Until today, scholars claim that the phenomenon of “co-creation” of value in an “interacted” economy and in the context of positive actor-to-actor relationships has not been adequately explored. This study aims to first to identify and separate the accessible values of internet of things (IoT)-based business models for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) customer groups. It quantifies the drivers to successfully implement disruptive business models. Data were gathered from 292 customers in Western Europe. The conceptual framework was tested using partial least square structural equation modeling. Managing disruptions in the digital age is closely related to the fact that the existing trust in buyer-seller relationships is not enough to accept IoT projects. A company’s digitalization capabilities, satisfaction with the existing relationship and trust in the IoT credibility of the manufacturer drives the perceived value of IoT-based business models in B2B settings. Contrastingly, in B2G settings, money is less important. Research refers to one business field, the data set is of European origin only. Findings indicate that the drivers to engage in IoT-related projects differ significantly between the customer groups and therefore require different marketing management strategies. Saving time today is more important to B2G buyers than saving money. The disparate nature of B2B and B2G buyers indicates that market segmentation and targeted marketing must be considered before joint-venturing in IoT business models. To joint venture supply chain partners co-creating value in the context of IoT-related business models, relationship management should be focused with buyers on the same footing, as active players and co-developers of a personalized experience in digital service projects. Diverging from established studies focusing on the relationship within a network of actors, this study defines disruptive business models and identifies its drivers in B2B and B2G relationships. This study proposes joint venturing with B2B and B2G customers to overcome the perceived risk of these IoT-related business models. Including customers in platforms and networks may lead to the co-creation of value in joint IoT projects.

In this conceptual paper the authors provide a new approach for sales excellence in the digital era. Besides clarifying the objective and identifying the major dimensions of sales excellence in the context of digital transformation, the paper will particularly provide a concept for a proper sales excellence assessment as well as shed some light on the implications and costs of not following the sales excellence approach.

The increasing application of digital technologies is transforming sales considerably. However, it is unclear how sales can adapt properly – particularly from the B2B sales skills side. Despite the urgency of this matter, in-depth research on B2B sales skills in the digital era remains sparse. In this structured abstract, a new conceptual model for a more modern B2B skill set is thus developed in a cross-country study. As a preliminary result, most of the traditional sales skills are still required in future, but need to be complemented by intercultural as well as digital sales skills.

Open Innovation means a situation where a company does not just rely on their own internal knowledge and resources for innovation but also uses multiple external sources to drive innovation. This approach may also influence various aspects of customers' brand perception. To investigate this issue, an experimental study based on two different Facebook posts by the well-known consumer brand "Frosch" was conducted (n = 2,426). The results show that open innovation creates an additional communicative value, by affecting consumers' price acceptance level, the brand personality, and the perceived quality. The effect depends on the extend of knowledge about the nature of open innovation.

Bei der Öffnung unternehmerischer Innovationsprozesse (Open Innovation) kommt die Frage auf, ob und inwiefern dadurch die Markenwahrnehmung der Konsumenten beeinflusst werden kann. In einer experimentellen empirischen Studie (n = 2.426) werden Facebook-Nutzern unterschiedliche Posts der Konsumgütermarke „Frosch" gezeigt und Aspekte der Markenwahrnehmung erhoben. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Open Innovation einen kommunikativen Wert generieren kann, der aus Kundenperspektive insbesondere die Preisbereitschaft, die Markenpersönlichkeit sowie die wahrgenommene Qualität beeinflusst. Die Wirkung ist umso stärker, je größer das Wissen der Konsumenten über Open Innovation ist. Für die Praxis bedeutet dies, dass Open Innovation Teil einer langfristigen Kommunikationsstrategie sein kann, um die Marke zu stärken.

The majority of business-to-business companies are working on their digital transformation in sales. Despite enormous transformation efforts, the expected productivity gains are often missing in most companies. Based on empirical research, this paper aims to develop a new market- oriented transformation model. Management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales. Design/methodology/approach – Within the exploratory research study, 90 key informants were interviewed to provide better insights in the context of digital transformation in sales. The accuracy of the research results was safeguarded by triangulation. Findings – As this research paper will show, the reasons for the missing productivity gains caused by a limited knowledge about the main success factors of digital transformation as well as a lack of understanding of digital transformation as an evolving process. Originality/value – Based on the empirical research, a new market-oriented transformation model is developed and management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.

Supply Chain Management (SCM) ist in der arbeitsteiligen und globalen Welt eine wesentliche Aufgabe der Unternehmensführung. Der Aufbau des eigenen Lieferantennetzwerkes und die Abstimmung der Aktivitäten zwischen den wesentlichen Partnern des Netzwerkes bestimmen die Möglichkeiten, seine wettbewerblichen Ziele zu erreichen und zu sichern. Der Forschungsstand zum Inhalt und zu den Konzepten des Supply Chain Managements ist leider nicht sehr förderlich. Es gibt kaum eine Disziplin, die derart vielfältig definiert und unterschiedlich ausgestaltet wird wie diese. Das Spektrum reicht vom SCM als neue Bezeichnung für eine lieferanten- bzw. materialbezogene unternehmerische Funktion (z.B. Logistik oder Einkauf) bis hin zum Ersatz für integrierte Unternehmensführung. Demzufolge ist der breite Konsens zu den gemeinsamen Grundbausteinen und Konzepten eines Supply Chain Managements und deren Erfolgsstrategien kaum zu finden. Dieses Buch unternimmt den Versuch, einen Konzeptrahmen für ein Supply Chain Management zu schaffen und zu erläutern, der die funktionalen Fachdisziplinen des Unternehmens, d.h. Produktion, Einkauf, Logistik, nicht infrage stellt, sondern das Supply Chain Management als eigenständige und nutzenstiftende Disziplin herausstellt und erläutert.

Companies are either proactively driving the digital transformation or are forced to digitalize by markets and eco-systems. In order to identify the status about the digital transformation of sales in practice and to get deeper knowledge about treated areas in sales and challenges on the path of digitalization, in-depth interviews of sales executives and managers of more than 50 internationally operating companies in three countries Germany, Finland and Austria were conducted in this research. The results show that one major goal for companies is to accelerate digitizing processes as digitalization helps to work more efficiently. Access to systems is necessary, hence investments in digitalization are seen as sustainable and absolutely essential. Digital tools lead to adaptions in the sales process as with support sales processes and sales management. Accelerated also by the COVID-19 crisis, face-to-face customer visits have been reduced even more and online meetings have increased as the speed of response has become more and more important. Finally, the necessary skill set of a sales force has to be adapted, which has to be further researched in the future, having support of higher education institutions being the order of the day. Companies have realized that a good sales pitch does not necessarily need to be in person, due to the new virtual technology.

KI und maschinelles Lernen sind in aller Munde, gerade im Marketing – aber gilt das auch für den B2B-Bereich? Welche konkreten Einsatzmöglichkeiten gibt es?