INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE

Executive Post Graduate Programme (EPGP 15)

Course Outline
Course Title Managing Business Markets (MBM)
Instructor Dr. Joffi Thomas
Course Credit 2.0
Session Duration 75 mins
Quarter V
Program/Year EPGP 15 2023-24

What is referred as Business Markets? Businesses, governments and institutions acquire

products or services for mainly three reasons- (i) to incorporate into products and services they
deliver to their customers (ii) for their own use or (iii) to resell to other organizations. These
organizations who purchase products/ services from other businesses form the business markets.
For example - when a firm sells soap or shampoo or other goods which are pre-dominantly used
by households or consumers to businesses or hotels or to other organisations including retailers
or distributors they are operating in a business market.

Two fundamental characteristics differentiate business markets from consumer markets – (i) the
purpose of purchasing and (ii) the people and process involved in purchasing. Businesses buy to
attain their business objective -which is the survival and growth of the firm (both topline and
bottom line goals). The purchasing is most of the time done by professional purchasers or
business professionals whose task is to create value in monetary terms. This is not the case in
consumer markets and hence managing business markets demand specialized knowledge. In
addition, with growing digitalization and emergence of digital platforms creating consumption
and production ecosystems business markets and consumer markets are getting more connected
than ever before. Managing business markets in the fast digitalizing world involves managing
digital ecosystems, managing platforms and understanding connected markets. MBM is designed
to meet this requirement.

What is characteristic of managing business markets? It involves managing the

organizational processes for understanding, creating and delivering value to business customers
as well as the firm’s partners and society at large. Considering the differentiating characteristics
of business markets, this requires managers in business markets to: (a) quantify the monetary
worth of different benefits to customers esp. economic benefits, technical benefits, service

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benefits and social benefits of market offerings as well as assess the value of intangibles (b)
understand and align technology strategy and market strategy to create new offerings/ product
pipeline and effectively differentiate existing offerings and (c) communicate the value of the
offerings to multiple members in the customer’s decision making unit.

Managing business markets demands cross functional working across multiple functional areas
in the organization to ensure that all organizational decisions are anchored on an in-depth
understanding of customer value. Strong focus on building and maintaining customer
relationships with customer groups and major accounts (few large customers compared to
consumer markets), emphasis on understanding of technology options and customization
possibilities to deliver superior value, and business networks, characterize business markets.
These characteristics are quite evident in the case of gaining/ retaining customer as in - large
construction contracts/ engineering contracts for firms like GE, L&T, Caterpillar, ABB,
Caterpillar etc.) or in the case managing IT service contracts for firms providing hardware (HP,
Dell etc.), software (Oracle, TCS, SAP etc.), integrated services (IBM, HP etc.) or consulting
services as in the case of different consulting firms (Mckinsey, BCG, Accenture etc.) for
example.

Managing Business Markets- What ways is the course relevant to participants? An applied
knowledge of managing business markets could be relevant to participants with different
interests including:

(a) participants interested to take up marketing/ sales responsibility in managing business

markets - Business markets are significantly larger than consumer markets (you may like to
check the companies participating in placements and check the roles involving managing
business markets); they offer a variety of career opportunities. With the globalization forces
unleashing new opportunities and global competition from new entrants as well as imports, for
the Indian business markets traditionally characterized by supply shortages, there is
unprecedented demand for professional managers who can effectively manage business markets.
(you may think of taking customer management responsibility or customer facing jobs in
Consulting, IT, Investment banking, Capital Equipment suppliers, or in firms supplying products
and services to any industry including automobile, construction/ infrastructure etc.; also think of
marketing / selling to institutions like hotels or airlines or enabling selling to modern retail

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formats like Big Bazaar or Reliance fresh for any consumer goods company. (for e.g. consider
positions in consumer goods company like Unilever or ITC or Nestle managing modern retail
formats)

(b) those looking to lead business marketing organizations / launch startups in business
markets: A close understanding of business markets / customers is essential for strategic
planning and hence is a requirement for top management executives / aspirants in a firm catering
to business, government and institutional markets even when managers do not have direct
responsibility of managing customers. Managing costs for running the business which includes
cost of goods sold, SG&A and financing cost etc. involving managing various business suppliers
may benefit from the understanding of managing business markets as both supplier firm and
customer firm managers have the task of ensuring value to both parties to build and maintain
relationships. The course could thus be useful to participants with entrepreneurial ambitions in
business markets as well.

(c) participants focusing on manufacturing/ operations to prepare take up responsibility of

procurement of capital equipment’s, raw materials components, supplies in consumer markets
or business markets: Knowledge of managing business markets is not only a requirement for
managers in the supplier firm catering to business markets but also is a need for procurement
professionals in the customer firm whose job is to create value for the customer firm. If cost of
goods is 50% of sales it implies that 50% of the sales revenue is spend in purchase of raw
materials, capital equipment and services, majority of which goes to few suppliers. Effective
supplier management demands close understanding of business markets as well.

Course Objectives
 To provide participants with an applied understanding of customer value management in
business markets.
 To develop critical analysis and problem-solving abilities required to appreciate and
manage the processes for assessing value, creating value and delivering it in business
markets.

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Pedagogy
(i) Case discussions as well as lectures to appreciate and apply concepts and frameworks
and
(ii) Exercises/ Assignments to apply the learning from different session to understand
issues in business marketing firms
The course has an application orientation and hence primarily employs the case pedagogy.
Participants are expected to actively contribute to the learning process. They are required to
come prepared after analyzing the case, going through the readings assigned for each session and
completing the group assignments. The readings are specified in the session plan. Participants
will also be guided to apply the learning gained in sessions in the course project.
Course Essential Readings:
Supplementary Conceptual Readings (SCR): R1-R10
These readings further develop the concepts discussed in the context of the cases.

Digitalizing Markets –Readings(DMR): D1-D10

Issues relating to managing digitalizing markets is addressed in these readings.

Reference Book:
James C. Anderson, James A. Narus, Das Narayandas and D.V.R. Seshadri (2011), Business
Market Management: Understanding, Creating and Delivering Customer Value, Third Edition,
Pearson Education, New Delhi.
Evaluation Scheme

Class Participation
& Class Preparation (Case Analysis Submission) : 25%

Exercises/ Assignments : 25%

End Term Exam : 50%

.
Class Participation
Participants are required to come prepared after analyzing the case and going through the
readings assigned for each session as given in the session plan. You are expected to contribute to
the classes by sharing your understanding from readings as well as from your own experience.

Case Analysis Submission

Individual Submission: All participants are required to analyze the case and answer assignment
questions. The submission should include a cover page mentioning name, EPGP/EPGCMM roll
no, your organization’s name and your designation and follow the format as follows: 11 font size,

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 Times New Roman, 1-inch margin on all sides. Submissions should be made one hour before the
scheduled session.
Important: It is essential to invest time and efforts in analyzing the case prior to the sessions to engage in
meaningful discussions and apply these learning to resolve challenges in customer management.

End Term Examination

The examination will be based on a case. The exam could be based on cases already discussed in
the class; or a new one; or both.

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 Session Plan
I: Foundations
Session 1 &2: Business Marketing-An Overview
CASE C1: PV Technologies, Inc: Were they asleep at the Switch

Session 3&4: Business Marketing-Understanding, Creating and Communicating Value

CASE C1: (continued): PV Technologies, Inc: Were they asleep at the Switch

Readings
Supplementary Conceptual Readings (SCR)
R1- “Fundamentals of Customer Value” by Mohanbir Sawhney in CIO Magazine, July 2003, 4
pages.
R2- “Selling solutions is n’t enough: B2B Companies need to focus on customers achieve better
outcomes” in MIT Sloan Management Review 2018, 5 pages.
Digitalizing Market-Readings (DMR)
D1-Digital Ubiquity: How Sensors Connections and Data are revolutionalising Business in HBR,
2014, 11 pages.
D2- Digitization of an Industrial Giant: GE takes on Industrial Analytics
D3- Subramaniam.M, Iyer.B, and Venkatraman.V. (2019), “Competing in digital ecosystems”,
Business Horizons, 62(1), 83-94.

II: Understanding Customer Value

Session 5&6: Market Sensing
CASE C2: Kunst 1600

Session 7& 8: Branding in Business Markets

CASE C3: SAP: Building a Leading Technology Brand- Part A
CASE C4: SAP: Branding in the Digital Age
CASE C5: SAP AG: Orchestrating the Ecosystem

Supplementary Conceptual Readings (SCR)

R3- Customer Value propositions in Business Markets by James C. Anderson, James A. Narus
and Wouter van Rossum in Harvard Business Review March 2006, pages 91-99.
R4 – “The B2B elements of value: How to measure and deliver what customers want” in Harvard
Business Review 2018, 9 pages
R5- What is a Customer Success Manager by Zoltners, Sinha and Lorimer in HBR, Nov 18, 2019.
R6- Webster Frederick E and Kevin Lane Keller (2004), “A Road Map for Branding in
Business Markets” in Brand Management.

Digitalizing Market- Readings (DMR)

D4- Thriving in an Increasingly Digital Ecosystem in MIT Sloan Management Review 2015, 8
pages.
D5- Surviving in an Increasingly Digital Ecosystem in MIT Sloan Management Review, 2017, 3
pages.
D6- Driving Growth in Digital Ecosystems: Developing the right capabilities for Digital
Partnering is the key to getting value from your ecosystem strategy, in MIT Sloan
Management Review, 2020, 5 pages.

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III: Creating Value
Session 9 &10: New Offering Realization &
Managing the Market Offering
CASE C6: Precise Software Solutions
Reading: Chapter 5 &6
Reference: Capturing the Value of Supplementary Services by James C. Anderson and James A.
Narus in Harvard Business Review 1995 (Jan-Feb), page. 75-83.
CASE C7-HCL Technologies: Driving Innovation through Ecosystem Innovation Platform

Supplementary Conceptual Readings (SCR)

R7: Dynamic Capabilities at IBM: Driving Strategy to action in Califiornia Management Review
49 (4) 2007, 24 pages.
R8: Capturing the Value of Supplementary Services by James C. Anderson and James A. Narus
in Harvard Business Review 1995 (Jan-Feb), pages, 75-83.
R9: Building the right ecosystem for innovation in MIT Sloan Management Review, 2018
(Summer), 59-64

Digitalizing Market- Readings (DMR)

D7-In the ecosystem economy what should be your strategy? in Harvard Business Review 2019,
11 paes.
D8-3 steps to market driven digital transformation in IESE Insight 2017, 8 pages.
D9- Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy By: Marshall W. Van Alstyne, Geoffrey
Parker, Sangeet Paul Choudaryin HBR.
D10- Product to Platforms: making the leap by Feng Zhu and Nathan Ferr in HBR April 2016, 8
pages

IV: Delivering Value

Session 11& 12: Key Account Management
CASE C8: ABB and Caterpillar (A): Key Account Management

Session 13& 14: Gaining Customers and Customers and Sustaining Customer
Relationships

CASE C9: Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer’s Business

Supplementary Conceptual Readings (SCR)
R10- What makes a good salesman?
R11- When CEOs make Sales Calls
R12- Towards an integrated framework for key account management in Journal of Business and
Industrial marketing 2008, 9 pages

Digitalizing Market - Readings (DMR)

D11- Future of B2B Sales: The big reframe, McKinsey and Company, Nov 2022, Pages-35.
V: Review
Session 15&16: Course Review