In This Issue. . .

Twenty fi ve years? Hard to believe. Th is past August, the ISBM did indeed celebrate its 25th anniversary, and we used that occasion to do a brief research retrospective. It seems that we have indeed accomplished quite a bit.

Th is issue also reports on our biennial academic conference, held this past August 6-7 at the University of California, San Diego, which was a great success. Qiong Wang provides an update on the ISBM’s Data Resources Program (DRP), this issue focusing on Gartner Research’s Business Data Service.

Abbie Griffi n, ISBM’s Ph.D. camp director, reports on early plans for the 2009 Camp, to be held August 5-6 at Northwestern University. We are delighted that the camp will be hosted there by Anne Coughlan. Raj Grewal reports on the ISBM Ph.D. Seminar Series (IPSS) plans for Spring 2009, featuring courses on Sales Management and B-to-B Research Methods.

Finally, we are delighted to announce a strategic relationship with the Sales Excellence Institute (SEI) at the University of Houston. Mike Ahearne, the SEI Executive Director, will direct and manage the Educational Resources Program, developed jointly with the ISBM.

All the best.

Gary and Raj

Fall 2008

ISBM Research Q U A R T E R L Y

Volume 1, Issue 4

IN THIS ISSUE . . .

In This Issue ................................ 1

Ph.D. Student Camp 2009 ............. 1

ISBM Research: A 25th ................ 2

Anniversary Perspective

ISBM Data Resources Program ... 5

University of Houston to Host ...... 5

Educational Resources Program

Refl ections on the 2008 ISBM ... 8

Academic Conference

IPSS Update: (ISBM Ph.D. ........ 8

Seminar Series) . . .

Gary L. Lilien

Raj Grewal

continued on page 8

Research DirectorGary L. Lilien, (GLilien@psu.edu)

Associate Research DirectorRajdeep Grewal, (rug2@psu.edu)

Executive DirectorRalph Oliva, (ROliva@psu.edu)

Institute for the Study of Business Markets

Smeal College of BusinessThe Pennsylvania State University484 Business BuildingUniversity Park, PA 16802USA

+1-814-863-2782 • WWW.ISBM.ORG

CONTACT INFORMATION

Gary L. LilienResearch DirectorInstitute for the Study of Business Markets

Raj GrewalAssociate Research DirectorInstitute for the Study of Business Markets

ISBM Announces 2009 Ph.D. Student Camp for Research in B-to-B Markets

Abbie Griffi n

We are pleased to announce that the third Ph.D. Student Camp for Research in Business-to-Business Markets will be held in Chicago, IL the Wednesday afternoon and Th ursday just prior to the American

Marketing Association’s Summer Educator Conference (August 5-6, 2009).

Th e camp is designed for students who have completed at least one year of doctoral work and have interest in or are thinking of pursuing work in B-to-B marketing and management. Th ere are no geographic or fi eld restrictions; we anticipate that students studying in fi elds including marketing, strategy, management, R&D management, information systems, and business logistics/supply chain management will fi nd the Camp attractive and benefi cial.

Th e purpose of this event is to enable students to interact with prominent faculty members and young, promising scholars, get acquainted with research paradigms and topics in business-to-business strategy, marketing, and management, understand how to develop and publish quality business research articles in top academic journals and give students opportunities to have their research ideas and projects constructively critiqued.

Foreword: Twenty-fi ve years ago, Irv Gross, Dave Wilson and I founded the Institute for the Study of Business Markets. Like many true marketers, we sold the product to a few key fi rms before we had actually built it. As we look back, we have accomplished quite a lot; the product has been more successful than we dared hope. In this newsletter, we’ve asked our Ph.D.

student, Mahima Hada, to provide some commentary. - Gary Lilien.

Th e fundamental research mission of the ISBM is the creation of new, important knowledge in the B2B domain. But how successful has the ISBM been in fulfi lling this mission since it was founded 25 years ago? To answer this question, we tried to measure the impact that ISBM has had on academia through its various activities – some with easier to measure impact factors, than others. Th e ISBM academic conferences, data resources program, Ph.D. seminar series, dissertation support awards etc., that you participate in and read about here, are activities whose impact is hard to measure. A tangible element that can be more readily assessed is the impact of the published research papers that ISBM has supported. To address this element of research impact, we did an electronic search and located published articles that acknowledge ISBM

support. We catalogued those articles using their keywords, and used their Google ScholarTM citation results as a citation measure. Here is what we found:

ISBM’s support has led to 127 published papers since 1997 in peer-reviewed journals (electronic search becomes less reliable the farther back you go, so we arbitrarily decided to use a decade). If we assume we are in steady state, that means that the ISBM is sponsoring about 13 refereed publications per year. Th at research covers a wide range of B2B research topics (Figure 1). Th e dominant domains have been inter-fi rm relationships (which includes relationship marketing), and product development. Th at focus refl ects the interests of B2B academics as well as the importance of these topics to practitioners: building and selling products in an inter-fi rm setting represent core elements of B2B marketing.

Figure 1: ISBM Funded Published Research: Main Domains

Considering citations as measure of impact, 24 ISBM supported papers have been cited more than 100 times, and 12 papers between 50 and 100 times. Th ese 36 papers have contributed to the domains of product development, and inter-fi rm relationships, closely followed by decision support systems and sales (Figure 2). Th e ten most cited ISBM supported research papers, as of July 2008, are reported in Table 1. It is fi tting that the most cited ISBM supported research paper is by one of the ISBM’s founders, Dave Wilson (698 citations; read it here).

Figure 2: Domains of Impact of ISBM funded research

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continued on page 3

ISBM Research: A 25th Anniversary Perspective

Mahima Hada

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ISBM Research: A 25th Anniversary Perspective continued from page 2

Table 1: Top-ten most cited ISBM supported papers

In an attempt to bridge the academic-practitioner gap, the ISBM aims to focus its research funding on topics that have potential for long term practitioner impact, topics identifi ed through the ISBM trends studies (see ISBM’s 2010 trends study for the most recent one). As shown in Table 2, the ISBM is currently funding 26 projects that are linked to the top 2010 trends studies topics. Not only does the historic focus on new product development and relationship marketing continue, but currently funded projects (since 2006), show increased focus on sales management and B2B brand management projects compared to previous years (Figure 3).

Since 1983, ISBM’s academic mission has been to advance research and teaching in the fi eld of business-to-business marketing. We hope that, while fulfi lling that mission, the ISBM can continue to contribute to the entire domain of academic research in marketing.

continued on page 4

Table 2: Currently funded Projects aligned with 2010 Trends Study

Figure 3: Currently funded ISBM Research projects: Main Domains

Mahima HadaPh.D. Candidate and ISBM Doctoral FellowPenn State and the Institute for the Study of Business Marketsmuh167@psu.edu

ISBM Research: A 25th Anniversary Perspective continued from page 3

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Data Resources Program: Update and Highlight on Gartner Research’s Business Data Service

In this issue of the ISBM quarterly newsletter, we highlight the data resource provided by Gartner Research, which may benefi t researchers who are interested in how information technology (IT) and services will deliver greatest business value.

Gartner retains 1,200 research analysts and consultants who advise executives in 80 countries. A snapshot of Gartner is depicted as below:

As a major IT research and advisory fi rm, Gartner focuses on (1) evaluating market players across industries, (2) measuring the real cost of IT investment, (3) learning about emerging technologies, (4) monitoring players in mature and emerging markets, and (5) assessing individual vendors.

Mike Ahearne

continued on page 6

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON TO HOST EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES PROGRAM

As Executive Director of the University of Houston’s Sales Excellence Institute at the Bauer College of Business, I am pleased to announce that the Institute is partnering with the ISBM to develop and support the SEI-ISBM Educational Resources Program (ERP). This program is designed to create a forum for communication between business-to-business educators around the globe creating a sharing of educational support materials such as syllabi, texts, case materials, exercises, and materials that have been useful in courses in B2B marketing, channels, sales, and sales management, product management and the like.

The ERP will take the form of a website at the SEI as well as a sub site to www.isbm.org that will serve both as a repository for such material as well as a forum for faculty to communicate with one another concerning educational topics.

We are in the process of collecting syllabi and other teaching materials; we are also seeking links to useful course websites. In the coming months, we will be reaching out to you to share such material and also to solicit your insights into what has worked for you.

The site is currently under development with a planned launch of January 2009. Please send me your materials so that we can include them in the inaugural version of the website!

If you have materials or information that you would be willing to share, or questions or suggestions about the Program, please e-mail Mike at mahearne@uh.edu.

Mike AhearneExecutive DirectorUniversity of Houston’s Sales Excellence Institute mahearne@uh.edu

Research

Consulting and Benchmarking

Executive Programs Events Gartner

Advantage

ResearchWorld leader in technology & industry coverage• Global reach (75 countries)• 10,000+ Client organizations (300+ Higher Education)•

Events

Worldwide events • that bring executives together to learn, compare experiences and solve problems

35,500+ people at 70 • events

Consulting

Delivers high-impact IT • projects

Direct application of • best practices to your business

65 percent of Global • 500 are customers

Executive Programs

3,300 members (75+ • Higher Education)

High-level peer • networking and information sharing

Customer-driven • agenda

Benchmarking

Wor• ld’s largest repository of IT metrics

1200 benchmarks • per year

Helps clients measure, • understand and manage performance

Basis for fact-based • analysis

Financials

$1.060 Billion in Revenue (2006)•

3,800 Employees•

Founded in 1979•

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Gartner provides data sources across 5 key technology sectors and multiple industries, as illustrated below:

Gartner collects business data from both primary and secondary sources as detailed below:

Data Resources Program: Update and Highlight on Gartner Research’s Business Data Services

continued from page 5

continued on page 7

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Data Resources Program: Update and Highlight on Gartner Research’s Business Data Services

continued from page 6

Furthermore, Gartner houses 5 types of business data as shown below:

We invite researchers to consider using Gartner when conducting B2B research and to contact us if help is needed in connecting with Gartner.

In addition to informing researchers about numerous data resources, the DRP is interactive. It includes a feedback mechanism so that the research community may share experiences and knowledge specifi c to the data sources that members have evaluated and used. We encourage B-to-B researchers to share both their comments to the DRP and their experiences with specifi c data resources.

Qiong WangData Resources Program DirectorInstitute for the Study of Business MarketsQiongWang@psu.eduhttp://drp.smeal.psu.edu

Market Forecast Data Overview

Five-year market growth forecasts with historical year-to-year market size • comparison identify the market leaders and the products/services that are driving the market.

Forecast data projects up to five years into the future:• typically units, revenue worldwide, region, and countrylevel data

Forecast data is not reported by company.•

Data can be downloaded from • gartner.com as an Excel file.

Forecast data is updated annually.•

Market Share Data feeds the Market data Book, which rolls up all tech sector • end user spend by region and technology segments to create an integrated view of IT spend.

Market Share Data Overview

Provides revenue analysis of a specific market segment’s largest vendors, by • technology, line of business, regions/country as appropriate.

Data is available in units, currency, and licences.•

Updated annually.• (sometimes more frequently depending on market needs)

Available as a downloadable Excel file.•

Quarterly Statistics (QStats) include data and analysis for personal computers, • servers, workstations, & printers, PDA and smartphones, and disk array storage. Regional breakdown for all except semiconductors.

Market Share Data feeds the Market data Book, which rolls up all tech sector • end user spend by region and technology segments to create an integrated view of IT spend.

Market Trends Report Overview

Identifies and analyzes key market dynamics, including supply-side, demand-• side, technology and/or competitive that are impacting the relevant market and its subsegments, regions, countries or industry.

Taken together with the quantitative forecasts and market shares, these • reports enable providers to identify, quantify and profile market growth opportunities.

Typically delivered on an annual basis.•

For certain markets, Market Trends Reports are updated on a quarterly basis.•

User Survey Report

Detailed analysis of buyer behavior and patterns based on primary research.•

Typically includes information about what customers say they want, would buy, • why they buy/don’t buy and how they make vendor and technology selection decisions.

Helps clients understand the likely profile and requirements of targeted end-• user groups for products and services.

Combines statistical analysis of survey response with analyst interpretation of • the implications and impact on markets and suppliers

Typically delivered on an annual basis, but timing and coverage vary by client • demand.

Market Analysis Reports Overview

Market Analysis Reports analysis of events that impact market opportunity•

Typically comprise a comprehensive analysis of a specific issue such as:• an emerging technology or market opportunity a major industry event such as a merger

Qiong Wang

IPSS Update: ISBM Ph.D. Seminar Series

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This semester (Fall 2008) IPSS is currently off ering two courses: (1) the fi rst IPSS Pro-Seminar, being taught by Professors F. Robert Dwyer, Srinath Gopalakirshna, V. Kumar, Aric Rindfl eisch, and Barton A. Weitz, and (2)

Organizational Buying Behavior and Market Design, co-taught by Professors Sandy Jap and Wes Johnston. Feedback to date indicates that both courses are being very well received. We were surprised and delighted to fi nd that we now have an entirely new group of students taking these two courses. Th us, we have turned over a leaf at IPSS with our (new) second batch of students!

In Spring 2009, IPSS will off er Sales Management and Personal Selling, taught by Barton A. Weitz, who previously taught this course in Spring 2007 (with a new batch of students, we will be recycling several of the previously-off ered courses in the coming semesters). We will also off er a research methods course that will be co-taught by Professors Srinath Gopalakrishna and Gerrit van Bruggen. Watch your mail and email for an updated IPSS brochure with details on both courses.

As usual, I look forward to the thoughts and feedback from the community and please do encourage your students to take these courses.

Raj Grewal Associate Research DirectorInstitute for the Study of Business Marketshttp://www.ipss.isbm.org

Raj Grewal

REFLECTION ON THE 2008 ISBM ACADEMIC CONFERENCE

The 2008 ISBM biennial conference, Advances in B-to-B Marketing, was held at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego, August 6-7. We were greeted by the School’s founding Dean, Robert Sullivan, who welcomed us to their new facility, a truly excellent venue for the conference. The conference attracted 82 participants from four continents, including 17 Ph.D. students. Following 20 sessions including 60 stimulating presentations on a wide range of research topics, the conference closed with a meet-the-editors session, attended by the editors of Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Product Innovation Management, the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing and the Journal of Business Marketing Management. As conference organizers, we were pleased both by the quality of the contributions and by the enthusiasm of interaction and look forward to the next ISBM academic conference in Boston, MA, August 11-12, 2010.

Raj Grewal and Gary LilienConference Co-ChairsInstitute for the Study of Business Markets

Th e camp is being sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) at Penn State and Northwestern University, with the support of the American Marketing Association, the Marketing Science Institute, and Georgia State’s Center for Business and Industrial Marketing, and co-chaired with Northwestern University who will also host this event. Th is camp is a biennial event designed to focus more attention on research needs and opportunities in the domain of business-to-business markets, a goal of each of the supporting institutions.

Th ere is a nominal registration fee for attending, and most meals will be provided. Attendees and their schools will be responsible for travel and lodging costs, although a limited number of scholarships may be available on a competitive basis to partially defray lodging and travel expenses for student attendees.

If you have any additional questions, please contact Abbie Griffi n at abbie.griffi n@business.utah.edu. We hope students and faculty from all over the globe will attend this event.

Abbie Griffi nRoyal L. Garff Presidential Chair in MarketingUniversity of Utahabbie.griffi n@business.utah.edu

Ph.D. Student Camp 2009 continued from page 1

We would love to hear from you. If you wish to comment on any of the articles (or have thoughts for future articles), please pass them on. Your suggestions will make the newsletter better and more responsive to your needs. Please email your correspondence to:

Newsletter EditorLori Nicolini (LNicolini@psu.edu)

Institute for the Study of Business Markets

Smeal College of BusinessThe Pennsylvania State University484 Business BuildingUniversity Park, PA 16802USA

+1-814-863-2782 • WWW.ISBM.ORG

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