Science mapping in industrial marketing

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to map scientific knowledge in industrial marketing. Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted on the basis of a quantitative and descriptive research using scientometric analysis based on scientific records. It analyzes more than 14,000 scientific records on the Scopus database from 1956 to 2009. The sample fits Bradford’s and Lotka’s power laws of distribution of science in use. Findings – The study reveals the existence of four stages: the genesis of this stream of research (1956-1984), the early development (1985-1995), the consolidation of production (1996-2003) and the phase of scientific maturity (from 2004) with an increasing number of records in recent years. Regarding authorship, there is a clear predominance of single authorship and an average increase in the number of authors per record from one to two authors for recent years. The main sources of knowledge are the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing and the Industrial Marketing Management journal. A statistical significance is shown between the number of records and the number of papers per journal, highlighting that Management Science and Industrial Marketing Management journals are the most cited sources. Practical implications – Practitioners find in this paper a sound basis for a wide perspective of the key issues addressed by researchers on industrial marketing over the past decades, as well as good insights in terms of the main challenges faced by companies in this field. Originality/value – Evidence was found of the existence of a long tail behavior in scientific literature of industrial marketing regarding chronology, sources, number of records with a single author and number of records cited.

Normal vs spectacular science: The IMP Group and BtoB marketing

“…In their analysis of 14,260 scientific records in the Scopus database from 1956 to 2009 dealing with industrial marketing, Vieira and Brito (2015) show a rather parallel evolution of scientific knowledge across four different stages: genesis , early development (1985-1995), consolidated production (1996-2003), scientific maturity (from 2004). Interestingly, they noted a dual convergence on two poles of attraction for publication purposes, Management Science journal on the one hand, and Industrial Marketing Management on the other, with IMP-related works being mostly concentrated on the second.…”

Leaders in industrial marketing research: 25 years of analysis

“…The year 1990 was a turning pointit was the first year with more than 100 records. The period from 1996 to 2003 is considered a stage of consolidation of research on industrial marketing (Vieira and Brito, 2015). This growth is because of technological development and new online business models (Grewal et al, 2001).…”

“…Over the past few years, scientific production has been characterized by an exponential increase in publications on this subject (Vieira and Brito, 2015). An immensity of articles, authors and a variety of journals, creating an immensity of connections; because this huge diversity, the literature on industrial marketing has highlighted the existence of a long tail distribution (Anderson, 2006).…”

Research in Industrial Marketing: Issues and Opportunities Classification

“…According to him, the articles that focused on important and interesting issues for industrial and business marketer could bridge the gap between academic's research and real-life application towards global business environment. Other research related to literatures was also performed by (Vieira, & Brito, 2015) that mapped the scientific knowledge on industrial marketing and concluded the existence of four stages, which are the origin of research flow , initial development (1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995), production consolidation (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003) and scientific maturity phase (started from 2004). Meanwhile, the research from Lindgreen and Benedetto (2017) resumed about future journal of Industrial Marketing Management (IMM), a journal that published by Elsevier and has focused on business-to-business (B2B) marketing management.…”