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INDUSTRIAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Special Issue Call for Papers

Branding in the Business-to-Business Context

Deadline: 30 July, 2017

While traditional research on branding, brand equity and measurement, and customer-based brand management (Aker 1991; 1996; Keller, 1993, 2003) has been largely focused on business to consumer markets, there is a growing research interest that extends the branding theories and applications to the B2B realm (Baumgarth, 2010; Biedenbach & Marell, 2010; Cretu & Brodie, 2007; Marquardt, 2013; Michell, King & Reast, 2001). Such an increasing academic inquiry to B2B branding is parallel with the important role of B2B brands recognized in contemporary business world. For example B2B brands such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, GE, Oracle, Cisco and Caterpillar have been consistently ranked among the world’s top 100 brands and/or are among the fastest growing brands in recent years in terms of their brand equity (Interbrand, 2015). It is yet to know the underlying mechanism that predicts and explains the factors that contribute to a successful B2B brand.

The extant B2B branding literature has been found to mainly focus on identifying the benefits a strong brand can convey to both the seller and the buyer as well as the importance of branding among B2B companies in firm strategic decision and performance (Glynn, 2010; Leek and Christodoulides, 2011; Seyedghorban, Matanda and LaPlaca, 2015). However, such a research area has not been well developed into a research stream built upon solid theoretical foundation that explain wide range of B2B branding issues. A recent review of B2B branding literature further indicates that B2B branding research is still amorphous and inconclusive, needing of much further academic inquires to make the areas to grow, both theoretically and conceptually (Leek and Christodoulides, 2011; Seyedghorban, Matanda and LaPlaca, 2015). New perspectives, theoretical framework, and methodologies are thus called for investigating B2B branding phenomenon. To advance our knowledge and theoretical understand, and to shed further light on empirical examination and managerial applications, this Special Issue invites scholars to submit their best work that address various contemporary issues, reflecting the state-of-the art in B2B branding research. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• The conceptual domain and emerging research themes of B2B branding
• The unique characteristics of branding in B2B markets
• The tangible and intangible attributes of B2B brands
• B2B brand valuation and measurement
• Ethical aspects of B2B brands
• Sustainability and B2B brands
• Corporate social responsibility and B2B brands
• B2B brand equity and brand management
• B2B brand trust, brand loyalty and committeemen
• Corporate Versus product branding in B2B markets
• Merged B2B branding (what happens to brands when companies merge)
• Cobranding in B2B markets
• Ingredient/component branding in B2B markets
• B2B brand strategic alliances
• Social media and B2B brands
• Customer engagement with B2B brands
• Service branding in B2B markets
• Strategic role of B2B branding and firm performance
• B2B branding from developing and emerging markets
• Global brand management in industrial and B2B settings
• Country of origin effects of B2B brands

In summary, the purpose of this special issue call is to bring together high quality research on branding in the B2B context. We are open to both conceptual and empirical manuscripts with relevance to B2B branding that fit the scope of the Special Issue from different theoretical and methodological approaches. We are particularly looking for submissions with strong theoretical contributions, clear managerial implications and robust methodological applications.

Submission Procedures

To submit a paper please visit the IMM editorial site register as an author and submit the paper as the site will instruct you. When you get to the step in the process that asks you for the type of paper, select SI: Branding in the Business-to-Business Context. All papers will be reviewed through the standard double-blind peer review process of IMM. In preparation of their manuscripts, authors are asked to follow the Author Guidelines closely. A guide for authors, sample articles and other relevant information for submitting papers are available at:

All queries about the special issue should be sent to the Guest Editors (see below).

Special Issue Co-editors

Professor Cheng Lu Wang, University of New Haven, cwang@newhaven.edu

Associate Professor Andy Hao, University of Hartford, hao@hartford.edu

References

Aaker, D. A. (1991). Managing brand equity. New York: The Free Press.

Aaker, D. A. (1996). Building strong brands: Building, measuring, and managing brand equity. New York: The Free Press.

Baumgarth, C. (2010). “Living the brand”: brand orientation in the business-to-business sector. European Journal of Marketing, 44(5), 653-671.

Biedenbach, G., & Marell, A. (2010), The impact of customer experience on brand equity in a business-to-business setting. Journal of Brand Management, 17 (6), 446-458.

Cretu, A. E., & Brodie, R. J. (2007). The influence of brand image and company reputation where manufacturers market to small firms: A customer value perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 36(2), 230–240.

Glynn, M. S. (2010). The moderating effect of brand strength in manufacturer–reseller relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(8), 1226–1233.

Interbrand (2015). Best Global Brands. Available at HYPERLINK (accessed May 6th 2016)

Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1–22.

Keller, K. L. (2003). Strategic brand management: building, measuring, and managing brand equity (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Leek, S., & Christodoulides, G. (2011). A literature review and future agenda for B2B branding: Challenges of branding in a B2B context. Industrial Marketing Management, 40 (6), 830-837.

Marquardt, A. J. (2013). Relationship quality as a resource to build industrial brand equity when products are uncertain and future-based. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(8), 1386–1397.

Michell, P., King, J., & Reast, J. (2001). Brand values related to industrial products. Industrial Marketing Management, 30(5), 415–425.

Seyedghorban Z., Matanda M. J., & LaPlaca P. (2015 in press). Advancing theory and knowledge in the business-to-business branding literature, Journal of Business Research.

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