Zugl.: Erlangen, Nürnberg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2006.

Background: Family Businesses’ way of doing marketing has similarities with B2B marketing. Usuallyfamily firms focus on what they have traditionally done well and diversify in related areas using their knowledge of how to perform in certain markets with certain customers and by offering certain productsand services. In order to do this, it is important for family firms, as for firms operating in B2Bmarkets, to create and keep good relationships with their stakeholders, so that at the end their customersare satisfied in the best possible manner. The process towards establishing long-term relationships between stakeholders and businesses requires certain characteristics and acts aimed at developingcommitment and trust. Since many of the most successful firms that have survived the longest arefamily businesses as well as B2B marketing is mainly about building and maintaining business relationships,we have decided to focus our study on the similarities between family firms’ marketing and B2Bmarketing within a specific context. B2B firms and Family firms make use of trade shows as an importantmarketing tool for improving relationships in networks. Trade shows are considered as the primary marketing tool to gain and sustain relationships with key stakeholders. Therefore, we chose the tradeshow context to execute our empirical survey. Purpose: The overall purpose of this thesis consists in testing and comparing practices and principleswithin two apparently separate fields of study - B2B marketing and Family Business Development -with the aim of finding and developing associations that can complement and contribute to both fields of study on a marketing level. Method: A quantitative method study has been conducted testing 50 companies participating at theBilsport Performance & Custom Motor show 2009 at Elmia – Jonkoping, Sweden. The primary data was gathered through a survey and a semi-structured interview, which constitutes our case study. The sample was chosen out of a population of 223 firms exhibing at the trade show, using a disproportionate stratified random method. Most secondary data involves research articles, books, reports, bachelorand master theses, and journals in order to determine marketing practices similarities between business-to-business firms and family business. Conclusions: Our empirical findings confirmed most of the hypotheses derived from theory. Hence,we found that most exhibiting firms at the trade show are family-controlled and operate in B2C markets;B2B firms in our sample have a tendency to use more relationship marketing than transactional marketing; family firms in our sample are more likely to use long-term oriented than short-termoriented marketing; and the overlap between B2B marketing and Family firms’ marketing in the tradeshow context is characterized by the common marketing principles and practices of family and B2Bfirms that aim at gaining and sustaining long-term business relationships.

Offering business solutions instead of selling products has been identified by many firms as a strategy to fight against price pressure through commoditisation, to strengthen relationships with customers, and to increase ‘share of wallet’. Yet, three out of four companies selling business solutions fail to see a sustainable economic impact (Johansson et al., 2003). One approach to understanding how business solution suppliers could change this situation is to develop an understanding of the life cycle of business solutions, from idea generation to redeployment. This systematic review examines how the literature conceptualises the development, deployment and redeployment of business solutions. It systematically identifies and then analyses 31 scholarly articles contributing to our knowledge on this issue. The review discusses the literature within the framework of four aspects. Firstly, the review proposes the processes and phases of the development and deployment of business solutions. Secondly, it presents the components of the redeployment of business solutions. Thirdly, it provides information on the actors involved in the development, deployment, and redeployment of business solutions, and, fourthly, it discusses the interaction forms of these actors. The discussion shows that evidence in relation to the conceptualisation of the development, deployment, and redeployment of business solutions remains at a superficial, tentative and inconclusive level. The major limitations of the extant literature relate to the studies’ context-specificity, their lack of theoretical underpinning, and their deficiency of including actors of the supplier and/or customer network in the empirical investigation even though there is evidence that they play a role in the development, deployment, and redeployment of business solutions. Based on the limitations identified, the study suggests opportunities of further research.

<p>Background: Family Businesses’ way of doing marketing has similarities with B2B marketing. Usuallyfamily firms focus on what they have traditionally done well and diversify in related areas using their knowledge of how to perform in certain markets with certain customers and by offering certain productsand services. In order to do this, it is important for family firms, as for firms operating in B2Bmarkets, to create and keep good relationships with their stakeholders, so that at the end their customersare satisfied in the best possible manner. The process towards establishing long-term relationships between stakeholders and businesses requires certain characteristics and acts aimed at developingcommitment and trust. Since many of the most successful firms that have survived the longest arefamily businesses as well as B2B marketing is mainly about building and maintaining business relationships,we have decided to focus our study on the similarities between family firms’ marketing and B2Bmarketing within a specific context. B2B firms and Family firms make use of trade shows as an importantmarketing tool for improving relationships in networks. Trade shows are considered as the primary marketing tool to gain and sustain relationships with key stakeholders. Therefore, we chose the tradeshow context to execute our empirical survey.</p><p>Purpose: The overall purpose of this thesis consists in testing and comparing practices and principleswithin two apparently separate fields of study - B2B marketing and Family Business Development -with the aim of finding and developing associations that can complement and contribute to both fields of study on a marketing level.</p><p>Method: A quantitative method study has been conducted testing 50 companies participating at theBilsport Performance & Custom Motor show 2009 at Elmia – Jonkoping, Sweden. The primary data was gathered through a survey and a semi-structured interview, which constitutes our case study. The sample was chosen out of a population of 223 firms exhibing at the trade show, using a disproportionate stratified random method. Most secondary data involves research articles, books, reports, bachelorand master theses, and journals in order to determine marketing practices similarities between business-to-business firms and family business.</p><p>Conclusions: Our empirical findings confirmed most of the hypotheses derived from theory. Hence,we found that most exhibiting firms at the trade show are family-controlled and operate in B2C markets;B2B firms in our sample have a tendency to use more relationship marketing than transactional marketing; family firms in our sample are more likely to use long-term oriented than short-termoriented marketing; and the overlap between B2B marketing and Family firms’ marketing in the tradeshow context is characterized by the common marketing principles and practices of family and B2Bfirms that aim at gaining and sustaining long-term business relationships.</p>

The goal of this research was to explore what the value drivers are in SAP Enterprise Mobility. On the basis of existing literature a model was created that predicts customer value in this particular industry. Furthermore, with this research it was tried to find out whether there is a connection between large firms and investment plans in enterprise mobility, as well as for what purpose companies want to invest in enterprise mobility. Because it is most interesting what brings value to decision makers regarding investing in SAP Enterprise Mobility, the target population consisted of IT decision makers. They were asked to complete a questionnaire which measures their attitude towards product quality, service quality, relationship quality, the fairness of the product price, the fairness of the service price, and the customer value in SAP Enterprise Mobility as a whole. During an intensive month of data collection 32 IT decision makers cooperated to execute this research.  The data suggests that quality of SAP products, such as the mobile applications and the mobile platform, is a value driver, as well as a fair price for consultancy services. Interestingly, despite the theoretical background the data does not indicate that the price of SAP products, the quality of the service that the consultancy provider delivers, and the quality of the relationship with the consultancy provider are significant value drivers. The data does confirm that large companies (with more than 1000 ERP users) have a stronger tendency to invest in enterprise mobility in 2014 than smaller companies. Moreover, there is a lot of variety in the purposes for investing in SAP Enterprise Mobility. This implies that SAP Enterprise Mobility is a very versatile concept and is used for many different and individual purposes.

Universiẗat, Diss.--St. Gallen, 2006. / Auch als Buchhandelsausg. u.d.T.: Interaktive Markenführung : der Persönliche Verkauf als Instrument des Markenmanagements im B2B-Geschäft. Zsfassung in engl. Sprache.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität St. Gallen, 2002.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

Diss. Nr. 3107 Wirtschaftswiss. St. Gallen, 2005. / Literaturverz.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.