Introduction
Please note that this is a preliminary course description. The final version will be published in June 2026.
Business to business marketing (B2B) has a major economic importance. For example, by some measures B2B e-commerce is more than half and perhaps as much as 80% of all e-commerce, and in Norway, the largest industries tend to concentrate on selling to other businesses or to the government (e.g., the oil and gas industry, the fishery and aqua culture industry, the processing industries, the construction industry, and the professional services industry). Marketing and selling goods and services to other organizations tend also to be different from marketing and selling towards consumers. For example, B2B transactions are often larger, more complex, more process-oriented, more formalized, and more technical in terms of value propositions. Consequently, this course aims to introduce you to the domain of B2B marketing and sales: both the unique decisions that you typically face in this context as well as theories and frameworks that are useful for understanding this context.
The course consists of three main sections. The first section focuses on the unique aspects of relationships between organizations, such as in marketing channels, between buyers and sellers in industrial markets, and in relationships between public sector buyers and their private sector suppliers. The key underlying challenge facing the partners in such relationships is how they can both create value together and claim value for themselves. How the parties resolve this challenge has far-reaching consequences for both how the firm designs its marketing channels and more generally conducts its marketing and sales activities. Hence, this section functions as a foundation for the two other sections of the course.
The second main section focuses on the activities and decisions that B2B marketers make, such as segmenting their markets, developing and deciding what kinds of products and services to sell, developing their brands, communicating with their customers both online (e.g., through social media) and through traditional channels such as trade fairs, and developing pricing strategies.
The third and last main section focuses on the activities and decisions that sales personnel make, such as developing a sales strategy, conducting personal selling, negotiating with customers and managing key accounts.