D i g i t a l i z a t i o n a n d N e w B u y e r B e h a v i o r i s C h a n g i n g B 2 B R e l a t i o n s h i p M a r k e t i n g

Abstract

Problem definition: The increasingly informed customer will lead
to an even greater demand for expertise and
knowledge of marketers. Firms need to find
new ways to utilize the informed customer as a
co-creator of value by more proficiently
analyzing behavior, both online and offline.
An uncertainty lies in to which extent the
operational standards of KIBS firms translate
to their marketing and sales efforts, or to what
degree they are using potential customers to
help shape their value propositions. The
research question that has been identified is
how the relationships seen in knowledgeintensive
B2B marketing are affected by the
digitalization of society and the change in
buyer behavior that is a result of these societal
changes.
Purpose: The purpose of this thesis will be to identify the
effects of digitalization and changing buyer
behavior on relationships seen across
marketing and sales of knowledge-intensive
services in a B2B context. This will lead to a
recommendation for the case company’s
future direction of its marketing and sales
functions.
Methodology: The research approach of this master’s thesis
has been a combination of a descriptive and
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IV!
Digitalization and New Buyer Behavior is
Changing B2B Relationship Marketing
Tobias Olsson
Emil Uhlin
an explorative study. The descriptive approach
intends to describe the overall areas of the
problem formulation, while the explorative
approach aims to collect as much information
as possible regarding these areas. The goal of
research has been to put more weight on the
explorative approach.
The research is approached as a case study
focusing on a company that is both B2B and in
a sector that includes many interesting angles
of the problem.
Case company: The choice of Company X as case company
for this thesis was rooted in three overall
observations.
First off, the area of digital marketing is
currently seeing increased urgency in B2B.
The sector of IT and business consultancy is
also interesting. The companies in this sector
often have many different ways of working
within the same company.
The choice of a B2B company is motivated by
the fact that the new wave of digital marketing
has seen greater advancements in B2C. B2B
is historically stronger in much of the
relationship marketing basics, like close
network relationships. The digital
advancements in B2B deviate from those in
B2C, and are probably not as standardized.
Lastly, an interesting aspect of Company X is
that it offers business units on opposite sides
of the spectrum in regards to overall digital
advancements.
Conclusions: Information really is the common denominator
for everything that pertains to the power
balance of supplier and customer.
The authors believe that the presented
framework provides a good intersection of
assessing relational strength in B2B, the ability
to grade strengths and weaknesses as well as
opportunities and threats in digitalization, and
lastly the level of current buyer insight. The
models are secondary and may be modified,
but the choice to observe relationships,
digitalization and more in-depth buyer
behavior should provide a holistic view for
similar studies.

• author: Olsson, Tobias and Uhlin, Emil
• supervisor: Ingela Elofsson
• organization: Production Management
• course: MIO920
• year: 2015
• type: M1 - University Diploma
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Information, relationship marketing, content marketing, cross-sales, marketing automation, lead scoring, predictive analysis, data-driven analysis, buyer insight.
• other publication id: 15/5532
• language: English
• id: 7869279
• date added to LUP: 2015-09-18 09:59:58
• date last changed: 2015-09-18 09:59:58