David A. Reid, PhD
Richard E. Plank, PhD
Fundamentals of Business
Marketing Research
Pre-publication
REVIEWS,
COMMENTARIES,
EVALUATIONS . . .
“T
his book’s extensive review of the
area of business-to-business mar
-
ke t i n g is a useful tool for academics who
are interested in the subject. It would
also be a great reference or text for a
graduate course in business-to-business
marketing.”
Phylis Mansfield, PhD
Assistant Professor of Marketing,
Penn State, Erie
“T
his book provides an excellent,
state-of-the-art overview of the
field of business marketing research. It
is written by outstanding scholars in
the field and based on an impressive re-
view of the literature. The book is a
must-read for every scholar in the field
of business-to-business marketing. It
also provides interesting information

Fundamentals of Business
Marketing Research
David A. Reid, PhD
Richard E. Plank, PhD
Best Business Books®
An Imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.
New York • London • Oxford
Published by
Best Business Books®, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY
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utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm,
and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
This book is a compilation of articles that appeared previously in the Journal of Business-to-Busi-
ness Marketing, 7(2/3) (2000): 2-185; 7(4) (2000): 3-5, 11-67; and 9(4) (2002): 123-126, published
by The Haworth Press, Inc.
Cover design by Jennifer M. Gaska.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fundamentals of business marketing research / David A. Reid, Richard E. Plank.
p. cm. — (The foundation series in business marketing)
“This book is a compilation of articles that appeared previously in the Journal of Business-to-
Business Marketing.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7890-2311-3 (case : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7890-2312-1 (soft : alk. paper)
1. Industrial marketing—Research. 2. Marketing research. I. Reid, David A. (David Alan) II.
Plank, Richard E. III. Journal of business-to-business marketing. IV. Series.
HF5415.1263.F86 2003
658.8'3—dc22
2003016234

Forecasting 69
Market Segmentation 71
Computers and Decision Support 74
Summary of Marketing Sciences Research 76
Product 77
New Product Development and Diffusion 77
Product Management 85
Services 88
Summary of Product/Services Research 91
Pricing 92
Empirical Studies 93
Normative Studies 94
Summary of Pricing Research 95
Distribution 97
Channel Management 97
Logistics and Physical Distribution 102
Summary of Distribution Research 104
Marketing Communications 105
Advertising 105
Sales Promotion 107
Public Relations 111
General Promotion 112
Personal Selling 115
Sales Training 122
Sales Motivation and Rewards 124
General Sales Management 127
Summary of Marketing Communications Research 132
Summary 132
Research Issues 133
Marketing Planning and Strategy 136

Introduction: The Past 229
The Present 230
Transitions 235
The Future 237
Sensemaking About Business-to-Business Strategies
and Relationships: A Commentary on Reid
and Plank’s Review 243
Arch G. Woodside
The Main Contributions of Reid and Plank’s Review 243
Why Process Research? 247
Coverage of Key Findings 248
Theoretical Propositions on Relationships and Strategies 249
Integrative Research: A Valuable Recommendation 250
Reply to the Commentaries: Business Marketing
Comes of Age 253
David A. Reid
Richard E. Plank
Reply to Professor Woodside’s Comments 254
Reply to Professor Spekman’s Comments 256
Reply to Professor Wilson’s Comments 259
Business Marketing in the Future 260
Value 261
Relationships 262
Technology and the Information Superhighway 263
Implications for Research 264
Concluding Remarks 266
Book Review: Cabell’s Directory of Publishing
Opportunities in Marketing 269
J. David Lichtenthal
Index 273

-
ginia, Charlottesville, Virginia; e-mail: <>.
David T. Wilson is Alvin H. Clemens Professor Emeritus of Entre-
preneurial Studies, The Smeal College of Business Administration,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania; e-mail:
<>.
Arch G. Woodside is Professor of Marketing, Wallace E. Carroll
Graduate School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill,
Massachusetts; e-mail: <>.

Series PrefaceSeries Preface
It is a pleasure to announce the establishment of the Foundation
Series in Business Marketing. This book series fills a critical void in
business-to-business marketing knowledge especially when no re
-
sources currently available address the needs of business marketing
practitioners and academics looking for breadth and depth of cover
-
age on various issues of research, practice, and education. Books
published in this series will foster our understanding of business mar-
keting phenomena and managerial practice around the globe. These
books will focus exclusively on topics in business marketing combin-
ing impeccable relevance with rigor—and thus aid in cutting-edge
knowledge development.
The following are the inaugural two books:
1
• Fundamentals of Business Marketing Research: A comprehen-
sive look at the literature of the business marketing area over the
past twenty-five years. All areas under the general model of
business marketing are examined in depth with an eye toward

lications.
2. Both books may be useful across branches of the marketing discipline (e.g., al
-
though the comprehensive research volume is targeted at researchers/practitioners,
a broad-minded individual may very well find the discussion in the education vol
-
ume about marketing textbooks very useful. Likewise, a business teaching profes-
sional or practitioner may find content about models of business marketing manage-
ment that are examined in the research volume easy to tweak for managerial or
classroom purposes.
IntroductionIntroduction
J. David Lichtenthal
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Academic research in industrial/business-to-business marketing
has grown considerably since the last major review of the field in
1978. The paper by Reid and Plank examines a total of 2,194 aca-
demic articles published in various sources from 1978 through 1997.
The purpose of the examination was to assess the progress that has
been made and provide both researchers and practitioners with sum-
maries of the field for both future research and practice.
The work reviewed includes some 1,288 empirical articles (where
some type of data was collected) and 906 nonempirical articles. In
general most of the empirical work was survey based. The articles are
segmented into seven broad topics, labeled strategy, organizational
buying and purchasing, marketing sciences, product, pricing, chan-
nels, and promotion.
The strategy literature is spotty, but reflects the tremendous
changes that are going on in the environment and how firms are deal-
ing with these changes. Much of the work provides normative in-
sights into strategic alliances and partnerships and is also beginning

ginning to provide some managerial insights.
Marketing sciences deal with market research practices, forecast
-
ing, and the use of computers and modeling in business marketing.
Much of the research discussions has focused on academic research
problems, primarily on getting better response rates to question
-
naires, and defining of problems researching business marketing.
There is some interesting work being done on customer assessment,
especially value assessment, and market estimation. Forecasting re-
search has been limited, while market segmentation research has got-
ten more pragmatic and user-friendly for the practitioner. Research in
computers and decision support primarily provides ideas for potential
usage, but there is little on enterprise resource planning systems or
front- and back-end information systems and support.
Product research has been prolific, especially the new product de-
velopment work. Much of the work in new products provides signifi-
cant normative insights. At this point there is general agreement on a
series of factors that are likely to contribute to new product success:
superior unique product, well defined prior to undertaking develop
-
ment, synergy of technology, quality of technology execution, mar
-
keting synergy and quality of marketing activity execution, and gen
-
eral market attractiveness. Work is beginning on defining behaviors
and outcomes at different stages of the new product development pro
-
cess. Other significant areas of research include work on eliminating
products from the product offerings, and some very preliminary work

in sales promotion, with the exception of trade shows, and none in
public relations. The work on trade shows is very insightful and pro-
vides useful managerial insights. Very little work addresses the func-
tion of inside sales. The work in sales performance is beginning to be
more specific in terms of addressing the behaviors that salespeople
must do. Learning and knowledge have been shown to be important
in sales performance and some preliminary work has suggested that
solutions and getting information to frame those solutions are much
more predictive of sales performance than the actual presentation
style or skills. Some preliminary work in team selling has provided
some interesting insights while there is also some interesting and in
-
formative work on key account selling. Sales training research is not
particularly informative. Much work has been done on sales motiva
-
tion and rewards that provides the reader with normative advice.
Salesperson performance and evaluation research has shown the ad
-
vantage of a composite system where both outcomes and behaviors
are measured and rewarded. Sales force deployment has seen some
significant research. Unfortunately, there is limited research on the
role of sales forces and changes over the next ten to twenty years.
In summary, academic research has evolved over the past twenty
years and provides useful insights to both practitioners and research
-
ers. Some areas are clearly underresearched and it cannot be said that
any particular area is overresearched or void of future benefit from
well-executed research. In order to be more productive, both as a the
-
ory development exercise as well as to provide more managerial sup

1999). Industrial marketing has been around for more than 160 years
(Frederick 1934) and studied academically for quite some time, as
this review demonstrates, along with the appearance and survival of
the four aforementioned research outlets dedicated to research in this
area. The introduction of the paper provides a real sense of the topical
breadth and depth of the field of business marketing. The reader can
gain an understanding of what it means to conduct good research in a
business marketing context as well as the difficulties one often en
-
counters. The article also provides an understanding of topical areas
and issues in need of further research and exploration. While the field
of business marketing has surely come of age, many research oppor
-
tunities and challenges remain in terms of concept development, meth
-
odology attunement, and enhancement to business marketing practice.
More experienced practitioners and researchers, having read the
introduction, may want to go directly to specific topical areas of inter-
est. Each provides a review of the important literature organized by
specific streams of research within that topic and closes with a dis-
cussion highlighting research questions needing further study. Atten-
tion is called to problems in each topical area, both in the extant litera-
ture and by omission. Comparison of related areas may also prove
fruitful to experienced researchers interested in issues of topic inte-
gration. Table 5 provides a quick summary of the authors’ views on
shortages and surpluses in the various topical areas. This can help ex-
perienced researchers as well as doctoral students looking for possible
research areas.
Finally, the references alone may provide the practitioner and aca-
demic reader alike with one of the most extensive bibliographies ever

creative learning organizations. These organizations are seen as boun-
daryless, implying less hierarchy, reduction in functional silos, and
decentralization. The network is the dominant function and informa-
tion is a shared asset. The single firm is no longer a relevant level of
analysis (the extended enterprise is) and individual compensation is
tied to both network and firm performance. He closes by noting that
we cannot afford to hide behind a narrow definition of our field by ig-
noring the multidisciplinary, cross-functional, interfirm problems we
face. We must attempt to push traditional research boundaries to
study at the “fuzzy” nexus of disciplines, organizational boundaries,
and levels of analysis.
Woodside feels that the Reid and Plank review, in the spirit of
sensemaking, enables the reader to see the complexity of the busi
-
ness-to-business marketing (BBM) literature and helps the reader la
-
bel, store, and retrieve pieces of the literature in a benchmark manner.
He notes the meta-attributes of BBM research include positivistic
view, some pretesting and questionnaire revision reflecting fifteen to
forty constructs within eight to fifteen pages, typically mailed to one
executive per firm in a sample of 500 to 2,000 firms with a response
rate less than 30 percent with the use of multivariate data analysis,
path analysis, or structural equations. Data from both sides of the
buyer-seller dyad are rare. Woodside states we can no longer justify
continuing the use of one-side, one-shot, close-ended mail surveys,
given the Reid and Plank (RP) call for longitudinal programmatic re
-
search. There is a need to overcome the structural biases (dissertation
emphasis on multivariate data analysis with fieldwork and alterna
-

-
proaches. Bidding models will likely be used when process value cre
-
ation is not a significant factor and product value is. This reduces the
importance of marketing’s current roles. In a high process value situ
-
ation, marketing’s roles are key and this battle will be fought as buy
-
ers try to use bidding models to lower costs. Hence, marketers must
find ways to develop process value within their networks. Wilson en
-
visions other changes as well. Communications will be revamped and
may include fewer salespeople functioning differently. World Wide
Web communication will be integrated with more traditional forms.
The marketing group will be marginalized if we do not lead the tran
-
sition by redesigning the big traditional business to a digital business.
Transaction platforms facilitate buyer and seller doing business on a
specialized customer-by-customer basis. Overall, however, Wilson
states that alliances are the fibers that weave value-creating networks
together when distributing/selling directly to the buyer. Traditional
channels must become Web-based if they are to survive as well.
Reid and Plank make several observations in their reply and I en
-
courage the reader to look at their remarks directly. Reid and Plank in
their reply respond to the concerns voiced in the commentaries of
Professors Spekman, Wilson, and Woodside. Their theme and hope
throughout their reply is that their review will create an active, ongoing
dialogue—one that includes both academics and managers. Without
this dialogue between academic and business, they question whether