Business to Business Management

There are 3 main types of organisations that can be involved within business to business marketing and management. These include:
Government Organisations-Health, Education, Policing, Transport, National Defence.
Institutional Organisations-Not-for -profit, Community-based organisations
Commercial Organisations-Distributors, Users and Retailers

There is a large range of potential customers that differ between different kinds of company, and what products they have. See below for an example of this-
Coca Cola UK-50 Million
Financial Services software – 100s – all banks, building societies, mortgage lenders.
MRI Scanner manufacturer-1 the NHS, or private hospital
This then alters the price range between the products, Coca Cola will be between £1 and £5, financial services software can be from £50,000 plus this then lead to the MRI scanner which would be £825000. This changes the way marketers will look at different products and the amount of marketing and type which is needed compared to different clients and products.

Kotler and Communcations Mix in Markets (2000)
Consumer Markets Industrial B2B Marketing
Sales Promotion Personal Selling
Advertising Sales Promotion
Personal Selling Advertising
PR PR

There are ways in which you can stimulate buying for certain products, take Coca Cola again for example you can use sales promotion for instance BOGOF or you have have a promotion which is linked to a sponsor for example Coca Cola could bring out a promotion that is linked to that sponsorship, e.g Coca Cola football league if there is a special event or final. They also use McDonalds to bring out glasses within specific periods of the year.

Whereas an MRI scanner is much harder to advertise or promote in this particular way because of the cost and rareity of the product.

There are elastic and inelastic factors affecting demand:
1. The availability of substitutes - This is probably the most important factor influencing the elasticity of a good or service. In general, the more substitutes, the more elastic the demand will be. For example of the price of Hovis brand bread went up a customer would move to a different brand.
2. Amount of income available to spend on the good - This factor affecting demand elasticity refers to the total a person can spend on a particular good or service. Thus if there is an increase in price and no change in the amount of income available to spend on the good, there will be an elastic reaction in demand; demand will be sensitive to a change in price if there is no change in income.
3. Time - The third influential factor is time. If the price of cigarettes goes up £1 per pack, a smoker with very few available substitutes will most likely continue buying his or her daily cigarettes.

Direct Purchasing
-No retailers involved
-No wholesalers or distributors involved
-OR ARE THERE?
-There can be direct face-to-face selling and purchasing
-How many high street shops sell MRI scanners?

Reciprocity
-Products not always bought for cash
-Products and services can be exchanged between the two companies
-EG A car dealership and a software supplier

Leasing
-Business customers do NOT always buy products outright particularly high-priced, high-technology products
-Too expensive
-Become obsolete too quickly