Importance of the Study: Over the last decade or so the B2C organizations are making full usage of the social media platform as a tool of their marketing mix. However, the adoption of social media in the marketing activities of the B2B sector has not quite registered the growth which the B2C organizations have. The reason behind this being previous failed experiences of the B2B sector with the social media marketing usage. Furthermore, the B2B firms do not put many efforts in their social media activity as compared to B2C firms. Thus, the study of social media on the marketing management of the B2B firms becomes important. This was done by studying the case of multiple B2B firms and drawing best practices inferences from it. Purpose of the study: The reason why this study has been undertaken is due to the fact the previous studies have focused upon ‘why’ B2B firms have failed to achieve the success which B2C firms have achieved using social media marketing platforms. There is a lack of quality research studies on what techniques the B2B organizations are using currently as there have been rare cases of finding the success with the use of social media for the B2B firms. Thus, the purpose of this study was to research successful marketing techniques used by the organizations which have found success using social media and which can be used by other B2B firms. Methods: The mixed research method was adopted for this study as the study has been divided into two parts qualitative case study method and the quantitative survey method. The cases of five B2B firms namely Huawei, Accenture, Novartis, American Express and Lucid Press was taken to draw inferences about the best marketing techniques for B2B firms on social media. These findings were further validated by the quantitative survey which had 50 B2B marketing professionals randomly selected. Major Findings: Some of the major findings were that the B2B firms use e-books, webinars, case studies and infographics in order to present top to bottom information about their products and services to their B2B clients. Furthermore, when it comes to social networking websites, it was found that LinkedIn was more popular than the Facebook for the marketing of the B2B firm's products and services.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / It has been found that the main causes of insufficient sales of different small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the low conversion rate of quotes into sales, which entails poor business performance and low economic impact. Therefore, a marketing methodology called inbound marketing is planned, which is modified and adapted to the case study. In contrast, tools such as ABC classification, workflow, and inbound marketing have been used as a structure of the proposed methodology to solve the problem. The implementation of this methodology resulted in an increased efficiency of quote development and an enhanced performance ratio thereof. In conclusion, it is possible to measure the financial impact of the methodology implementation which has been beneficial for the company under study. Business performance in the last month of implementation improved by 10%.

Background: In the last decade, digitalisation and globalisation have intensified competition and customer power, making price and quality minimum requirements rather than differentiators. As a result, branding has become crucial in the B2B context for creating competitive advantage and customer loyalty. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine the role of branding in a B2B service purchasing decision. More specifically, the research will focus on how buyers of services perceive that they are influenced by the brand when selecting a service provider. Method: A cross-sectional single case study was conducted on the recruitment agency Poolia. Semi-structured interviews with seven customers, two pilot interviews, and one interview with a case representative was the source of the collection of the primary data. A thematic analysis with an inductive approach was used for analysing and collecting data. The analysis focused on identifying relevant themes in the data and resulted in the creation of a conceptual model. Conclusion: It can be concluded from the findings that B2B purchase of a service lacks a defined process due to the highly interactive nature of the environment. Further, it could be seen that service brands have a significant impact on the purchasing decision and that the extent to which branding impacts varies depending on the level of relationship between the entities. Factors of branding were discovered to impact different parts of the purchasing process.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance our understanding of how salespeople in B2B organizations perceive the usefulness of digital solutions in their work. The use of digital solutions continues to increase in business-to-business (B2B)-selling. Yet limited research has so far focused on how salespeople in B2B organizations perceive the usage of digital solutions. Previous studies have found that perceived usefulness is effective for understanding user attitudes and intentions, and at large their acceptance and usage of digital solutions. Concurrently, previous studies have found that organizations struggle with ensuring that digital solutions are used according to management’s intentions. Perceived usefulness therefore becomes a door into understanding salespeoples’ perceptions of digital solutions, and ultimately their usage of them. In order to achieve the purpose of this paper, a single case study is used, conducted through semi-structured interviews with a sales unit of a chemical company. Four main conclusions were made based on the findings: there is a need for the salespeople to understand why the digital solutions are relevant for their work, digital solutions can contribute to a higher workload for the salespeople, comprehensive training is important for how digital solutions gets used, and there can exist support for managing problems in the form of expert colleagues. These findings contribute to existing literature by highlighting conditions that influence salespeople’s acceptance and usage of digital solutions, and provide nuanced insights into the way salespeople end up using digital solutions in a certain way.

The use of social media is constantly increasing and digitalization is becoming a bigger and bigger part of both individuals' and companies' daily life. In turn, customers' expectations of companies working within the social media environment are increasing in phase with digitalization. In order for companies to stay relevant in the market, mastering digitalization is becoming a requirement, especially within the marketing context. This includes marketing between business-to-business (B2B). Additionally, small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the majority of company size in Sweden and are therefore a major contributory addition to the economy. Therefore we found it of high interest to research how SME B2B marketing companies adapt to the development of digitalization and the increased use of social media in order to remain relevant in the market. Furthermore, since previous research has focused on barriers to the adoption of social media within these types of companies, we find it of value to further investigate how business performance is influenced by social media use. The business performance is moreover researched regarding how the most common tool for social media, lead generation, is appropriate within the SME B2B marketing context. The purpose of this study is to examine how social media usage influences business performance in Swedish small-to-medium-sized B2B marketing firms, in the context of lead generation. We want to contribute knowledge regarding how these kinds of companies should use social media in order to further be able to grow their business performance. This, since B2B companies have been seen as slow adaptors to social media as well as due to the fact that society is frequently becoming more digitized. To get a deeper understanding of how SME B2B marketing companies use social media as well as how they have experienced an influence on their business performance due to social media, eight independent participants within this business context have been interviewed through semi-structured interviews. A qualitative method was selected for this thesis, as well as an inductive research approach, which contributed to knowledge regarding how B2B marketing companies use social media in a business context as well as how they have experienced an influence on business performance. Based on the findings from this research, we came up with four sections that are of value for companies to consider when implementing social media in order to increase business performance. The first section demonstrates goals set for social media, which need to be set in order to further create matching strategies on how to achieve these goals. This leads us to the second step, use, which describes how companies use social media in order to achieve their goals. The third section is business performance, which demonstrates how business performance is influenced by social media use. Lastly, lead generation further demonstrates how it is possible to understand the influence on business performance coming from the use of social media. This last step of the model shows that using lead generation when understanding business performance from social media is more appropriate in some contexts than others. This study contributes with new theoretical knowledge on how the use of social media influences a small-to-medium-sized business-to-business marketing firm, as well as how lead generation is considered appropriate when understanding the company's business performance. In addition, based on our findings, practical recommendations have been suggested for small-to-medium-sized enterprises within B2B marketing.

This research aims to facilitate sales personnel and companies in understanding the interrelation of personal branding within sales and how it should be utilized effectively. Thus, the thesis explores how sales personnel develop and communicate their personal brand, and additionally how personal branding relates to social selling in a B2B context. Using a qualitative approach, the researchers conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with nine participants to achieve meaningful insights about the topic. The research utilizes a deductive approach and a form of directed analysis where the findings are closely related to the conceptual framework (Figure 1). It was found that authenticity is a major aspect when communicating a personal brand. This is since supporting other salespeople, offering expertise, and creating relationships were essential. Furthermore, findings regarding the development of a personal brand indicated changes in professional and personal life as prominent factors. The discoveries reported that processes such as self-reflection and idea-batching, in which values are at the core of evolving the personal brand, can be beneficial. Moreover, the study identifies how personal branding relates to social selling in a B2B context. The researchers found that personal branding can form the base for successful social selling in terms of the connection between the two concepts. It was indicated that social selling would function as a Pull-strategy when incorporating a strong personal brand. In summary, this thesis offers insightful information on the essential function of personal branding for sales personnel and businesses in the B2B context, elucidating the development and communication of a personal brand and its relationship with social selling.

In this thesis, we examine machine learning as a tool for predicting new cus- tomers in a B2B-sales context. Using only publicly available information, we try to solve the problem using two different approaches: 1) a naive clustering based classifier built on K-means and 2) PU-learning with a random forests- adapter. We test these models with different sets of features and evaluate them using statistical measures and a discussion of the business implications. Our main findings conclude that the PU-learning could produce results that are satisfactorily for the purpose of improving the sales process, with the best case of being 4.8 times better than a random baseline classifier. However, the clustering based classifier was not good enough, producing only marginally better results than a random classifier in its best case. We also find that us- ing more variables improved the models, even in high-dimensional spaces with over 60 variables.

In this paper customer journey for B2B SaaS business models was analyzed to study customer experience, customer success and its key performance indicators. The research method is the case study of Supplier Relationship Management SaaS solution provider. In recent years, the research in customer journey management identified the tendency of acknowledge customer journey as a differentiator and a competitive advantage. Customer journey is a complex process that entails structured customer experience/success measurement system. There is no standard approach or method that provides standardized set of metrics to be applied for every journey. For SaaS solutions term “customer success” is relevant to customer experience with the solution and an indicator of customer loyalty. The purpose of the research is investigation of B2B SaaS business model and definition of key performance indicators of customer success. The case study aims to open a framework for discussion what is customer success in B2B SaaS solutions, when does it appear, and how a company influences and ensures customer success. / I den här rapporten analyserades kundresan för B2B SaaS affärsmodeller för att studerakundupplevelsen, "customer success" och dess viktigaste resultatindikatorer. Forskningsmetoden ärfallstudien för Supplier Relationship Management SaaS lösning.Under de senaste åren har forskningen inom kundresa identifierat tendensen att erkänna kundresansom en differentiering och en konkurrensfördel. Kundresan är en komplex process som innebär ettstrukturerat kundupplevelse- och framgångsmätningssystem. Det finns ingen standardmetod ellermetod som ger standardiserade uppsättningar av mätvärden som ska tillämpas för varje resa. För SaaSlösningen är termen "customer success" relevant för kundupplevelsen med lösningen som en indikator på kundlojalitet.Syftet med forskningen är att utreda B2B SaaS affärsmodell och definition av viktiga resultatindikatorer för "customer success". Fallstudien syftar till att öppna en ram för diskussion vad är "customer success" i B2B SaaS-lösningar, när det verkar och hur ett företag påverkar och säkerställer "customer success".

Social media is a fast growing platform when it comes to marketing. It is, however, used to a greater extent by business-to-consumer (B2C) companies than by business-to-business (B2B) companies. Because of this there has been considerably less research done concerning marketing on social media for B2B, compared to B2C.  This study explores why social media marketing is less common in B2B than B2C. This was done by conducting eleven one-on-one interviews with people who work at different B2B companies, and who have influence over their respective company’s marketing process. To analyse and evaluate the findings of this study the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used. By identifying the external variables that deter B2B companies from using social media the perceived usefulness and ease of use were analysed in order to explore what affects the difference in social media acceptance for marketing between B2B and B2C companies.  The findings of this study show that the perceived ease of use is the dominant factor that deters B2B companies from using social media for marketing purposes. This is however not the reason for the difference between B2B and B2C. The difference can instead be explained by a more negative perception of the usefulness of marketing on social media. This negative perception is a result of the characteristics of social media, the industry the company is operating within, as well as the company’s products and customers. / Sociala medier är en snabbt växande plattform när det kommer till marknadsföring. Det används dock i större utsträckning av business-to-consumer (B2C) företag än av business-to-business (B2B) företag. På grund av detta har det gjorts betydligt mindre forskning gällande marknadsföring på sociala medier för B2B än vad som har gjorts för B2C. Denna studie utforskar varför marknadsföring på sociala medier är mindre vanligt i B2B än B2C. Detta har gjorts genom att genomföra 11 intervjuer, öga-mot-öga, med personer som arbetar på olika B2B-företag och som har inflytande över sitt respektive företags marknadsföringsprocess. För att analysera och utvärdera resultaten från denna studie användes Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), en modell som mäter acceptansen av olika tekniska plattformar. Genom att identifiera de externa variabler som hindrar B2B-företag från att använda sociala medier analyserades användbarheten och användarvänligheten, som den uppfattas av dem intervjuade, för att undersöka vad som påverkar skillnaden i sociala media acceptans i marknadsföringssyfte mellan B2C- och B2B-företag.  Resultaten av denna studie visar att den upplevda användarvänligheten är den dominerande faktorn som hindrar B2B-företag från att använda sociala medier för marknadsföringssyften. Detta är dock inte orsaken till skillnaden mellan B2B och B2C. Skillnaden kan istället förklaras av en negativare uppfattning av användbarheten av marknadsföring på sociala medier. Denna negativa uppfattning är ett resultat av egenskaperna hos sociala medier, den bransch som företaget är verksam inom, samt företagets produkter och kunder.

The transition of businesses to the digital marketplace has presented many opportunities and challenges for e-commerce and ICT services providers. This research was carried out during the ongoing diffusion of a technological innovation, at Telia Company's Content Delivery Network (CDN) unit, in a bid to understand the technology adoption process. The researchers' approachwas to get insights from different stakeholders in the Swedish e-commerce industry and to compare the qualitative research findings with theoretical secondary data and definitions. Six interviews were performed, constituting the empirical data. After the analysis and discussion of the results and frameworks, the researchers propose a merged theoretical framework thatcould be used for designing compelling value propositions, and as such improve the conveying of the value of an offering. The thesis concludes with recommendations to further validate the proposed framework through further research.