Industrial Marketing Management

Special Issue

Maximizing B2B Buyer-Supplier Relationships in the Digital Era

Call for Papers

Managing buyer-supplier relationships has always been crucial to firm success. In order to do this, buyers and suppliers must maximize trust and cooperation, minimize opportunism and risk, and collaborate on setting and accomplishing goals. These activities all require open and extensive communication channels. However, in the digital era these communication channels have changed. Buyer-supplier relationships are less dependent on face to face communication and more dependent on digital communication. Furthermore, the ongoing emergence of new technologies, such as Software-as-a-Service and social media, has made effective communications even more crucial as firms decide which technologies are appropriate for them. It is crucial for both buyers and suppliers to understand how these new technologies affect their relationships and how these technologies can be optimized.

While a great deal of published research on buyer-supplier relationships in the digital age has focused on consumer markets, very little published research has dealt with the impact of digital communications on the relationships between buyers and suppliers in industrial marketing. This special issue of Industrial Marketing Management invites submissions that contribute to a better understanding of the role of industrial or B2B buyer-supplier relationships in the digital era. Papers can be conceptual, empirical or case-based. Indicative topics include:

• Optimizing communication through technology
• The role of the buyer-supplier relationship in technology adoption
• The evolving role of trust in the technology era
• Minimizing risk through technology
• The emergence of Software-as-a-Service
• The role of social media in B2B buyer-supplier relationships
• The potential pitfalls of technology in buyer-supplier relationships
• Online purchasing in the B2B environment
• The evolving role of the supplier in the digital era

Please submit your papers either via IMM’s web submission site http://ees.elsevier.com/imm/ or directly to the guest editors no later than September 1, 2012. IMM submissions are generally between 25 and fifty double-spaced manuscript pages.

Please address questions to the guest editors:

Richard Lancioni
Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management
Temple University
lancioni@temple.edu

Michael Obal
Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management
Temple University
Michael.obal@temple.edu

Michael Smith
Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management
Temple University
msmith@temple.edu

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