INDUSTRIAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Call for Papers

Two of the core paradigmatic assumptions that differentiate the IMP Group approach to studying business-to-business marketing from others are interaction and interdependence. Studying markets using these assumptions invites a processual perspective, one that crosses organizational, geography and state of mind boundaries. This processual approach is not static and is in a constant state of evolution and change. Recent events in the context of markets have placed the need to encourage more processual research to the forefront, for example, the questioning of multinational trade institutions and the movement of goods by nativists and the anti-globalization movement, the change brought about by the decision of the UK to leave the European Union, the worldwide human and industrial connections exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the alternative collaborative possibilities shown in how organizations and people can work together in a crisis. Whilst these momentous changes bring to light interconnections and interdependencies, they motivate us to study what lies beneath these systemic challenges.  This call for papers focuses on the underlying processes connecting business markets around the themes of capability, complexity and resilience.

In advance of turning to these themes, this special issue call will be integrated around papers which take a process approach to theory development and method (Bizzi and Langley, 2012; Pettigrew, 1997).  Process perspectives encourage researchers to study and make sense of the underlying connections between organizations and in networks in particularistic contexts in a ‘deep dive’ into the dynamics at play as organizations and markets change with and between each other. Research in the markets-as-network tradition which focuses on how relationships change and evolve around the themes of the special issue is particularly encouraged. Industrial Marketing Management has a tradition of publishing process research in this vein and recent IMP examples include McGrath et al. (2019) study into how a start-up develops network capability, and Nordin et al. (2018) research into how high tech firms manage to emerge into networks, and, using allied assumptions and a process perspective on an age old issue, trust, Panda et al.’s (2020) investigate how it evolves in a business-to-business relationship setting.

Capabilities have been defined as high level routines, or patterns of repeated action sequence that represent promising solutions to a particular problem (Teece, 2012; Zollo et al., 2002). Capabilities are not inherent, they require development, are context dependent (Pettigrew, 1997; Zahra, 2007), intricate and temporal (Teece et al., 1997; Zollo & al., 2002).  In this special issue, our focus is not on capability owned or enacted by the individual firm but in patterns dependent on other actors in the network that emerge in interaction and through experience and learning in business relationships and networks.   Indeed, the interest of this special issue is also directed at the micro-processes that underpin capability development that is the processes that provide the foundation for capabilities to develop and evolve over time. These micro-processes represent the dynamic underneath the routines and activities that connect firms in a network and to the broader context in which they operate.

Complexity is inherent in a process-based understanding of how actors interact in a network as is unpacking this insight via appropriate analytic methods. Networks are, to a degree, part of an economic system but, in a profound and parallel way, are also bound up in actors’ perceptions and expectations of reciprocal action over time (Möller et al., 2020). How actors perceive the boundaries of a network can influence the nature of their interaction in a particular relationship and network.  The processes driving this perception and how they shape interaction in the network and how these perceptions change over time are still under-researched. Looking from the outside in, how the network itself constrains and enables the actors and shapes their interaction is another side of the complexity theme. Being able to address complexity is not without its methodological challenges particularly in data analysis and in dealing with levels of analysis. New analytical approaches or building further on the trusted case study method would be welcome (Halinen et al., 2005).

One of the early research insights the IMP group contributed to business-to-business marketing was the idea that many business-to-business relationships were enduring and continued to adapt and change with each other over time (Håkansson, 1982). Given the nature of the changes in markets, technologies, and governance we describe above, how can we address resilience in relationships and networks? Is it possible to identify and describe processes which support resilience in supply and demand chains?  How can networks change and adapt to endure the challenges brought about by crises and the realities of climate change? The opportunity to address the theme of resilience both at the network level but more particularly in the larger ecosystem (Aarikka-Stenroos et al., 2017) has the potential to continue to extend IMP paradigmatic assumptions further into the policy and strategic space.

Potential contributions may address, but are not limited to the following topics:

o   How capabilities develop and/or change in inter-firm relationships and networks using IMP assumptions and a processual perspective?;

o   Identifying and showing how micro-processes underpinning capabilities emerge and develop over time;

o   Focusing on how technology or changes in the context of a network impact or not capabilities and their evolution;

o   Papers that address routines or activities that when combined represent capability in a network;

o   Work that takes a strategic marketing focus on the process of capability development and change in a network;

o   Theoretical work using IMP assumptions that substantially increases our knowledge of how capabilities evolve in a network;

o   Ambitious papers are encouraged that address the evolving nature of complexity in networks;

o   How do actors and networks make sense of change over time?;

o   What processes drive change in complex systems that are continuously adapting?;

o   How does the evolution of the network shape individual actors’ actions over time?;

o   Papers that focus on methodological issues around dealing with the complex layers in a network and in providing further insights into addressing this and other issues in the widely used case study methodology;

o   Complexity is often synonymous with data analysis problems and the special issue encourages papers focusing on novel data analysis techniques;

o   Resilience in business marketing systems is needed to manage change and papers that address this managerial challenge would be particularly welcome;

o   What are the processes that support resilience in supply and demand chain ecosystems?;

o   Papers that identify systemic approaches to managing resilience in networks given the type of changes that we have identified;

o   Is resilience owned by the network or a feature that can be shared out amongst the actors in the network?;

o   Does an IMP approach to resilience offer substantial insights to industrial policy makers?;

o   How does the IMP approach to network theory contribute to industrial policy and the growth and development of firms compared to other approaches? A focus here is to demonstrate the changes that might be made to current policy from a practitioner perspective.

Preparation and submission of paper and review process

Papers submitted must not have been published, accepted for publication, or presently be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Submissions should be about 6,000-8,000 words in length. Copies should be uploaded on Industrial Marketing Management’s homepage through the Editorial management system. You need to upload your paper using the dropdown box for the special issue on VSI: Capability, Complexity, and Resilience. For guidelines, visit

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505720/authorinstructions

Papers not complying with the notes for contributors (cf. homepage) or poorly written will be desk rejected. Suitable papers will be subjected to a double-blind review; hence, authors must not identify themselves in the body of their paper. Please do not submit a Word file with “track changes” active or a PDF file. Manuscripts falling within the scope of the special issue (as described above) and deemed to have a reasonable chance of conditional acceptance after no more than two rounds of revisions will enter the review process. 

Important dates

·         Submission opens: 1^st September 2021

·         Deadline for submission: 4^th December 2021

Important note

To secure double-blind review process, a paper submitted to IMM should not also have been published in the IMP conference proceedings and/or have been published online on the IMP’s homepage.

Guest editors

Dr. Helen McGrath (helen.mcgrath@ucc.ie), Lecturer in Marketing, Department of Management and Marketing, Cork University Business School, Ireland.

Dr. Thomas O’Toole (totoole@wit.ie), Head of School (Dean) of Business, Department of Management and Organization, School of Business, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland.

References

Aarikka-Stenroos, A. & Ritala, P. (2017). Network management in the era of ecosystems: systematic review and management framework. Industrial Marketing Management, 67, 23-36.

Bizzi, L., & Langley, A. (2012). Studying processes in and around networks. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(2), 224-234.

Håkansson, H. (1982). International marketing and purchasing: an interaction approach. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.

Halinen, A. & Törnross, J-Å. (2005). Using case methods in the study of contemporary business networks. Journal of Business Research, 58, 1285-1297.

McGrath, H., Medlin, C., & O’Toole, T. (2019). A process-based model of network capability by a start-up firm. Industrial Marketing Management, 84 (4), 214-227.

Möller, K., Nenonen, S., & Storbacka, K. (2020). Networks, ecosystems, fields, market systems? Making sense of the business environment. Industrial Marketing Management, 90, 380-399.

Nordin, F., Ravald, A., Möller, K., & Mohr, J.J. (2018). Network management in emergent high-tech contexts: critical capabilities and activities. Industrial Marketing Management, 74, 89-101.

Panda, S., Srivastava, S., & Pandey, S.C. (2020). Nature and evolution of trust in Business-to-Business settings: insights from VC-entrepreneur relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 91, 246-256.

Pettigrew, A. M. (1997). What is a processual analysis? Scandinavian Journal of Management, 13(4), 337-348.

Teece, D. J. (2012). Dynamic capabilities: routines versus entrepreneurial action. Journal of Management Studies, 49(8), 1395-1401.

Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509–533.

Zahra, S. A. (2007). Contextualizing theory building in entrepreneurship research. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(3), 443-452.

Zollo, M., & Winter, S. G. (2002). Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities. Organization Science, 13(3), 339-351.