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Business‐to‐business marketing has come of age in the last three decades and research in this area has been extensive and impressive. This paper examines the extant body of business‐to‐business marketing research and identifies surpluses and shortages with the goal of stimulating future research.

This paper focuses on two questions regarding future business‐to business marketing. First, what has been the focus of understanding in business‐to‐business marketing theory and what should be its future focus? Second, what has been the purpose or objective to study business‐to‐business marketing and what should be the future objective for research?

It is found that research in business‐to‐business marketing is fundamentally changing and will continue to change. The paper identifies areas of business‐to‐business marketing research that have received surplus attention and areas that require additional attention.

The paper provides guidelines for future exploration of the business‐to‐business research domain.

The paper is analogous to the widely cited paper by Sheth (1979) that reviewed the state of consumer behavior research and identified areas that had been unexplored or under‐explored, and in the process provided an impetus for new research in consumer behavor.

With the publication of Volume 10 Number 4 1995, the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing (JBIM) celebrated its tenth anniversary. Over the years, JBIM has emerged as a leading journal in the area of business‐to‐business marketing. To commemorate this achievement, examines the contributions of the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing to the marketing field, in general, and to the more specific sub‐area of business‐to‐business marketing in particular. To accomplish this, reviews the origins of JBIM and provides an analysis of the nature of the articles published and contributors’ backgrounds. In addition, presents an overview of the journal’s history, contributions and content, along with some interesting summary statistics. Finally, discusses JBIM’s past and present objectives, as well as its current positioning, recent developments and future directions.

This study focuses on the triadic multilevel psychic distance (MPD) between the firm, target market and bridge-maker and its consequences for firm internationalization. Specifically, it spotlights the triadic psychic distance between firms, the levels of psychic distance in the target market (country and business) and the bridge-maker. Therefore, this study examines the triadic MPD among these three entities and its impact on firm internationalization.

This study uses qualitative and case study research approaches. It is based on 8 case companies and 24 internationalization cases. Secondary data were collected, and interviews with bridge-makers and industry experts were conducted.

The study found that MPD appeared in the triad. The MPD between firms and markets is related to country-specific differences and business difficulties. The MPD between the firm and the bridge-maker is based on the latter’s lack of knowledge vis-à-vis bridging the firm’s MPD. Finally, the MPD between bridge-makers and the market is based on the former’s lack of knowledge of the home country’s business difficulties.

This is the first study to develop and adopt a triadic multilevel psychic distance conceptualization that provides evidence for and sheds light on the triadic MPD and its effect on firm internationalization. This study identifies the reasons behind triadic MPD in connection to firm internationalization. Notably, firm internationalization is interdependent on the triadic MPD setting between the firm, bridge-maker and target market. It has theoretical value and contributes to the recent advancement in the understanding of MPD in international marketing literature.

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.

The corporate ethical behavior is a subject that instigates the reflection and practice of researchers and managers in general. Companies dedicate efforts to offer something valuable to society, making profits and usually doing it in compliance with the current legal system. Specifically in marketing activities, there is a higher potential for conflict between the business conduct and the expectations of society. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ethical gap of the marketing activities of companies in the Brazilian and French markets.

As a conceptual framework, the authors adopted the main theories on marketing activities, ethical behavior in marketing and business conduct. The field research was divided into three stages: qualitative research with experts, quantitative research with business managers and validation of results with experts. The analysis of results of the quantitative research with business managers was supported by multivariate analysis techniques, namely, descriptive analysis, cluster analysis and regression analysis.

In the analysis of results of this study, the authors present the main marketing behaviors in the perception of business ethics in the Brazilian and French markets. In addition, as the main result of the research studies, the authors propose a model for the analysis of ethical gaps in marketing.

The paper proposes a model of analysis of ethical gaps in marketing that relates the omissive and comissive behaviors according to the pressure that society imposes on markets.

The paper presents the main marketing behaviors in the perception of business ethics in the Brazilian and French markets. Thus, understanding what are the main marketing behaviors associated with the perception of business ethics allows the organization to leverage its marketing behaviors that are more positive and further develop less positive marketing behaviors.

As the main contribution, this paper proposes a model of analysis of ethical gaps in marketing that relates the omissive and comissive behaviors according to the pressure that society imposes on markets. The model allows the identification of the negative marketing behaviors in the four quadrants designated as opportunism, negligence, recklessness and incompetence. By mapping the problems, it is possible to minimize or eliminate the differences between the marketing behaviors of the company and the expectations of society.

Tests the relevance of positioning within the domain of business marketing through the application of a new typology of positioning strategies. The proposed typology is tested in a well‐established market sector which is characterised by commodity products and consequently the research deals with positioning as applied to actual companies rather than specific brands. Our results offer strong support as to the stability of the proposed typology and the relevance of the concept of positioning in business markets. The authors suggest that although business positioning is predominantly determined by hard criteria (e.g. product quality) and relationship building factors (e.g. personal contact), other considerations such as company structures (i.e. geographical coverage), breadth of offerings and degree of integration (i.e. location in the distribution chain), also play an important part. Finally, we offer support to the claim that, level of familiarity with a specific company is a contributing factor to perceptions of the pursued positioning strategies.

This paper aims to focus on changes in the way in which business‐to‐business companies are responding to customer and market pressures for higher service and relational investments, and the need for new capabilities in managing the business risk in the company's customer portfolio. The paper seeks to propose a model of the strategic sales organization as a basis for management review of how to realign sales, account management, and marketing processes around customers to achieve and sustain superior customer value.

The study traces the emergence of new pressures and mandates which are changing management thinking about the “front‐end” of organizations and edging companies towards a revolution in the role of sales, account management and marketing comparable to earlier reinventions in operations and supply chain strategy.

The outcome of the review is a model of the imperatives for the strategic sales organization.

The model produced in the review provides a tool or framework for executive consideration of the strategic sales issue, both in evaluating the strategic role and performance of the existing sales and account management structures and in designing new roles for delivering competitive strength in the future.

While the strategic role of the sales organization has been discussed in the literature, this paper provides a practical framework for executives to use in addressing the potential role of the strategic sales organization. The framework also highlights promising research directions for marketing and sales scholars.

The Great Benchmarking Scam? Time was, in management circles, that the term “benchmarking” would induce none‐too‐disguised yawns in recognition of it “being something to do with computers or job evaluation”. Not today; those yawns have been replaced with the excited management‐blabber of a new fad. You can benchmark anything these days; I encountered recently a guide to benchmarking employee attitudes.

The purpose of this study is to identify the types and features of business relationship when the value co-creation phenomenon is extended to an early stage of the value chain, in which technological innovation is essential, in a high-tech business-to-business (B2B) market.

The methodology of building a theory from a case study is adopted in this study to propose an early-stage value co-creation network. Qualitative data are coded on the basis of grounded theory coding after collecting the triangulation data from multiple sources.

In a high-tech B2B market, three types of business relationships (supplier–customer mutual, supplier-centric and network-based business relationships) co-create values at an early stage of the value chain. Intellectual resource, efficiency resource and supplier-centric business relationships are uniquely found in this stage.

This study provides new insight suggesting that the notion of value co-creation can be extended to early stages of the value chain in a high-tech B2B market. In addition, this research identifies vital business relationships and how these relationships develop successfully at an early-stage value co-creation network in a high-tech B2B market.

Technology development managers at an early stage of the value chain can co-create relationship benefits by building proposed business relationships integrating resources in a high-tech B2B market. In addition, marketing managers should consider the early stage as another source of value co-creation.

The notion of value co-creation is extended from the later stage to an early stage of the value chain in a high-tech B2B market. Consolidated framework of a value co-creation network integrating actors, resources and relationships, suggested in this study, will be valuable for further theoretical research and business application.

Presents an assessment of the marketing practices among African and Caribbean small businesses in London. Findings reveal the patchy application of an adapted market orientation framework; also indicates “informal” marketing deliberations taking place and is consistent with Stokes and Blackburn’s assertion that marketing in the small business sector seems to be an informal and unplanned activity that relies on the intuition and energy of the owner‐manager. The study was undertaken in response to calls for marketing‐related research in this sector and the results provide valuable insights into the UK’s intercultural dynamics. The study reveals considerable degree of evenness between the ease or difficulty of securing bank loans. The paper concludes by drawing attention to managerial implications and future research directions.