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About the ISBM: The Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) is a center of excellence in the Smeal College of Business Administration at Penn State. We are networked with researchers, educators and practitioners in business-to-business marketing in companies and universities throughout the world. The ISBM was founded in 1983, and is supported by over 60 member corporations.

The mission of the ISBM is two-fold:

Expand research and teaching in business-to-business marketing in academia…

Improve the practice of business-to-business marketing for member firms in industry.

For complete information see www.ISBM.org

Marketing 533: An ISBM Sponsored Course: As part of its mission to educate and network B2B practitioners, the ISBM is sponsoring Marketing 533. That means that:

The ISBM will provide complimentary copies of all course materials to registered students

Students will receive complimentary Associate membership in the ISBM, entitling them to access to all ISBM events and related materials

Students will receive a complimentary invitation to ISBM’s practitioner meeting, held in at the Nittany Lion Inn August 26-27. http://www.smeal.psu.edu/isbm/seminars/04spr.html

The ISBM will help provide career networking connections for those students interested in and qualified to pursue a career in B2B marketing

About this course and B2B Marketing

The creation, measurement and delivery of superior customer value in business markets is the focus of this course.    Successful market-focused business-to-business (B2B) organizations know the importance of linking customer needs to the development of high value products throughout the value chain in a global, electronic environment. And those successful organizations require that marketing be viewed as an investment, with measurable results and not as an expense.

We use a 5-step Value Delivery Framework to provide an integrated view of the B2B marketing process.

• Step 1: Build Value Understanding
• Step 2: Formulate Strategy via the STP Approach
• Step 3: Design Customer Value
• Step 4: Communicate and Deliver Value
• Step 5: B2B Marketing Program Implementation and Management

• Organization mission, objectives, goals
• Perspective on industry, market, competitive environment
• Measurement and understanding of customer value/requirements
• Diagnose sources of value inside/outside firm

Formulate B2B Strategy: the STP Approach

• Segmentation
• Targeting
• Positioning
• Analysis of competition
• Synthesis of segment strategies
• Value and pricing strategy

• New product/portfolio management processes
• Brand strategy and management
• Integrated market communications
• Channel/distribution strategy
• Sales management/support

• Manage customer relationships: Valuing customers
• Measure/track performance:  Marketing ROI

We will focus most of attention in the course on the first two (foundational) steps of the 5-step process and provide students access to the resources to continue and deepen their understanding of the subsequent steps.  

Describe and navigate the special challenges of marketing in Business-to-Business situations, "Up the Value Chain" where there are fewer customers, more decision influences per customer, longer purchase cycles, larger orders, more complex propositions, and often more difficult challenges in segmentation than are seen in the business to consumer environment.

Describe and use the 5-step value delivery framework, to provide an integrated and holistic view of the Business-to-Business marketing process.

Utilize a "value template", and customer value in use techniques to better understand the true value – in hard financial terms – of offerings in Business-to-Business market environment.

Be better at negotiating sales, pricing, and marketing agreements in Business-to-Business environments. 

Be better equipped to coach their business units in online dynamic bidding situations. 

Use state of the art tools and techniques to create more profitable segmentation-based marketing strategies for their firms, utilizing appropriate software tools and following the "segmentation, targeting, positioning approach"

Understand the key elements of channel strategy and key issues in the design and management of channels.

Use an 8-step process and focused management tools in more effectively communicating value in business market situations.

Deploy state-of-the-art-tools to assist in making better decisions on resource sizing and allocation in business market situations.

This site is for educational purposes and for the advancement of Business to Business Practices. © Ralph Oliva, 2003