1,721,054 research outputs found
B2B is not an island!
No full textPurpose – With B2B (business-to-business) and new developments in marketing as the springboard, to emphasize the necessity of heeding complexity and context by addressing marketing as a coherent, relational system.
Methodology/approach – Conceptual analysis based on new developments in marketing, network theory, and case study research.
Findings – First, any company or marketing situation directly or indirectly embraces both B2B and B2C (business-to-consumer) issues. Second, recent marketing theory points to changing roles between suppliers and customers. Two of these developments, many-to-many marketing as a broadening of relationship marketing (RM) and CRM (customer relationship management), and the service dominant logic (S-D logic) stress C2B (consumer-to-business) and C2C (customer-to-customer) interaction, exposing the customer’s active role. Third, a practitioner contribution, the cross-disciplinary IBM service science program, is enrolling academic research and education in the development of more functional and seamless service systems that work in real settings. Fourth, the conventional divide in goods and services marketing is conceptually dissolved in favor of supplier-customer interaction leading to value propositions and the co-creation of value.
Research implications – B2B, B2C/C2B and C2C aspects are part of an integrated, complex context. Case study research and network theory allow researchers to address complexity and context to come forward. Network theory should be used in all marketing and not only on B2B. Definitions, categories and concepts in use need to be constantly evaluated as to validity and relevance for contemporary and future marketing. The conventional economic sectors (manufacturing, services, agriculture) are supplier-centric whereas marketing prescribes customer-centricity. By focusing on continuous theory generation, an open source code and mass collaboration, “testing” and critiquing theory is superfluous; instead generate better theory to replace previous theory. Treat marketing as an aspect of all company activities; in a network every node and link can affect every other.
Practical implications – For marketers to better overview complexity and context of their specific marketing situations, to systematically observe relational phenomena and the customer’s role, and as a consequence better foresee opportunities and avoid mistakes in their marketing planning.
Originality/value – In the light of new research and conceptualization, the article offers a network view which is only marginally represented in research and education in marketing. With bigger and more global systems and growing dependency on software and the Internet, the need to address integrated systems becomes urgent. The dependency between B2B and B2C has been noted before but we go further and treat these as perspectives of a grander marketing context and not as independent categories. The analysis of B and C combinations displays the broadened role of customers in value networks. Goods and services are intertwined and can only be overviewed by means of systems and network theory. In the new logic of service and value creation, marketing categories are being dissolved and the reductionism and linearity of Western science are being challenged in favor of a broader network approach.
Key words - Network theory, many-to-many marketing, service-dominant logic, service science, case study research
The 2009 Naples Forum on Service: Service-Dominant Logic, Service Science and Network Theory
No full textThe discussion was about marketing theory, rapidly followed by management, in which discipline advances needed new approaches, new grand theories, renewed paradigms (Gummesson, 2002; Goshal, 2005). Intriguing issues such as complexity, system thinking, human behavior, vitality, service systems were addressed, still we were not able to focus the main research lack. Cultural and behavioral change of customers, globalization of systems and competition, information and communication technology with the Internet and web service, and other changes – all require new marketing and management theory. New approaches to marketing have been brewing for the past three decades challenging the 1960s marketing management and marketing mix. These include service marketing and management, relationship marketing and CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and relational and network applications in B2B (business-to-business) marketing. We are left with a fragmented and confusing view. The discipline has reached a turning point calling for more systemic and integrative theory. The attention deserved to Service research, indeed, was growing rapidly worldwide, but Europe, and especially southern Europe was far behind, and needed to catch up. Service Science and S-D logic took the first steps, still there was something missing. And then it came. Far from solving the problem, long distance discussions between Stockholm, Cassino and Naples gave rise to the idea that research and discussion had to address jointly these topics, maybe supported by a general theory, through network theory (and more specifically by Many-to-Many marketing and the Viable System Approach).
Why connecting the themes? The themes are interdependent, integrative one to each other. S-D logic dissolves the divides between goods/services and supplier/customer into co-created service and value. It forms a philosophy for the service science project and its applications in education, theory, and practice in its effort to create hassle-free, innovative service systems. Network theory is a systemic way of thinking and a methodology to go beyond fragmented research in marketing addressing complexity and context with direct application on service systems. The three themes of the 2009 Naples Forum on Service– currently catching the imagination of scholars and practitioners worldwide – represent efforts in that direction
The 2011 Naples Forum on Service - Service Dominant logic, Network & Systems Theory and Service Science
No full textNew approaches to service and marketing have been brewing for the past four decades challenging the 1960s marketing management and marketing mix (which were once a challenge to microeconomic theory focused solely on price). The new approaches included service marketing and management, relationship marketing and CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and relational and network applications in B2B (business-to-business) marketing. But we were left with a fragmented and confusing view. Service research had been growing worldwide, but after a few decades of pioneering contributions we felt that it had reached a state of complacency.
The focus was on the past with a backpack of intersubjectively approved but often doubtful assumptions. The disciplines of business and management had reached a turning point calling for more systemic and integrative theory with scholars who dare address real world complexity with adequate methodology.
In the 2000s service has become the unifying concept for a new way of perceiving not only business but also the role of governments. The new millennium began well by presenting new approaches: service-dominant (S-D) logic, service science, and the more general theories many-to-many marketing and the Viable Systems Approach (VSA) based on a systemic view and relationships, networks and interaction. These recognize the weaknesses of the mainstream service research and offer new conceptualization. They open up for complexity, context, interdependencies, and theory generation. Some of this was already there but it had been held back in the literature and at conferences.
We now refer to the foundation of service theory as the 3 Pillars of Service. How we see them is further explained on our website: www.naplesforumonservice.i
The 2013 Naples Forum on Service. Service-Dominant Logic, Network & Systems Theory and Service Science
No full textThe Naples Forum on Service is here for the third time. The first two on Capri (in 2009 and 2011), each had 150 participants from 25 countries representing 5 continents. This was more than we had expected and as many as we could manage and still keep a close and intimate atmosphere. For the 2013 Forum we change to the neighboring island of Ischia, a charming venue with hot springs and spas.
When the ideas of the Naples Forum started to brew we thought of an interactive conference focused on the future of service and marketing, a conference that should make a difference and contribute to a revival of our disciplines.
Service research and System Thinking got under way 40 years ago and it is only now that we are beginning to sense the full picture of our economies as complex networks of service systems with a mission to enhance value for consumers, citizens, businesses and society as a whole
Value and networks as cornerstones of the marketing discipline. Editoriale dello Special Issue di Mercati & Competitività
No full textIntegrating the 3 Pillars of the 2011 Naples Forum on Service: S-D Logic, Network & Systems Theory and Service Science
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