Business-to-Business Marketing

Module description

The B2B Marketing module takes the view that all managers need to understand business-to-business (B2B) commerce in national and globalised economies. Half of all economic activity involves purchases by organisations, rather than by individual consumers – with IBM, Amazon, Alibaba, Accenture, and Deloitte all examples of great B2B companies. To thrive in business markets, managers in all functions need to understand the importance and complexity of inter-organisational relationships and networks.

With companies and economies striving to accelerate growth in markets disrupted by digitisation and globalisation, the role of innovation within business ecosystems, and digital marketing in B2B contexts, will be given particular consideration.

Most organisations lack a clear value proposition. Throughout this module you will work with local B2B organisations to develop their value proposition, considering the role of the whole organisation in delivering differentiation that matters.

Internationalisation: You will assess how the international sourcing of components and business services relies on complex B2B relationships managed across time zones, involving major cultural differences between companies, individuals and networks.

Employability: With half the world’s economic activity and employment within B2B markets, increased understanding of B2B marketing will strongly support career development, creating opportunities beyond the more regularly studied Business to Consumer (B2C) environment.

Sustainability: The module analyses how ethics and sustainability influence B2B relationships, and how a proactive B2B marketing stance in these areas can lead to business growth.

External Engagement: an external speaker will be invited.

Ethics and Corporate Responsibility: the module will look at ethics and corporate responsibility through case studies discussed during the module.

Research in Teaching: the module will draw on research articles in the first instance; use the module leader’s research expertise in the areas of discussion; and engage you in independent research to produce a case study.

Full module specification

Module aims

Whatever the market, trust and the ability to develop business relationships continue to lie at the heart of successful Business-to-Business Marketing (B2B) activity.  In our increasingly interdependent world, winning requires more than just delivering on your own promises. It means ensuring – through B2B relationships – that an ecosystem of partners – some visible, some hidden – deliver on their promises, too.

The module explores how great B2B companies make themselves, and their product/service portfolios essential and sustainable within business ecosystems.

The key objectives of the module are to connect you with innovative business thinking in the areas of:

• The critical nature of B2B marketing in navigating and managing the innovation and operational ecosystems on which organisational success depends
• Emerging business models in increasing digitally-dependent B2B environments
• Designing and exploiting high impact value propositions
• Understanding how B2B marketing and relationships influence successful B2C marketing activities

The module will build on ideas that have been presented in the earlier core marketing module.

ILO: Module-specific skills

• 1. critically evaluate the nature and importance of B2B transactions to all consumer and business transactions worldwide, considering how B2B the importance of B2B services in particular.
• 2. appraise the role of Customer Relationship Management and Key Account Management within simple and complex B2B relationships.
• 3. assess the role of innovation within B2B relationships.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

• 4. explain the buying process, why this process can vary with culture and markets, and the critical role of decision-making units (DMUs).
• 5. design, communicate and deliver compelling value propositions that drive product and service adoption within value networks.
• 6. evaluate the role of innovation in inter-organizational relationships.
• 7. assess how sales team leadership and management drive Key Account Management and pro-active pricing models.

ILO: Personal and key skills

• 8. demonstrate consultancy skills in assessing and communicating the internal and external strengths and weaknesses of organizations.
• 9. identify the key external and internal areas that should be analyzed when formulating marketing plans, including the importance of internal and external relationships and networks.
• 10. explain how co-creation skills are best deployed within business networks.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

The students will be asked to re-do the initial assignment.

Syllabus plan

The Significance of B2B Marketing

Organizational Buying Behaviour,

Inter-Organizational Relationships (IORs)

Marketing Channels & Supply Chains

Industrial Networks and the Adoption Chain

B2B Marketing, Planning, Analysis, Strategy and Implementation

Business Products, Value and Pricing

Business Services

Value Proposition development

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Indicative Reading:

Adner, R (2012) The Wide Lens, Penguin

Brennan, R. , Canning, L and McDowell, R (2014) Business-to-Business Marketing, Sage

Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y. Bernarda, G., and Smith, A. (2014) Value Proposition Design, Wiley

Dew, R., Russell, B., Allen, C. Bej, G. (2020), Lean CX: How to Differentiate at Low Cost and Least Risk,  De Gruyter

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4354

Origin date

25/11/2014

Last revision date

17/09/2020