The diploma thesis deals with the proposal of marketing strategy for foreign markets. As a particular company the author have chosen company Hakr Trade, Ltd., which was renamed to KRETZ, Ltd. on the beginning of 2014. The thesis analyses problems of marketing and marketing planning. The goal is, besides processing literature review on the issue, apply theoretical knowledge in the field of marketing on marketing processes in the foreign trade at company KRETZ, evaluate the current state of marketing activities with regard to the principles of B2B and propose relevant recommendations to communicate the change of company name, increase awareness of customers about products and increase abroad sales. An essential part of the recommendation is costing of the proposed changes.

The scope of this diploma thesis is the creation of a marketing strategy for the BT servis company, which is about to open a new branch office in the South Moravian Region. The First part introduces the theoretical bases, which relates to the issue. The Next is the analysis of the current state of the business and its surroundings. Information collected are evaluated and then the marketing strategy is created for the period of one year.

The diploma thesis is focused on analysis of sales channels in the ABB company with is focused on high voltage division, which is situated in Brno in the street Videňská. In the first part of this thesis are set major and minor targets with theoretic methods to achieve them. Second part is practis and there are processed theoretic knowledges which are needed to understand issues and set own improvement. In the end there are reviewed outputs and shown proposals for development sales chanels and better customer communication.

This study examines what significance social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram) may have in regard to clients need recognition and information search, in B2B investment decision making of desktop 3D printers. The study was made on 121 respondents from the 3D printer reseller company 3DVerkstan’s customer base. Need recognition and information search are the two first steps of five, in the consumer behavioral Engel Blackwell Miniard (EBM) model of decision making. To get a better perspective of what role social media have in B2B marketing, a broad investigation of the 3D print owners need recognition and information search has been conducted through a survey built from the EBM-model, and the clients media consumption. A wide range of communication channels has been examined in order to draw conclusions from what role social media play as whole. As social media is an unexplored field for B2B marketing, an interview with the CMO of Telia Sonera Sweden, Magnus Andersson was held to get insights of how they currently use social media in B2B as a best-in-class case. This study aims to give foundational directives for social media’s significance for B2B companies in the technology. The findings in this study indicates that social media has a great potential exposure to influence and inspire need recognition. Especially for Facebook, decent potential exposure for LinkedIn and Instagram. Not very good for Twitter. Although, almost none were first exposed to 3D printing on social media. Social media was not searched for information, and the few that did searched for reviews. The respondents primarily searched on online sources only. Most respondents conducted one search step where they focused on finding a source with compiled information to conveniently grasp the 3D printer market. Either on Youtube to look for unbiased 3D print reviews. Or through a convenient recommendation from friends and resellers of the most suitable 3D printer in relation to their objective. Technical specification, price, customer reviews, service & support and user case quality caught their attention after finding their preferred source of information retrieval. Convenient personalized packaging in review form with the above stated attributes could be used to inspire customers on social media. Directed towards the use motives; prototyping, hobby/home use or custom production.

Value is fundamental in business-to-business marketing, where marketing revolves around the term value. Understanding the value of offering through customers' eyes is important for business success. Due to the subjective nature of value, it's imperative to understand the value based on the customer's individual interpretation. In this context, perceived value plays a central theme for this study, and analyzed in the terms of benefits and sacrifices. But to capture the broader picture of customers' value functional, social, and emotional perceived values were considered. The research questions were formed to investigate the kind of values that customers perceive, and another question was framed to investigate the multidimensionality of values. In order to answer the research questions, a qualitative descriptive approach was applied and through judgmental sampling, respondents were chosen. The five potential customers were interviewed through semi-structured technique. The authors applied the model “value hierarchy” to investigate the customer's perceived value which consists of three layers: attributes, consequences and objects; it shows correlation among the three layers. The laddering technique was used in connection with hierarchy, through this technique authors understood how consumers were able to perceive value in each layer. The tangibilization strategy was used to provide cues that helped build mental construct of services in customer’s minds. Customers assess the services by evaluating its value. The value from the consequences were perceived multidimensionally by customers depending on the attributes. Customers perceived functional value in aspects of saving time and ease of workload. They were able to perceive value socially, when some features helped manage stress among the employees and through provision of these services to end customers saw an increase in firm awareness in the market. Customers also felt a feeling of happiness when using certain attributes especially among the end customers thereby bringing emotional value into the picture. All the different values perceived helped reach their respective end-goals.  The model found useful to investigate the customer value sequentially, also evaluating current customer’s needs. The study revealed that the attributes aren't chosen without a purpose. Customers perceive some benefits from the attributes that help achieve their specific needs. The study was confirmation about integrating the model with different value dimensions helped determine the connection of these dimensions with customer value. The study ends with presenting managerial, theoretical and practical implications and provides ground for future research in exploring other framework of values, followed by limitations of the study.

Artificiell Intelligens, AI, har genom den senaste tidens tekniska utveckling fått en allt större roll inom marknadsföringsarbetet. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur ansvariga inom marknadsföring upplever att AI påverkar deras arbete samt hur ett möjligt samarbete mellan AI och människan kan se ut inom marknadsföring. Ansvariga för marknadsföring har intervjuats för att svara på undersökningens syfte. Resultaten visar att ansvariga inom marknadsföring upplever en positiv påverkan där AI effektiviserar arbetet och förbättrar produktiviteten. Studien visar att människor och AI kan samarbeta genom att utnyttja respektive parts relativa styrkor och förmågor. AI upplevs ha goda analytiska förmågor medan människor utmärker sig genom intuitiva och empatiska förmågor. Resultaten tyder på att AI kan ses som ett komplement till människan inom marknadsföringsarbetet. / Artificial Intelligence, AI, has assumed an increasingly prominent role in the field of marketing due to recent rapid technological advancements. This study aims to explore the perceptions of AI's impact on their work as well as the potential for collaboration between AI and humans in the field of marketing. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, interviews were carried out with individuals responsible for marketing.The findings indicate a generally positive perception of AI, as it streamlines processes and enhances productivity. The study further indicates that effective collaboration between AI and marketers can be achieved by leveraging each party’s respective strengths and capabilities. AI is recognized for its strong analytical abilities, while humans excel in intuitive and empathetic skills. Ultimately, the research suggests that AI can be seen as a complementary tool to enhance human capabilities and improve efficiency in marketing.

Empresas brasileiras que desejam conquistar novos mercados exportando precisam estar atentas aos diversos atributos analisados por compradores corporativos internacionais, alavancando sua competitividade em um cenário de disputa acirrada. Um desses atributos é a imagem do país de procedência dos produtos. Apesar de esse tema já ser abordado há quase cinco décadas na literatura mundial, os estudos a respeito da influência da imagem do país nas transações entre empresas (ditas business-to-business, B2B, ou organizacionais) são ainda em pequena quantidade, no Brasil e no mundo. O objetivo desta dissertação foi analisar a influência que a imagem do Brasil pode exercer sobre consumidores organizacionais de outros países, especificamente no segmento de alta intensidade tecnológica - o setor que mais investe em pesquisa e desenvolvimento no Brasil. Esta pesquisa, empregando o método exploratório de estudos multicasos com três empresas, envolveu seus próprios executivos e compradores internacionais, e traz contribuição à literatura acadêmica, que dispõe de poucas fontes sobre negócios B2B associados com o efeito país-de-origem. A pesquisa foi qualitativa e exploratória, e entrevistas em profundidade foram realizadas em duas etapas, com profissionais de empresas brasileiras que exportam e, em seguida, com consultores, agentes de vendas e compradores de outros países. Algumas entrevistas foram pessoais, e outras, via telefone ou internet. Das cinco proposições do estudo, duas foram confirmadas, uma confirmada parcialmente e duas não foram confirmadas. Encontrou-se que a imagem do país traz impacto à decisão de compra, mas com ressalvas, como o fato de a situação ser ou não de recompra, e dependendo de qual país está comprando. O Brasil foi bem visto especificamente no segmento de aviação civil comercial, a ponto de a Embraer trazer, a quem atua neste segmento, uma imagem positiva do Brasil como desenvolvedor de tecnologias aeronáuticas. O país foi visto negativamente no segmento de automação, nas situações de recompra em que houve experiências negativas com empresas brasileiras vendendo na Europa; positivamente em automação pelo mercado colombiano e de forma neutra por compradores que participam de processos complexos no segmento de energia nuclear - desde que, nesse caso, os requisitos técnicos sejam cumpridos. Para alguns entrevistados do segmento de automação, o Brasil precisa divulgar mais suas tecnologias por meio de incentivos das iniciativas pública e privada, e as empresas brasileiras devem participar de grupos de usuários de suas tecnologias, além de desenvolver parceiros no exterior. Caracterizaram-se como limitações da pesquisa o número de casos e segmentos de alta intensidade tecnológica estudados, assim como questões técnicas relacionadas à má compreensão de trechos das entrevistas pelo telefone ou devido à conexão de internet, quando estes meios foram utilizados. / Brazilian companies which intend to reach new markets abroad need to be conscious to the several cues analyzed by their international buyers, concerning their products. By taking this care, it is possible to leverage their competitiveness in a fierce market scene. One of these cues is the country of origin of the products. Although this theme had been addressed for almost five decades in the world literature, the research related to the country\'s image influence over the transactions between organizations (business-to-business or B2B transactions) is still narrow - in Brazil and in the whole world. This qualitative research targets the influence of Brazil\'s image over international buyers, specifically in the high-technology industries. It uses the exploratory multi-case technique with three Brazilian companies and in-depth interviews with their executives, external consultants and international customers. Some of the interviews were in person, others by internet or telephone. Five propositions are presented, two of which confirmed, other two not confirmed and one of them confirmed partially. The results show that Brazil\'s image brings impact over the purchasing decision of organizational buyers from abroad, but with reservations. It depends on the purchasing situation, if it is a new process or a repurchase. Depending on the country where the interviews were conducted, different opinions appeared, like negative or neutral ones in countries from Europe, and positives in Colombia. Whether bad experiences in the past happened with European buyers, re-purchasing situations bring a negative image to Brazil. It was founded that in case of more complex situations - like the purchase of nuclear power plants items - technical issues were strongly more important than country\'s image, reducing COO effect or almost making it disappear. In addition, Brazil has a positive image in the aviation industry, and Embraer raises the country\'s evaluation as an aeronautical developer to the eyes of organizational buyers from abroad. For some of the interviewees from the automation industry, Brazil needs to disclose its technologies via public or private agencies, and its companies need to be present at technical groups of study and discussion of other countries. The number of cases and industries studied were limitations to this research, and technical issues like the comprehension of some parts of the interviews made via internet or telephone.

Empresas brasileiras que desejam conquistar novos mercados exportando precisam estar atentas aos diversos atributos analisados por compradores corporativos internacionais, alavancando sua competitividade em um cenário de disputa acirrada. Um desses atributos é a imagem do país de procedência dos produtos. Apesar de esse tema já ser abordado há quase cinco décadas na literatura mundial, os estudos a respeito da influência da imagem do país nas transações entre empresas (ditas business-to-business, B2B, ou organizacionais) são ainda em pequena quantidade, no Brasil e no mundo. O objetivo desta dissertação foi analisar a influência que a imagem do Brasil pode exercer sobre consumidores organizacionais de outros países, especificamente no segmento de alta intensidade tecnológica - o setor que mais investe em pesquisa e desenvolvimento no Brasil. Esta pesquisa, empregando o método exploratório de estudos multicasos com três empresas, envolveu seus próprios executivos e compradores internacionais, e traz contribuição à literatura acadêmica, que dispõe de poucas fontes sobre negócios B2B associados com o efeito país-de-origem. A pesquisa foi qualitativa e exploratória, e entrevistas em profundidade foram realizadas em duas etapas, com profissionais de empresas brasileiras que exportam e, em seguida, com consultores, agentes de vendas e compradores de outros países. Algumas entrevistas foram pessoais, e outras, via telefone ou internet. Das cinco proposições do estudo, duas foram confirmadas, uma confirmada parcialmente e duas não foram confirmadas. Encontrou-se que a imagem do país traz impacto à decisão de compra, mas com ressalvas, como o fato de a situação ser ou não de recompra, e dependendo de qual país está comprando. O Brasil foi bem visto especificamente no segmento de aviação civil comercial, a ponto de a Embraer trazer, a quem atua neste segmento, uma imagem positiva do Brasil como desenvolvedor de tecnologias aeronáuticas. O país foi visto negativamente no segmento de automação, nas situações de recompra em que houve experiências negativas com empresas brasileiras vendendo na Europa; positivamente em automação pelo mercado colombiano e de forma neutra por compradores que participam de processos complexos no segmento de energia nuclear - desde que, nesse caso, os requisitos técnicos sejam cumpridos. Para alguns entrevistados do segmento de automação, o Brasil precisa divulgar mais suas tecnologias por meio de incentivos das iniciativas pública e privada, e as empresas brasileiras devem participar de grupos de usuários de suas tecnologias, além de desenvolver parceiros no exterior. Caracterizaram-se como limitações da pesquisa o número de casos e segmentos de alta intensidade tecnológica estudados, assim como questões técnicas relacionadas à má compreensão de trechos das entrevistas pelo telefone ou devido à conexão de internet, quando estes meios foram utilizados. / Brazilian companies which intend to reach new markets abroad need to be conscious to the several cues analyzed by their international buyers, concerning their products. By taking this care, it is possible to leverage their competitiveness in a fierce market scene. One of these cues is the country of origin of the products. Although this theme had been addressed for almost five decades in the world literature, the research related to the country\'s image influence over the transactions between organizations (business-to-business or B2B transactions) is still narrow - in Brazil and in the whole world. This qualitative research targets the influence of Brazil\'s image over international buyers, specifically in the high-technology industries. It uses the exploratory multi-case technique with three Brazilian companies and in-depth interviews with their executives, external consultants and international customers. Some of the interviews were in person, others by internet or telephone. Five propositions are presented, two of which confirmed, other two not confirmed and one of them confirmed partially. The results show that Brazil\'s image brings impact over the purchasing decision of organizational buyers from abroad, but with reservations. It depends on the purchasing situation, if it is a new process or a repurchase. Depending on the country where the interviews were conducted, different opinions appeared, like negative or neutral ones in countries from Europe, and positives in Colombia. Whether bad experiences in the past happened with European buyers, re-purchasing situations bring a negative image to Brazil. It was founded that in case of more complex situations - like the purchase of nuclear power plants items - technical issues were strongly more important than country\'s image, reducing COO effect or almost making it disappear. In addition, Brazil has a positive image in the aviation industry, and Embraer raises the country\'s evaluation as an aeronautical developer to the eyes of organizational buyers from abroad. For some of the interviewees from the automation industry, Brazil needs to disclose its technologies via public or private agencies, and its companies need to be present at technical groups of study and discussion of other countries. The number of cases and industries studied were limitations to this research, and technical issues like the comprehension of some parts of the interviews made via internet or telephone.

The industrial marketing strategy in many industries has been largely influenced by the coming of digital marketing over the past decade. The trends are changing from the traditional to a digital era and companies are being forced by this digitalization shift. The manufacturing and marketing consultant industry is no exception. Since previous research has often been towards SMEs as a whole instead of specific industries. The research gap that the authors would like to investigate is brand equity development through digital marketing among two B2B SME industries, manufacturing and marketing consulting firms in Sweden. Moreover, the authors used a series of research methods to collect primary data and secondary data, as well as a computer-assisted coding software used for qualitative data analysis and coupled with benchmarking analysis for the secondary data analysis. Theories of brand equity and digital marketing ( marketing funnel and digital channels) are connected to the empirical findings of digital communication and business relationship to uncover what differentiates manufacturers from marketing consultants in brand equity building through digital marketing channels. The manufacturing industry has gained knowledge over the last few years when it comes to branding and digital marketing but is still split over the subject because of no clear direct benefits. They also lack the motivation that would have given them access to this knowledge, but somehow they have started outsourcing. Overall it seems that the manufacturing industry is working hard to become more digital. Lastly, a proposed model is recommended by the authors through the findings from both industries.

With the value of initiating contact or a relationship being intangible, marketing departments are currently struggling to prove their contribution to the business. Evaluating the efficiency of B2B marketing investments has been proven hard, and the prerequisites for doing so are many. However, the enabling of measuring marketing efficiency would provide companies with a tool for prioritizing between marketing investments and thus optimize budget allocation and business value. This study aims to examine the underlying technical and organizational difficulties of evaluating the efficiency of marketing investments, as well as contributing with guidance on how to overcome them. By combining an exploratory theoretical investigation and a case study that followed a descriptive approach, this study covers the investigated phenomena in both a general and a specific context. The technical difficulties of evaluating marketing efficiency that were found include contamination of data due to unstructured gathering of field data, unaligned definitions, and a high level of individual judgment when categorizing data. Findings on organizational difficulties concentrate on the Sales-Marketing Interface (SMI) and include missing feedback loop between the two departments, unaligned goals and rewards, unstructured handover phase, and broken information streams. Finally, the authors suggest a number of measures that can be taken in order to solve the stated difficulties and excel in SMI and marketing intelligence maturity towards a state where marketing efficiency can be evaluated. By comparing theory to empirical findings, a connection between theory and practice is established, which contributes to bridging the theory-practice gap that exits in B2B marketing research. In specific, this study contributes to science by presenting a number of measures that can help organizations enable the assessment of marketing efficiency. Yet, further research on the effect marketing has on customer lifetime is necessary. / Eftersom värdet av att initiera en kontakt eller en relation är ogripbar behöver dagens marknadsavdelningar kämpa för att bevisa sitt bidrag till företagets affär. Att utvärdera den inre effektiviteten i investeringar i industriell marknadsföring är bevisat svårt och de nödvändiga förutsättningarna är många. Dock skulle möjliggörandet av mätning av marknadsföringseffektivitet kunna ge företag ett verktyg för att prioritera mellan olika investeringar i marknadsföring och därmed också optimera budgetallokering och affärsvärde.  Denna studie syftar till att undersöka de underliggande tekniska och organisatoriska svårigheterna med att utvärdera effektiviteten i marknadsföringsinvesteringar, liksom även att bidra med guiding för hur dessa ska överkommas. Genom att kombinera en explorativ teoretisk undersökning och en fallstudie genomförd med ett deskriptivt tillvägagångssätt studeras det undersökta fenomenet i både en generell och en specifik kontext. Resultatet visar att de tekniska svårigheterna med att utvärdera marknadsföringseffektivitet inkluderar nedsmutsning av data till följd av ostrukturerad insamling av fältdata, ickeöverensstämmande definitioner och en hög nivå av individuell bedömning då data kategoriseras. Det organisatoriska svårigheterna är koncentrerade till gränssnittet mellan sälj och marknadsföring och inkluderar bristande feedback-loop mellan det två avdelningarna, icke-överensstämmande mål och belöningar, ostrukturerad överlämningsfas och brutna informationsströmmar. Slutligen föreslår författarna ett antal åtgärder som kan vidtas för att lösa dessa svårigheter och därmed excellera gränssnittet mellan sälj och marknadsföring samt mognadsgraden av intelligent marknadsföring till en studie där marknadsföringseffektivitet kan utvärderas.  Genom att jämföra teori med empiriska resultat sammankopplas teori med praktik, vilket bidrar till att överbygga det forskningsgap mellan teori och praktik som existerar i forskningen om indutriell marknadsföring. Mer specifikt så bidrar denna studie till vetenskaper genom att presentera ett antal åtgärder som kan möjliggöra bedömning av marknadsföringseffektiviteten. Ändock finns ett behov av vidare forskning vad gäller effekten marknadsföring har på kundens livslängd.