Yes / Although various critical elements, such as media publicity, word of mouth, legislation, and environmental factors, are not under the control of a company, they play a significant role in influencing its brand image. Uncertainty over how different social networking sites can support brands is one of the crucial reasons for the delayed acceptance of social media (SM) in business-to-business (B2B) transactions. SM possesses immense potential in relation to gathering customer data and assisting B2B marketers. Therefore, this study reviewed SM usage in the B2B context, based on 294 selected articles. The methodology included bibliometric analysis to identify the impact of SM usage in the B2B domain and content analysis to perform a thematic assessment. Our analysis found that many B2B firms cannot leverage SM’s potential to its fullest compared to business-to-customer (B2C) firms. However, SM can help B2B marketers build their brand presence and trust globally, ultimately helping them find potential customers and build relationships with global supply chain providers.

Arivia.kom was formed out of a merger of the information technology (IT) departments of Eskom, Transnet and Denel. The aim was to address skilled staff losses and to achieve economies of scale. Agreements were drafted ensuring arivia.kom business patronage for a period of five years. Arivia.kom's commencement was accompanied by problems, affecting its customers to the extent that they indicated dissatisfaction with performance. This study established the extent of those problems, and the reasons for their occurrence. A market analysis was conducted with specific focus on customer and competitor analysis. An investigation was conducted into the quality of service, overall customer impression of the organisation since its inception, as well as performance against competitors. The major findings indicated that performance problems were not isolated incidents but consistent across the organisation. These problems stemmed from poor organisational design, poorly evolved organisational culture, unclear positioning and poor competitor and customer intelligence capability. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

by Li Yuk Fung. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-64). / ABSTRACT --- p.i / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.ii / LIST OF EXHIBITS --- p.iv / PREFACE --- p.v / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Objectives --- p.1 / Scope of Study --- p.1 / Methodology --- p.2 / Secondary Data Collection --- p.2 / Observations --- p.3 / Primary Data Collection --- p.3 / Literature Review --- p.4 / Limitations --- p.4 / Chapter II. --- THE COMPANY --- p.5 / History and Background --- p.5 / Organizational Structure --- p.6 / Business Strategies --- p.8 / Marketing Mix --- p.8 / Market Segmentation --- p.14 / Competitiveness --- p.17 / Chapter III. --- INDUSTRIAL ANALYSIS --- p.21 / Environmental Analysis --- p.21 / Economic Environment --- p.22 / Socio/Cultural Factors --- p.23 / Demographic Factors --- p.23 / Technological Environment --- p.24 / Legal Environment --- p.24 / Customers --- p.25 / Government Sector --- p.25 / Private Sector --- p.27 / Institutional Sector --- p.28 / Suppliers --- p.30 / Competitors --- p.33 / Entry Barriers --- p.34 / Critical Success Factors for the Industry --- p.34 / Chapter IV. --- SWOT ANALYSIS --- p.35 / Internal Strengths --- p.35 / Internal Weaknesses --- p.37 / Future Opportunities --- p.41 / Environmental Threats --- p.44 / Problem Identifications --- p.45 / Chapter V. --- CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS --- p.48 / Recommendations --- p.48 / Implications and Evaluations --- p.53 / Conclusions --- p.57 / APPENDIX --- p.58 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.63

Arivia.kom was formed out of a merger of the information technology (IT) departments of Eskom, Transnet and Denel. The aim was to address skilled staff losses and to achieve economies of scale. Agreements were drafted ensuring arivia.kom business patronage for a period of five years. Arivia.kom's commencement was accompanied by problems, affecting its customers to the extent that they indicated dissatisfaction with performance. This study established the extent of those problems, and the reasons for their occurrence. A market analysis was conducted with specific focus on customer and competitor analysis. An investigation was conducted into the quality of service, overall customer impression of the organisation since its inception, as well as performance against competitors. The major findings indicated that performance problems were not isolated incidents but consistent across the organisation. These problems stemmed from poor organisational design, poorly evolved organisational culture, unclear positioning and poor competitor and customer intelligence capability. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

The purpose of this research is to discover what TextileCapital.com must do to establish trust on the website so that, in turn, it may increase the import and export volume of its trading members.

Pre-sale activities of buying and post-sale activities of use are separated by time and judged in two time-place forms. Exchange value being one kind of judgment of desirability, separate from use value. However, traditionally marketing has not fully captured the co-creation of value in use, or therefore, how it affects the perceived value of the offering at purchase. The separation of purchase and use has been shown to create buyer uncertainty at the point of purchase about the future value created in use. Consider the decision to buy a service support contract for capital equipment in which the act and experience of use could continue for up to ten years after the decision to buy. At purchase, buyers may not be certain about the future state of use, i.e. whether or not equipment will fail, or indeed how the service will perform in the event of failure. While uncertainty about the state of use will continue across time, it has been argued uncertainty about how the service will perform may be resolved through repeat use or interaction. Through an exploratory case and a web-based survey of 95 organisational buyers of Product Service Systems (PSS) in capital equipment markets, this thesis finds customer-provider co-capability, which facilitates service performance in use, mediates the customer’s perceived risk of re-purchasing. As a result, this thesis makes a contribution to B2B marketing in identifying how value of the offering at purchase is affected by future customer-provider co-capability in use.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / South African companies, as well as international companies using South Africa as a base, that have reached an appropriate size, track record and capacity to consider expanding abroad often look at business opportunities in their neighbouring countries, specifically those that are members of the Southern African Development Corporation (SADC). The markets and business environment of the 15 members in the Community differ substantially amongst themselves, but each has some characteristics and business potential to recommend it to the expansion seeking SA corporation. This paper provides an exhaustive analysis of the SADC's economic environment and characteristics. As such, it makes sense for a South African company that produces high-technology products or services and sells in the business-to-business market space to explore markets in geographical proximity to itself. The existence of the SADC region as a trade block, its associated objectives to improve regional inter-trade and regional socio-economic stability and established infrastructure motivates the focus of this study. It is envisaged that further study could be suggested to identify and develop methods to ascertain market feasibility that could be applied to other countries in Africa and in the world market. According to Thompson (2006b: 1), a business feasibility study can be defined as “a controlled process for identifying problems and opportunities, determining objectives, describing situations, defining successful outcomes and asssesing the range of costs and benefits associated with several alternatives for solving a problem.” The identification, extraction, presentation and consolidation of lessons learnt could benefit new market entrants by identifying possible pitfalls before they embark on a market entry campaign. The study delves into the intricacies of doing business in emerging economies, doing business in Africa and doing business in SADC countries. The external and internal forces that could prove instrumental and decisive in the success of an organisation that seeks to measure market feasibility is examined, thus identifying key warning signs or hazards that would hamper feasibility before embarking on costly business plans and marketing campaigns. The study develops a proposed decision support matrix to determine market feasibility. This matrix could prove useful as a preliminary investigation tool for companies active in the sector and exploring the different geographical markets in question to base an initial business decision on, prior to investing in a business plan or more focused business intelligence.

Thesis (PhD (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Since relationship marketing re-emerged as an approach to marketing, the concept was met with a great deal of interest. This interest resulted in relationship marketing being researched extensively, whilst businesses started to look for ways to build relationships with their clients. Relationships with clients can, however, only be managed if the dimensions contributing to the relationship are adequately identified. From an academic viewpoint, once all the relevant dimensions have been identified, these dimensions can be used to construct a model that can guide the management of long-term marketing relationships. The aim of this study was to identify the dimensions that are important when longterm marketing relationships in business-to-business (B2B) financial services are managed. The study started with a comprehensive review of the marketing literature. The literature review was followed by two empirical studies. The first empirical study was conducted among relationship managers, while the second empirical study focused on both the relationship managers and clients of a leading South African financial services provider. Both the relationship managers as well as the clients were part of the afore-mentioned financial services provider’s B2B domain. Phase 1 of the empirical research (the exploratory study) focused on an assessment of the perceptions of 75 relationship managers in respect of the importance of a number of pre-determined dimensions. A web-based approach was used and a questionnaire was developed according to the requirements of the Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) method. Based on the literature review and the results of the exploratory study, a set of 11 dimensions emerged as important for the management of long-term relationships in B2B financial services. The second phase of the empirical research focused on the perceptions of both relationship managers (the relationship manager sample) and B2B clients (the client sample). In the case of the relationship manager sample, a web-based questionnaire was sent to 300 relationship managers, while 400 clients participated in the client study. Relationship manager data were analysed by means of regression analysis whereas the client data were analysed with the aid of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The LISREL 8.80 software program was used to fit both the measurement model and the SEM model. The results of the study confirmed the important roles of especially trust and commitment on a person’s intention to stay in a relationship. Furthermore, the study found that relationship managers and clients appear to view the process of relationship management as an intricate process. Although relationship managers and clients differ on the importance of some of the further dimensions, agreement existed for the importance of especially satisfaction and communication. It was also found that relationship managers appear to over-estimate their performance levels on some of the identified dimensions. The uniqueness of the study lies in the simultaneous consideration of the perceptions of both relationship managers and clients. The most important contribution of the study is the construction of a model through which long-term marketing relationships in the B2B financial services industry can be managed.

This study addresses the rationale of using partners in relationship initiation with potential buyers and how relationship initiation takes place in triadic settings. As the authors have identified relationship initiation as an under-researched area, further research in this field is needed in order to enhance knowledge regarding the use of partners in the relationship initiation with potential buyers. Based on a case study, the authors investigate a company, their partners and potential buyers during the relationship initiation process. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations and analysis of documents. A model was developed based on existing literature in order to allow the authors to analyse the data. The analysis provides an overview of how and why companies use partners to initiate relationships with buyers and how relationship initiation occurs in triadic settings. A new conceptual model was developed suggesting that any actor within this triadic setting can trigger the relationship initiation and that this process shouldn’t necessarily be regarded as sequential. This study also shows that the degree of brand awareness that a company possess can influence their relationship initiation processes.

Anderson, et al. (1994) have outlined the importance of bilateral relationships in business-to-business (B2B) marketing environments and thus the understanding of the business network context within which they are embedded. Through the globalization, this understanding has even gained in importance due to the increased challenges arising from working across cultural and national borders. However, culture in Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an underresearched area so far. This thesis has as a purpose to investigate the research question “What national cultural factors are considered in supply chain management by companies in practice and what are their relations?”. Furthermore, it was aimed at comparing the downstream (client) SCM side to the upstream (supplier) side.This thesis applied a quantitative approach in combination with a cross-sectional research design. An online survey was conducted using as a sample the 195-member companies of Ljungby Business Arena. In addition, responses were also collected through the snowball method. Based on the analysis of the survey results the following main findings were revealed: Not all national cultural factors mentioned in theory are considered in SCM by enterprises in practice. Language skills was in up- and downstream the most considered factor. The national cultural factors among themselves are correlated in different directions and at varying degrees of strength. Cultural distance only yielded positive correlations to the national cultural factors in the downstream side but not in the upstream side. Differences between up- and downstream SCM with regard to the consideration of national cultural factors exist; the downstream side considers (seen over all factors) culture more. The main theoretical implications are that also material dimensions of culture should be considered in theory and that due to the differences in up- and downstream SCM maybe different models for each side should be developed. For companies, the findings have shown that employees do not consider all factors of national culture and that they are rather free in their decisions on how to interact with foreign clients respectively suppliers. Thus, enterprises should train and sensitize their employees more to help them adapt to the different national cultural factors during their interactions. Moreover, companies might think about introducing more guidelines, which, however, still leave space for adaptation towards the individual clients and suppliers.