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Today, technology companies are paying increased attention to the provision of digital services, and business customers’ actual usage process has become a pivotal concern. Thus, technology companies are turning their focus to customer value created during usage processes, referred to as “value-in-use”. This implies that the entire organization and ist ecosystem must adapt accordingly. This qualitative study identifies and classifies concrete fields of action for the sales team structure, the sales role itself, the selling process, and the customer-supplier relationship. The results shed light on a value-in-use-oriented sales approach for digital services that is currently implemented in the technology industry. The theoretical contributions include a holistic perspective on a changing business environment and its impact on the sales organization as well as an explicit focus on value-in-use. Managerial implications include recommendations to adjust recruitment and training activities based on developments in the team structure and a salesperson’s individual skills as well as to strengthen and extend the customer-supplier relationship.

Supporting consumers’ value-in-use (ViU) emergence throughout a usage process has become increasingly challenging as, in today’s environment, usage has shifted from discrete events to continuous e-service interactions. Although researchers acknowledge that ViU is dynamic and evolves over time, most studies treat it as a static concept. Using the empirical context of language learning applications, the authors adopt a dynamic perspective on e-service ViU and extend it with regulatory mode theory using a qualitative approach. By applying the underlying functions of self-regulation: locomotion and assessment, the authors investigate how ViU emerges throughout a usage process and establish an eight-stage ViU emergence process, ranging from initial trigger to termination. By examining a consumer’s usage, assessments, and movements, practitioners can pinpoint a consumer’s location in the ViU emergence process and take appropriate measures to further promote ViU emergence in e-services.

Using a single case study of a multinational industrial organization, this article examines the journey of a large technology manufacturer from goods-dominant logic to service-dominant logic. The findings indicate that four external factors – investors, competing forces in the market, customers and technological advancements – drive this reconfiguration. In addition, the study discusses four propositions that support the internal transformation process: First, a formal redefinition process of corporate cultural values facilitates the transformation to service-dominant logic. Second, new value creation practices in separate settings help transformation proceed more quickly. Third, restricting the transformation to deliberately selected markets and to complementary business models mitigates the risk of resistance. Fourth, setting the company in a pivotal position in the ecosystem leverages existing strengths. The results bring empirical insights to a research discussion that to date has been predominantly shaped by theoretical contributions. With this paper, we provide a contribution to the quest for more midrange theories in further developing the service-dominant logic of marketing.

This study shows that providers increasingly adapt their marketing practices to customers’ usage processes, particularly with regard to how they manage individual goal achievement, ensure continuou...

In business-to-business markets, customers can use a supplier's perceived country of origin as a cue in assessing that supplier; this inference making results in stereotypical supplier evaluation criteria which are the basis for country-of-origin evaluations. To date, these criteria have not been established properly by an empirical study. Using a qualitative approach, the current study uncovers a fuller picture of the stereotypical criteria behind this inference. Using the repertory grid method, the authors interview 30 purchasing agents from car manufacturers in three European countries. Through this empirical study, they outline a system of nine categories that are conceptually examined and result in the conclusion that stereotypical supplier evaluation criteria reflect a customer-perceived interpretation of suppliers' organizational competences.

This study explores the motivational reasons for and against adopting curated retailing in fashion and apparel, which little extant research addresses. In curated fashion retailing, stylists create personalized outfits to assist consumers with their shopping. Because consumers vary in their demands, retailers must understand the different factors influencing individual adoption decisions. For this purpose, we conducted 54 semi-structured interviews with consumers and non-consumers of curated fashion as well as stylists. The study enhances knowledge of online shopping motivation in consulting-intensive retail sectors and provides further evidence of the influence of contextual factors on shopping motivations. Most notably, we identify unique factors of customized solutions, a characteristic feature of curated fashion retailing. From a managerial standpoint, our findings provide retailers a lens through which they can better target marketing activities and improve sales training.

Culture likely affects the choice of negotiation strategies significantly, and culture-dependent preferences for negotiation strategies could lead to conflict when negotiations cross borders. Negotiators often regard some degree of adaptation to the culture of their negotiation partner as a solution to such conflicts. The authors test this suggested solution in an asymmetric setting, in which a solo (outnumbered) negotiator faces a team. Two studies that employ web-based negotiation simulations show that only solo negotiators adapt to the negotiation strategies of their team counterpart. In a third study that uses a symmetric (solo–solo) setting, the adaptation effect disappears. These studies thus illustrate the greater social impact of teams versus solo negotiators. For outnumbered negotiators, adaptation is particularly beneficial (i.e., increases negotiation profit) if it involves an increased use of integrative strategies. The degree to which negotiators succeed in intercultural negotiations thus depends on their counterpart’s (team’s) culture.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the use of deceptive negotiation tactics to explain why teams can attain higher negotiation profits than individual negotiators. The study distinguishes deception by commission (i.e. active misrepresentation of preferences) from deception by omission (i.e. passive misrepresentation of preferences).Design/methodology/approachThe sample used to test the mediation hypothesis was made up of data from two electronically mediated negotiation simulations encompassing 75 negotiation dyads with 278 participants. The methodology involved coding deceptive negotiation tactics from the log files by counting utterances related to indifference options that enabled negotiation parties to deceive.FindingsThe results show that teams do apply deceptive negotiation tactics more frequently than individual negotiators and that this behavior helps them increase their negotiation profits.Originality/valueThe findings are valuable for two reasons. First, the study included controls for other important antecedents of deceptive behavior and negotiation outcome (e.g. negotiators’ nationalities, first bids). Consequently, the empirical results underline the importance of considering team size to understand its impact on profits through the use of deceptive tactics. Second, although this study does show that deception increases negotiation profits, the absolute level of deception is rather small (on average just one deceptive statement per negotiation).

Recently, researchers have prioritized studying service and value creation, which has led to extensive conceptual and empirical literature on the subject. However, models are missing that link existing research on value creation and apply it in a concrete service marketing business context. This article explores how value-in-use must be enabled before entering the relational business solution creation process. Drawing from extant literature, the authors develop a conceptual model with four interrelated elements—solution objectives, resource requirements, assessment and customer–provider interaction. These elements must be aligned iteratively to enable value-in-use. The current study integrates the proposed model into the overarching context of the solution process that culminates with experienced value-in-use. The findings significantly extend the current view of value-in-use as a determining variable when creating business solutions.

Through 31 in-depth interviews with customers and providers of knowledge-intensive business service solutions, this article explores their view on customers' contribution to value (co)-creation. First, the study defines five internal factors that prompt customers to engage with providers for value (co)-creation and discusses unique factors that influence how customers define their needs before engaging a solution provider. In addition, the study suggests extending the known solution process by proposing the problem and need definition phase to reflect the customer's early activities. The results support the theory that customers define their typical needs not only to aid them in selecting the right provider but also to use their awareness of possible issues to guide the solution process. Providers benefit from this definition in that they gain a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities in the process. Second, the study identifies eight variables that typically enable value (co)-creation. The findings show that customers should focus their activities on those variables and providers should identify possible customer shortcomings so that they can compensate for them.

The paper focuses on the solution business. Here we argue that the strategy can only lead a company to perform better if it encompasses a direct and positive effect on satisfaction with a supplier’s consulting capabilities. Hence we introduce the concept of consulting satisfaction, identify antecedents and analyze its consequences. To do so, we apply a mixed-methods approach. Content analysis from open interviews with company professionals yields a list of antecedents of consulting satisfaction used to devise a set of hypotheses. The latter was translated into a questionnaire based measurement instrument in order to first collect and then analyze data from a larger sample survey. Since three of the antecedents could not be supported by our study, possible explanations are presented. With our approach we tap new dimensions of solutions research. First, we inaugurate research on buying behavior within the field of solutions. Second, we stress the role of capabilities in this field and extend service–profit chain thinking. And third, we present consulting satisfaction as a lever to translate the S-D logic of marketing into more practical applications. To our knowledge this is a novel insight and can help industry decision makers better prepare for the solution business.

Many modern business negotiations cross borders, and one plausible idea for successfully managing such negotiations is to equip negotiation teams with a “cultural moderator,” an individual who has the same cultural background as the business partner. This study investigates the effect of cultural moderators on both the negotiation process (e.g., use of integrative strategies) and economic outcomes (e.g., profit). Using German and French negotiators in an experimental setting, the authors show that a cultural moderator's influence on the team's use of integrative strategies depends on the moderator's degree of collectivism. With respect to economic outcomes, the presence of a cultural moderator always improves a team's results. Together, these findings suggest that the benefits of using a cultural moderator are not unconditional; rather, they depend on the cultural moderator's cultural background and on the negotiation goals (process vs. outcome) of the team that employs the moderator.

PurposeCustomer decision‐making uncertainty (DMU) is a persistent phenomenon in business‐to‐business markets. However, there is substantial variation in the degree to which customers perceive DMU and how suppliers should react to it. The purpose of this paper is to explain variation in customer decision‐making uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachBased on existing industrial buying typologies, this paper proposes a new classification scheme to explain variance in customer decision‐making uncertainty. Market offering complexity and co‐creation are used as defining dimensions in the construction of four archetypal types of industrial market offerings.FindingsThe paper demonstrates on a theoretical level that customer decision‐making uncertainty is especially prevalent in complex offerings characterized by high degrees of co‐creation.Practical implicationsThis typology helps to provide a more nuanced understanding of the effects of co‐creation on customer value. Firms should adapt their selling approaches to the degree of complexity and co‐creation that they offer their customers.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper rests in explaining customer decision‐making uncertainty in relation to complexity and co‐creation. Thus, it sheds light on the dark side of co‐creating market offerings.

In recent years, industrial manufacturers around the world have deployed growing efforts in developing services in addition to their traditional product business in order to secure long-term growth and to remain competitive in the marketplace. Against this background, the present article introduces the reader to this special issue. It first recalls key aspects of the emerging service-dominant logic of marketing and examines how it relates to the business marketing field. It then illustrates the challenges faced by top executives of industrial companies in the transition from a product-centric to a service-centric business perspective through an interview with the managing director of ThyssenKrupp Service AG. After discussing how the articles included in this special issue advance the extant literature on industrial services marketing, the article finally develops a number of directions for future research on services in business markets.

This article aims to provide a model with which to measure the degree of corporate social media use or, in other words, the extent to which companies are exploiting the potentialities of single or multiple social media platforms. This is, however, explicitly different from using metrics to assess the success of social media activities, as it is purely measuring how intensively a pre-defined group of social media is utilised, taking into account the frequency of social media activity by the brand as well as the related user reactions. The degree of corporate social media use helps companies and market researchers analyse single brands or companies and compare them with other brands, competitors or industry averages. The degree of corporate social media use is a useful indicator, which should be combined with social media metrics in order to draw better conclusions about where to increase or intensify social media activities.

PurposeTheories on industrial buying behavior differ fundamentally with regard to motivation and direction of industrial purchasing decisions. This becomes extremely in the case of new institutional economics, highlighting administrative aspects, and market process theory, focusing on entrepreneurial aspects of buying decisions. This paper aims to challenge these approaches by setting up an experimental design. Decisions of sales and purchasing managers were investigated with respect to their motivation of self‐protection or opportunity seeking.Design/methodology/approachThe contribution is based on an experimental design. The design is based on a prospect theory scenario. Prospect theory states that successful economic agents show a stronger tendency towards self‐protection, whereas under‐performing economic agents are willing to bear greater risks in search for opportunities.FindingsThe results suggest that indeed out‐performers show a tendency to risk avoidance and under‐performers are willing to bear more risks. The most important implication is that new institutional economics‐based approaches to buying behavior are not universally valid. However, they apply to specific situations. In that respect the contribution shows a direction for the proper application of transaction cost‐based concepts.Practical implicationsManagers are advised to take the economic performance of their customer companies into account. Outperforming companies are more responsive to measures for self‐protection. Under‐performing customers may be more tolerant towards risk if it is compensated with the expectation of better opportunities.Originality/valueThe empirical research is new in so far as it is the first to apply a prospect theory framework to a business market environment. The results show clearly that the methodology, as originally applied in prospect theory, needs refinement when transferred to a business market context.

The development of marketing as a discipline shows some differences between the US-dominated mainstream and theory emerging from Germany — particularly in the field of business-to-business marketing. Contemporary marketing thinking in this area in Germany is founded largely on institutional economics, with property rights theory, transaction cost economics (TCE), agency theory (AT) and information economics playing supporting roles. Based on these theories a ‘leistungs’ or ‘value’ approach has developed that permits the integration of concepts such as process thinking and services orientation in marketing with these other theories. An extended view of the system of marketing management is described that reveals new areas for marketing research and analysis in business-to-business marketing.

As a basis for successful business relationship management and marketing, managers need to understand the reasons for which customers keep on buying from the same supplier. This chapter uncovers those reasons based on the generic concept of a market transaction. To forego a transaction, the customer needs to perceive a customer benefit. In business relationships this customer benefit may come from either the elements of the exchange (as in spot market transactions) or from the bonds with a particular supplier. Both aspects are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the author takes the position of the supplier and describes how different contracting options can help its endeavors to bind the customer. The chapter is rounded off with the different phases of a business relationship and how the customer’s purchasing behavior may change over time.

Customer decision-making uncertainty (DMU) is a persistent phenomenon in business-to-business markets. However, there is substantial variation in the degree customers perceive DMU and hence suppliers should react to it. Based on existing industrial buying typologies, this paper proposes a new classification scheme to explain variance in customer DMU. To this end, market offering complexity and co-creation are used as defining dimensions and four ideal types of industrial market offerings are constructed. We show theoretically that DMU is especially prevalent for complex solutions. The paper closes with guidance for suppliers of industrial market offerings and an outlook for future research.