorship strategically and formalise sponsorship decision-making. Sponsorships are considered to be complex, relationship-based, business-to-business services, and the development of such services has been analysed in the NSD literature. As past research on the development process of sponsorship deals is limited, the use of an NSD perspective can help in formalising sponsorship decision-making.

Four case studies were conducted involving two professional, premier league football clubs and two sponsoring organisations, one major sponsor for each club. One of the dyads involved a brand new sponsorship deal and the other a renewal.

Results showed that in both dyads, the development process of the new service follows the NSD process of other complex, relationship-based, business-to-business services and involves three main phases, namely, information collection, proposal preparation and presentation or receipt and analysis, and negotiations and contract sign. All four firms use a semi-formal and flexible process, whereas the actors in each stage vary. Also, the new deal requires a more lengthy process than the renewal, following the example of really new and me-too services. Multi-functional teams are not present, and top management involvement is important only in the last stage of the process.

This paper helps in analysing the development process of new sponsorship deals, as new business-to-business services. However, it involves only four cases and has limited generalisability. Future research should substantiate results with more cases or quantitative research.

Results can help sponsors and sponsees to structure their processes for successful development of new sponsorship deals. Also, as new sponsorship deals seem to be developed the same way with other business-to-business, complex services, potential sponsors that are big service providers can probably enjoy synergies from using the same or a slightly different process than the one they use for developing their main services. Finally, the use of a semi-formal and flexible process in sponsorship development can be helpful in dealing with customised services and rapid NSD that is critical for new service success.

It is the first time that the development process of sponsorship deals is approached from an NSD perspective and analysed as a new business-to-business service.

This study seeks to examine how Chinese culture affects business‐to‐business marketing strategies and service revenue in manufacturing companies.

The paper used a combination of qualitative research approaches, namely interviews, longitudinal study and bi‐polar case studies. The sequence of the qualitative research approaches was chosen to maximize internal and external validity.

The findings expose the impact of the characteristics of Chinese culture on a firm's potential to generate high service revenues in business marketing.

The study has possible location‐ and industry‐specific limitations.

The implicit logic for increasing service revenue starts with overcoming typical and, in some respects, limiting cultural characteristics. These characteristics limit business‐to‐business marketing for increasing service revenue. Monitoring the effects of Chinese culture and gaining an understanding of how they have to be managed provides some guidance for managers to generate high service revenues.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding of customer service/service quality in business‐to‐business contexts.

An in‐depth case study was used to discover the perceptions of both key individuals in the supplying company and key customers.

The paper shows that that customer service/service quality in a business‐to‐business context is a complex and multifaceted issue, the different parties in a relationship have differing perceptions of what constitutes service quality and that actors from the wider network can have an impact on perceptions of service quality.

This work is tentative in nature so it is not possible to generalise the findings to a wider context. However, it suggests that this area needs much more detailed and in‐depth investigation.

Managers need to be aware of the complexity of customers' service quality perceptions in a business‐to‐business context. They must consider dynamics, actions of other actors and how best to demonstrate their expertise and experience.

The findings of this research, although only exploratory, are significant because they are one of the few pieces of research into business‐to‐business service quality in which perceptions of quality from both sides of the dyad are collected and analysed.

The purpose of the paper is to examine shifts in sales organizations utilized to sell services to business‐to‐business customers. The paper also examines the changes expected in personal selling and sales management.

Extant academic literature and emerging practices are examined to determine trends.

The paper suggests that the traditional service‐focused sales organization is evolving in two distinct directions. First, enhanced sales automation is resulting in a reduction in salespeople's contact with customers. Second, an enhancement in the level of customer contact is leading to a growth of customer‐focused sales organizations and an increase in global account management teams.

Additional research is needed in this area.

Changes are required in the manner in which personal selling and sales management is practiced in organizations. Firms need to make these changes or their sales forces will be less efficient and less effective.

This important area is very infrequently examined in literature. This is the first attempt to examine this area.

Service quality has been widely examined in the area of consumer research. The SERVQUAL scale, in particular, has been used to examine consumer perceptions of service quality as well as the communication of service quality cues in advertising. The literature suggests that service quality is an important purchasing criterion among business customers; however, no studies have examined how service quality is communicated through advertisements targeting business customers, as opposed to general consumers. SERVQUAL consists of five dimensions of service quality ‐ assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and tangibles. Using these dimensions as a basis for the study, a content analysis revealed that advertisements targeting business customers communicate service quality differently than ads targeting general consumers.

The aim of this article is to increase knowledge of the nature of quality in the business‐to‐business market by focusing on the individual and company level aspects of quality. This is relevant because the distinction between individual and company levels in the context of quality has received very little attention in the literature. Also, there is little knowledge of the processes that can lead to quality trade‐off situations between organizational and individual goals.

This article is based on empirical qualitative study on quality in business‐to‐business professional services.

This article introduces the concepts of quality for the individual and for the company in the business‐to‐business market. It also contributes by explaining and analyzing processes increasing the likelihood of trade‐off between quality for the individual and quality for the company.

The present study is characterized by the general limitations: lack of statistical reliability and validity; can be used to generate hypotheses but not to test them; and generalizations cannot be made. The following avenues for further research can be suggested. The role of rational and emotional elements should be examined in more detail. The overtime development of quality for the individual and for the company during a long‐term relationship would be an interesting topic for an in‐depth research. Dimensions of quality for the individual and for the company and their priorities may vary in different cultures; a cross‐cultural survey would be required to shed light on this issue.

The managerial implications of the present study are also discussed including several practical examples of aspects and challenges related to quality for the individual and for the company.

The findings and concepts introduced in this article contribute to the literature because the distinction between individual and company levels in the context of quality has received very little attention in the earlier research. Also, there is little empirical knowledge of the processes that can lead to quality trade‐off situations between organizational and individual goals.

Drawing on insights from the extant service‐quality literature (which is dominated by an end‐consumer focus), this paper examines customer service in business‐to‐business markets. It first presents a typology of seller‐customer links and discusses the domain of customer service in business‐to‐business contexts. It then develops a research agenda by identifying a variety of issues pertaining to the scope, measurement, and potential impact of customer service in such contexts. It is hoped that this agenda will stimulate further discussion on the role of customer service in business and industrial marketing, and motivate much‐needed research on this topic.