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The purpose of this paper is twofold: detecting, describing and providing a detailed understanding on the essence of buyer responses on the channel capability in deciding new product purchase; and describing the effectiveness of new product innovation related to the channel capability. The new product innovation intended here is an outcome of the brand strategy created by the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturer.

This research applies qualitative method and uses grounded theory approach and pragmatism interpretation, which are focused on FMCG. The approach chosen in research is grounded theory and pragmatism, parallel to the previous phenomenology and constructivism approach; therefore, the main data for this study use transcript records of the results of in-depth interviews in the field of study.

The research showed the following results: the channel capability aspects (warehouse space, shelf space and customer coverage) are the essence of buyers’ responses; construction of business buyer behavior and economic mechanism; the effectiveness of new product innovation; and channel capabilities of selling products.

The results of this research have some implications: developing the concept of business buyer behavior in a new-task purchase situation; expanding the micro-economic system of trading sector; and expanding the concept of marketing mix strategy.

Some of the theoretical implications are the originality of this research paper; therefore, the constructs will be described theoretically in order to provide practical understanding in some contexts of business importance.

To date, country-of-origin research has commonly explored structural relationships among country image (CI) constructs, together with attitudinal constructs, using a variety of halo, summary construct and flexible models, drawing on consumer samples. There has been no previous attempt to examine or synthesize these three models with respect to business-to-business (B2B) buying behavior. To fill this gap, this study reconceptualized these three models with B2B constructs using multi-cue settings and tested on B2B samples. This study aims to examine and estimate the relative impact of company- and country-specific images on B2B buyers’ evaluations of suppliers, and the direction of structural relationships with mediation among the constructs.

Data collection was administered through a web-based structured questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 276 purchasing managers. Structural equation modeling was used to test the study’s hypotheses.

Company image is significantly influenced by product country image (PCI) but not by overall CI. The existence of a significant relationship between PCI and perceived supplier performance in a multi-cue setting is an important new finding. In addition, company image significantly influences supplier performance and mediates the relationship between PCI and supplier performance. Among the three models that test structural relationships among CI and other constructs, the reconceptualized halo model fits the data best.

The study results revealed the contribution of company and country-related facets on B2B buyers’ perceptions of supplier performance while purchasing intermediate goods internationally. The significance of PCI on supplier performance emphasizes the strength of the industry sector within a country that may enable an industry to build a product-specific CI in international marketing.

This study advances the country-of-origin issue and debate concerning the strength of the country influence in the academic literature by addressing B2B buyers’ international purchasing behavior of intermediate goods. Additionally, the examination of multiple country facets, multi-cue settings and the CI influence structure in a single study, from a B2B perspective, offers a novel dimension to CI studies.

This study aims to explore if and how business-to-business (B2B) companies can use social media to influence the buying process.

The study uses an exploratory approach into the existing literature related to the B2B buying process and its relationship with social media.

The study shows that companies in a B2B context can use social media as a means of influencing the stages of the buying process by means of using one or more of the seven functional blocks of social media.

The findings demonstrate the relation that exists between each stage of the buyer process in a B2B organization and the functional blocks of social media. This study opens the door for further research into the influence of each of these blocks on the buying process stages and the roles involved.

This study identifies how social media’s blocks influence the different stages and how organizations can use that to their benefit.

Few studies have investigated the use of social media in a B2B context. However, not many have looked into the influence of social media in the B2B buying process and buying center. This study looks into the relationship between the buying process stages and social media’s functional blocks as related to the different roles of the buying center.

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a theoretical framework to examine business purchase decisions using the concept of “values” (personal values (PV), organizational values (OV) and values-congruency).

The data for the study were collected from members of the Supply Chain Management Association of Canada. The relationships between perceived PV/OV/ values-congruency (IVs) and perceived role values played in business purchase decisions (DV) were hypothesized. Three factors, namely, humanity, bottomline and convention were identified using exploratory factor analysis. The hypotheses were tested using polynomial regression, which is a preferred method for measuring congruency or fit (Edwards, 1994).

Perceived humanity (humaneness or benevolence) values of an organization were found to have a positive relationship with the perceived role that humanity and convention (risk aversion or compliance) values played in business purchase decisions. Perceived purchase function formalization within buying organizations was also found to have a positive relationship with the perceived role of humanity, bottomline and convention values played in business purchase decisions.

The study drew a relatively small convenience sample from a single industry association/country with a low response rate. It used the perceived role of values instead of behavioral intention or actual behavior to measure business purchasing behavior. McDonald and Gandz’s (1991; 1993) list of values may be more suitable to measure OV than PV. The study only considered the buyer side of purchase decisions and values to have positive characteristics.

Buying organizations may consider formalizing their purchase functions, clarifying their humaneness/benevolence and risk aversion/compliance values to their employees and vendors and incorporating them in the purchasing criteria/process. Similarly, selling organizations may benefit from considering these values of customers to position their products and services for better sales outcomes and business relationships.

The study explores the role of values in business purchase contexts by proposing and testing a theoretical framework. The study has implications for practitioners and academics in the field and identifies several areas for future research.

The paper seeks to examine the presence of coercion in the common use of reverse auctions for industrial procurement and spend management activities, and to illustrate the many problems that arise when purchasing and supply management is viewed by powerful buying organizations as a simple dyadic relationship with sellers.

The paper takes the form of a literature review, and analysis of the meaning of coercion, and supplier survey data.

Reverse auctions, as commonly used, are shown to be fundamentally coercive, with coercion being essential for achieving the outcomes that buyers seek.

Survey responses and findings that can be drawn from them are limited due to the small sample size. Reflects the dyadic nature of buyers' corporate codes of conduct in relation to the day‐to‐day practice of purchasing and supply management.

The existence of coercion indicates that reverse auctions are inconsistent with corporate codes of ethics or codes of conduct with respect to supplier relationships (e.g. fairness, honesty, and integrity). Reverse auctions are also shown to be inconsistent with US federal procurement standards and the Institute of Supply Management's “Principles and standards of ethical supply management conduct”.

The paper brings to the forefront the existence of psychological and economic coercion in the common use of reverse auctions, and discusses how this creates difficult problems for both buyers and sellers. It also presents alternative strategies that managers in buying and selling organizations can use instead of reverse auctions.

This paper aims to extend the known boundary conditions of the negative binomial distribution (NBD) model, and to test the applicability of conditional trend analysis (CTA) – a key method to identify whether changes in overall sales are accounted for by previous non-buyers, light buyers or heavy buyers – in industrial purchasing situations.

The study tested the NBD model and CTA in an industrial marketing context using a 12-month data set of purchases from an Australian supplier of a range of industrial plastic resins.

The purchase data displayed a good NBD fit; the study therefore extends the known boundary conditions of the model. The application of CTA provided second-period purchasing frequency estimates showing no significant difference from actual data, indicating the applicability of this method to industrial purchasing.

Data relate to just one supplier. Further research across several industries is required to confirm the generalizability and robustness of NBD and CTA to industrial markets.

Marketing decisions can be improved through appropriate analysis of customer purchasing data. However, without access to equivalent competitor data, industrial marketers are constrained in benchmarking the purchasing patterns of their own customers. The results indicate that use of the NBD model enables valid benchmarking for industrial products, while CTA would enable appropriate analysis of purchases by different classes of customer.

This paper extends the known boundary conditions of the NBD model and provides the first published results, indicating the appropriateness of CTA to predict purchasing frequencies of different industrial customer classes.

The purpose of this paper is to test the premise that brand growth can come from targeting the poorest consumers at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP). This study is the first that uses quantitative marketplace data covering BOP consumer purchase records.

The study uses newly available panel data from Egypt covering 15 months and 35 categories of frequently bought consumer goods. Brand penetration rates for socio-demographic tiers are established to explore brand purchasing. The metrics are: penetration, the number of buyers a brand has; and loyalty as measured by purchase frequency and share of category requirements.

Buyer behaviour patterns for the poorest consumers do not differ much from those in advanced economies; all brand performance metrics vary according to brand penetration – a double jeopardy effect, and the biggest brands are those that target the whole market, including the base.

Data are from one country only and while the results confirm that patterns of brand buying in this BOP segment are like those in other markets, more research needs to be done to confirm the finding.

The biggest brands are those with the most customers, even if those customers are poor and do not buy very often. Growth can therefore be based on marketing interventions that appeal to the largest possible customer base.

There are 2bn BOP consumers worldwide. This research shows that they may already be marginal members of modern economies and consumer culture.

This paper extends previous research on brand buying behaviour for the first time to the vast base of poor consumers who make up around half of the world’s population. This research shows that strategic approaches that emphasise increasing penetration are most likely to result in brand growth.

The purchasing of services is a significantly under-researched area. The purpose of this study is to suggest a conceptual model of service sourcing relationships, including the post-contract phase.

A qualitative methodology involving two longitudinal case studies that were analyzed with a grounded theory approach to build a conceptual model was applied.

The proposed model consists of a core process that is termed “business streamlining” and denotes the process by which four interrelated dimensions are managed to making the business processes of the buying organization simpler and more effective and/or productive.

Although the research methodology is qualitative and does not allow statistical generalization, the study does provide valuable insights into the management of the service sourcing process.

The model proposed in this study can be utilized by managers to impose a useful conceptual structure on otherwise fluid and intangible processes, which makes them easier to analyze and facilitates strategic corporate decision-making.

The paper proposes a model that grasps the dynamics and reality of service (out-) sourcing relationships, including the ongoing relationship management process.

After pioneering, but insular, work on the conceptualization and measurement of customer value in business markets undertaken in the 80s and 90s, interest in this topic is substantial since the beginning of this decade. Despite this recent interest, marketing scholars concur that value in business markets is still an under-researched subject. This contribution to the debate is threefold. The paper first proposes an own model of customer value conceptualization in business markets; based on several rounds of testing this theoretically grounded model in managerial practice indications exist to conclude that this model may offer benefits over current models.

Secondly, the paper provides a comprehensive survey of pricing approaches in industrial markets. The paper integrates this literature overview with own empirical findings. Concurrently the paper summarizes extant research on the link between pricing approach and profitability in industrial markets. The paper thirdly proposes a framework for value delivery and value-based pricing strategies in industrial markets. Proposing such a framework is both useful as well as necessary. Useful, since this framework guides new product development and pricing decisions and assists in the implementation of price-repositioning strategies for existing products; necessary, since the theoretical and practical adoption of value-based delivery and pricing strategies may have suffered from the lack of a unifying conceptual framework. Two case studies, one involving the pricing decision for a major product launch at a global chemical company, the other involving value delivery at an industrial equipment manufacturer, illustrate the practical applicability of the proposed framework.

The literature has traditionally argued that marketing in firms serving consumer markets is, and should be, different from that in firms serving business markets. This research investigates the marketing practices of 279 firms in Canada and New Zealand to examine the relevance of the consumer/B2B dichotomy in the context of a contemporary conceptual framework. The results show that while consumer firms are somewhat more transactional in their approach to the market and B2B firms are more relational, overall patterns of marketing practice are similar across firm type. Theoretical, practical, and research implications are discussed.