Selling to Barricaded Buyers

Abstract

In business-to-government and business-to-business transactions, suppliers often have limited access to buyers during the buying process. The authors term these buyers “barricaded buyers.” Despite the prevalence of barricaded buyers in practice, research has remained largely silent on the topic. Therefore, the authors combine insights from eight organizational purchasing case studies and individual interviews with signaling theory to advance a conceptual framework that highlights ways a supplier can increase its competitiveness (and, correspondingly, its selection likelihood) when selling to barricaded buyers. The framework reflects three distinct ways in which signaling occurs or influences the barricaded buying process: the seller signals to buyers (e.g., through novel solutions, explicit responding), the seller signals to competing sellers (e.g., through peacocking), and the buyer signals to sellers whose meaning is jammed (e.g., through supplier-specific capabilities and language). The framework invokes barricade restrictiveness as an important contingency variable that lends nuance to when the signaling activities are most likely to affect suppliers’ competitiveness.

The Coronavirus crisis in B2B settings: Crisis uniqueness and managerial implications based on social exchange theory

“…Dekimpe & Deleersnyder, 2018). Third, it permits researchers to grasp real-time observations of a phenomenon that is currently happening (Chase & Murtha, 2019).…”

“…The sampling follows a non-random scheme by a theoretical procedure, obtaining 31 participants. The purpose of theoretical sampling is to engage participants that can provide a rich explanation of their beliefs and thoughts, rather than to enhance statistical validity (Chase & Murtha, 2019). The total sample is divided into 11, 9 and 11 practitioners from the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, respectively (see Table 1).…”

“…To identify the activities to both navigate and recover from the present crisis, we followed the literature in crisis management (e.g., Farazmand, 2007;Betta & Owczarzak-Skomra, 2019; see Appendix for a list of representative crisis management literature) and Corbin and Strauss's (2014) procedure (i.e., open, axial, and selective coding). Several B2B marketing studies have implemented this approach successfully (e.g., Chase & Murtha, 2019;Mora Cortez & Johnston, 2019;Ulaga & Reinartz, 2011). First, the two lead researchers independently undertook an open coding approach, line by line, with the help of the qualitative data analysis software NVivo (v.11).…”

“…(1) the U.S., (2), Europe, and (3) Latin America. We investigated the current business context of B2B firms as experienced by practitioners and evoked their theories-in-use (TIU) about the human and social practices that help firms to navigate and recover from the complex current situation (see Chase & Murtha, 2019;Mora Cortez & Johnston, 2019;Ulaga & Reinartz, 2011; for prior successful applications of TIU).…”

The Strategic Change Matrix and Business Sustainability across COVID-19

“…Thus, a firm combines its competencies and its intellectual data analytics into a relational system designed to deliver its capabilities, resources and its deliverables, whilst producing an ongoing competitive advantage position [23,24]. When competitive advantage is associated with an improved economic performance [25], the firm can achieve further competitiveness.…”