Product Evaluation, Strategy & Marketing at Negotiation Power

The phenomenal dotcom burst during early 2000 has now almost been completely forgotten by groundbreaking changes in the way the internet works – in both innovative business models and means of reaching customers. Even before the inception of the popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Linkedin, Kenny & Marshall (2000) wrote in their popular HBR article about the ubiquitous nature of the internet – “ New technologies are emerging that will enable businesses to reach customers whenever and wherever they are ready to buy. The focus of e-commerce will shift from content to context, knocking many corporate Web sites into irrelevance.” This internship dissertation report seeks to look at the company Negotiation Power which started as the brainchild of Mr. Mark Bartrick and look to evaluate the future prospects of making the web based service (currently an IT Procurement forum). The main focus of the research is evaluating the company contextually. A strategic marketing plan is the intended end result. From an academic perspective, this report attempts to initially look at the strengths of various perspectives in strategic management literature. This is then followed by a look at the B2B context in which the business is placed, albeit in an online environ. A review of the B2B marketing literature and viral marketing (which has been the prime medium of marketing in the modern internet success stories) is carried out. We also look at IS literature that look at success factors for online business and more importantly also add a Web 2.0 theme to the entire analysis. Wherever there is a gap that academic studies have identified, this dissertation looks to carry out original research to fill them up. Three levels of surveys were carried out including semi-structured personal/telephonic interviews of the procurement heads of various companies in the UK, web based interview of procurement personnel in the UK and a web based survey of the general public to understand emerging trends in social networking usage. The project has a plethora of recommendations both academic and practitioner research. The focus of technology and the individual in B2B interactions are major themes around which the results are centred. The study has helped determine that technology (internet in specific) does play an important part in B2B exchanges. It has helped re-establish the importance of trust both in online and offline B2B exchanges. Key Words: Web 2.0, Internet Marketing, B2B Interfaces, B2B Exchanges, Technology and B2B Request this document by mailing : najnarin@gmail.co