ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the trends in thinking about business to business (B2B) marketing, and considers some of the possibilities implicit in current developments. The growth in the number of media outlets corresponding to the growing number of investors has made business a popular subject for far more individuals than in the past. In the B2B arena, postmodernism can explain the blurring of boundaries between companies. Relationship marketing has failed to deliver in consumer markets, but it appears to have scored notable successes in the B2B arena. B2B marketing will be strongly affected by three major trends, namely, globalization vs. anti-globalization, rapidly changing technology, and increased visibility. Globalization has been made possible in part by rapidly changing technology and these changes in technology measurably increase the visibility of marketing actions; and because globalization exists, companies are more visible as well. Czinkota and Ronkainen identified the drivers of globalization, namely, market factors, cost factors, environmental factors, and competitive factors.