Understanding the determinants of sales success and sales failure has organization wide implications, ranging from an improved salesforce to improved corporate performance. However, a paucity of research on sales failure has resulted in an under-conceptualized field largely built on assumptions. This research proposes to overcome salesforce failure attribution biases by collecting data from the industrial buyer’s perspective. Thirty five post-mortem interviews with procurement decision makers from buying organizations were collected following a failed sales proposal. The context of these failed sales proposals was for multi-year industrial service key account contracts (>$5 Million). The result of this naturalistic inquiry is a model which outlines the determinant attributes of sales failure: price, adaptability and relationship-potential. An experimental design was conducted following this exploratory research in order to test the derived drivers of sales failure and success, as well as provide a trade-off analysis of the three emergent sales proposal themes. Results indicate that a lack of adaptability has the strongest impact on the sales failure outcome variable, as well as buyer characteristics have a potentially moderating impact on the relative trade-off weights between price/adaptability and price/relationship-potential.

Pastaruosius metus mokslinė veikla buvo intensyvi ieškant algoritmų, padedančių spręsti tokias problemas, kaip duomenų sistemų klasterizavimas (angl. dataset clustering). Duomenų analizės metodų kompleksiškumas, duomenų apimties didėjimas, skatino ieškoti būdų, kaip atrasti metodą, kuris padėtų realizuoti esminius duomenų gavimo principus, pritaikant efektyviausius algoritmus, integruojant duomenų apsaugos metodus visose duomenų valdymo ir analizės stadijose. Moksliniu požiūriu tyrimai duomenų gavybos srityje galimai veda į naują informacijos ir duomenų analizės bei klientų valdymo požiūrį. Šiame darbe analizuojamas duomenų gavybos metodas ryšių su klientais sistemose, jo pritaikymas ir efektyvumas, aktualios problemos. Darbe analizuojami metodai yra ne tik moksliniai, tačiau visi darbe atlikti tyrimai veda į praktinį pritaikymą ir galutiniam naudotojui skirtos priemonės sukūrimą – duomenų gavybos metodų rinkinį integruota į ryšiais su klientais valdymo sistemas, skirtas B2B verslo aplinkai. Darbe gauti duomenų gavybos metodų tyrimo rezultatai pateikia naują požiūrį į tiekimo grandinės etapus – tvarkaraščių ir gabenimo laikų valdymą, prekių kiekio kontrolę bei klientų kreditavimo pirkimams skyrimą. / Latest activity in scientific field has been major in research of algorithms that are able to solve problems related to data analysis using tools of dataset clustering and data mining. Principe of data mining cover analysis of various business environment steps and suggests ways of prognosing, analyzing, classifying data. Data mining tools are applicable to customer relationship management systems offering key data analysis, increasing customer knowledge. Scope of thesis is the effective usability of data mining methods for customer relationship management system specifically used by business-to-business companies. Suggested concept leads to new perspective of transactional data analysis through following stages: client credibility valuation, product purchase amount prognosis and product delivery handling. Combined customer orientated data with supply chain inputs gave successful results in real data experiment. In conclusion, data mining tools improve data analysis in customer relationship management in B2B companies’ data analysis routine.

The marketplace in the 21st century is intense and highly competitive. Customers have a great variety of products and services to choose from, therefor gaining competitive advantage is crucial for a company´s survival. Companies cannot rely on previous product success, they have to be innovative in order to meet the ever-changing customer needs and wants. New product launch is a critical and challenging phase for every company, which is proven by the high failure rates. There are many barriers that can hinder and determine a new product launch process. This study focuses on Business-to-Business, small and medium sized companies within the Swedish steel and metal industry with the purpose to investigate what barriers occur when launching new industrial products. The study also aims to answer the question on what actions can be taken in order to overcome these barriers. This is a qualitative and comparative study based on a theoretical framework combined with empirical findings gathered from five in-depth interviews. By analyzing and comparing the findings throughout this study, the authors can conclude that there are many barriers that can occur and affect a product launch process negatively. The main barriers identified were lack of knowledge, effort, planning as well as targeting and competition. The study also resulted in practical suggestions and actions that can be taken in order to overcome these barriers and ease the launch process.   Key words: New product launch, Barriers in launch processes, B2B, Swedish companies, SME`s, Marketing

Problem discussion – we identified the gap concerning the lack of researches in exploring the impacts of both business and social networks in B2B companies’ internationalization process based on the network model proposed by Johanson and Mattsson (1988), especially taking the Chinese environmental factors into consideration. Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the importance of environmental factors and networks for B2B companies to internationalize into the Chinese market. Methodology – The thesis adopts the abductive approach and employs a qualitative research strategy. In order to obtain relevant information, multiple case study is chosen. The primary data are collected through semi-structured interviews with three Swedish B2B companies. Secondary data such as scientific articles, reports and books are also used in this thesis. Findings – Firstly, this thesis concludes that B2B companies’ business activities in internationalization process in China are influenced by four environmental factors: cultural, legal, economic and political factor. Secondly, business networks have impacts on the process of international extension, penetration and international integration, whereas the impacts of social networks are clearer in the phase of penetration. Thirdly, in China, there is no clear distinction between business- and social networks, but the building of trust is important in developing networks. Besides, B2B companies have to rely on their local employees when utilizing Guanxi in business activities. Managerial Implications – The managers should not only focus on the advantages, but also constantly perceive the risks in the Chinese market. Besides, managers could also take specific advantages of their Chinese employees’ social networks. Furthermore, managers should connect and coordinate the networks in different countries. Finally, managers could rely on their local employees to utilize Guanxi in business interactions. Theoretical Contribution – Firstly, this thesis identifies four key market environmental factors and their impacts for companies’ business activities in the Chinese market. Secondly, this thesis contributes to Johanson and Mattsson’s (1988) network approach by elaborating on the impacts of both business- and social networks in the three phases respectively. Thirdly, this thesis proposes a new conceptualized model that provides a deeper understanding and a clearer demonstration of the importance of environmental factors and networks when firms internationalize into global markets. Limitations – The results of this thesis might be limited to generalize to all kinds of market segments or industries. Moreover, in this thesis, the impacts of social networks are only identified in the phase of penetration. Keywords - Internationalization process, B2B companies, Environmental factor, Business network, Social network, Network approach, Impacts of network, the Chinese market

In recent times the Russian market has been exposed to significant changes, both in the challenges of the transition from planned to market economy as well as the opportunities that has spurred a willingness for foreign companies to exploit the vast potential of the market. The aim of this thesis is to explore how business relationships are managed between Swedish business-to-business(B2B) SMEs and Russian counterparts. In our study we overview Swedish companies which are well established on the Russian market and have well-developed relationships with their representatives in Russia and try to discover which aspects of their relations is decisive for the success of the companies. To conduct our research we created reseach questions "What role do business relationships play between Swedish and Russian SMEs in the Russian market?, and how are the business relationships managed?". We collected data from both Swedish and Russian perspectives to determine the main features of their relations and draw up guidance for potential Western newcomers to Russia.

A continuous service innovation such as Cloud Computing is highly attractive in the business-to-business world because it brings the service provider both billions of dollars in profits and superior competitive advantage. The success of such an innovation is strongly tied to a consumer’s adoption decision. When dealing with a continuous service innovation, the consumer’s decision process becomes complicated. Not only do consumers need to consider two different decisions of both whether to adopt and how long to adopt (contract length), but also the increasing trend of the service-related technological improvements invokes a forward-looking behavior in consumer’s decision process. Moreover, consumers have to balance the benefits and costs of adoption when evaluating decision alternatives. Consumer adoption decisions come with the desire to have the latest technology and the fear of the adopted technology becoming obsolete. Non-adoption prevents consumers from being locked-in by the service provider, but buying that technology may be costly. Being bound to a longer contract forfeits the opportunity to capitalize on the technological revolution. Frequently signing shorter contracts increases the non-physical efforts such as learning, training and negotiating costs. Targeting the right consumers at the right time with the right service offer in the business-to-business context requires an efficient strategy of sales resource allocation. This is a “mission impossible” for service providers if they do not know how consumers make decisions regarding service innovation. In order to guide the resource allocation decisions, we propose a complex model that integrates the structural, dynamic, and learning approaches to understand the consumer’s decision process on both whether or not to adopt, and how long to adopt a continuously updating service innovation in a B2B context.

This paper deals with Swedish B2B firms marketing activities in the culturally diverse Indian market, and what adaptations are made to meet the cultural diversity of India. The perception of cultural diversity in India is investigated from a Swedish B2B perspective. The findings were retrieved from three face to face interviews with equal number of respondents and firms; Roxtec, Norden Machinery and Gunnebo, three swedish B2B firms all established in India. The literature review is divided in two categories; Marketing and Culture, the former containing theory on relationship marketing and adaptation vs standardization when designing a marketing strategy, and the latter models of national culture as well as models on multicultural countries, with the models applied on India. The dimensions of culture that we found were most relevant in this paper were Power Distance and Perception of Time. The literature review is concluded with a conceptual framework containing our main concepts. The results from this study suggest that it is the managing of relationships with customers that are the most important part of marketing in India. It was also found that while India is characterized as a multicultural country, the way business is conducted and relationships managed are similar all over this vast country, leading us to suggest that a mutual Indian business culture exists.

Knowing what to sell, when to sell, and to whom to sell is essential buyer behavior insight to allocate scarce marketing resources efficiently and effectively. Applying the theory of relationship marketing (Morgan and Hunt 1994), this study seeks to investigate the link between commitment and trust and firm adoption of radically innovative information technology (IT). The construct of radical innovation is operationalized through the use of cloud computing. A review of the vast scholarly literature on radical innovation diffusion and adoption, and modeling techniques used to analyze buyer behavior is followed by empirical estimation of each of the radical innovation adoption questions of purchase timing, brand choice, and purchase amount. Then, the inefficiencies in the independent model process are highlighted, suggesting the need for an integrated model. Next, an integrated model is developed to link the purchase timing, brand choice, and purchase amount decisions. The essay concludes with insight for marketing practitioners on the strength of the factors of commitment and trust on adoption of radical innovation, an improved methodology for the business-to-business marketing literature, and potential further research paths.

Management of Virtual Organizations faces new challenges that traditional approaches cannot address. This research proposes a performance measurement framework for service oriented virtual organizations including a structural and a procedural component. The structural framework aligns the activities of partners in a virtual organization at three different layers. The first layer is designed for partners’ strategic alignment through coordination of the value creation network. In the second layer, performance dimensions of partners’ collaboration are defined and mapped to the service choreography model. The third layer focuses on assessing effectiveness and efficiency of partners’ domain specific services, which is designed based on ITIL V3 service level management guidelines. In order to consolidate the structural framework, these three layers are integrated using a method for extracting service choreography model and SLA aggregation patterns from the value network. The procedural framework, on the other side, defines the processes required to design the KPI structure, implement the solution, communicate the results, and derive improvements. We propose an implementation architecture that enables inter-organizational performance management in collaborative environments. Then, the IBM products for business process and performance management (IBM BPM, Business Monitor, and Cognos BI) are employed to implement the proposed architecture. The conceptual framework along with the implementation architecture provides an integrated solution for decentralized performance measurement without the need for a central authority. We demonstrate that the proposed solution enhances flexibility, scalability, and interoperability, and supports transparency of partners’ performance information at an agreed-upon level as a basis for mutual trust.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att identifiera samt analysera karaktärsdrag, trender och potentiell utveckling för mässan som verktyg för relationsbyggande B2B. Vi har i denna uppsats valt att göra en kvalitativ studie med en induktiv ansats med deduktiva inslag. Detta då vi ville få en djupare förståelse för ämnet snarare än att se till det bredare perspektivet. Insamlingen av empiriskt material skedde genom sex intervjuer med personer som arbetar med att marknadsföra sitt företag på mässor. Tre intervjuer genomfördes personligen, två via videokonferens och en via telefon. Genom analysarbetet har vi identifierat att mässan har stor betydelse för relationsbyggande mellan företag. Detta speciellt då den fungerar som ett verktyg som underlättar för företag att underhålla befintliga relationer samt skapa nya. Vi har även identifierat en trend som indikerar på att företag mer specifikt väljer ut vilka mässor de ska närvara vid, där en definierad målgrupp värderas högt för att företagens budskap ska nå fram. Vi har kommit fram till att virtuella mässor bör fungera som ett komplement snarare än ersätta den traditionella mässan eftersom det personliga mötet är av stor vikt inom B2B. Generationsskiften på arbetsmarknaden bidrar till att andra förhållningssätt till teknologi kommer att råda. Detta gör att företag måste förstå vikten av de förändringar som sker och agera därefter.