{"id":11683,"date":"2022-02-08T04:06:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T09:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/?p=11683"},"modified":"2022-02-08T04:06:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T09:06:09","slug":"cfp-imm-int-b2b-service-firms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/2022\/02\/cfp-imm-int-b2b-service-firms\/","title":{"rendered":"CfP IMM: International B2B Service Firms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Special Issue in Industrial Marketing Management<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nature of Marketing in International B2B Service Firms: Review, Dynamics and Prospects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest Editors: Ra\u0161kovi\u0107 M., Ashill N., Lindsay V., & Rod M.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deadline:\u00a01 April 2023<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The central aim of this special issue of Industrial Marketing Management <\/em>is to develop new insights into why and how B2B service firms internationalize \u2013 which pertains to both outward\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>inward internationalization behavior. Despite the growth of the internationalization practices of B2B service firms amongst service firms (e.g., Battisti, Scott-Kennel & Deakins, 2021; Blagoeva, Jensen & Merhcant, 2020; Dayan & Ndubisi, 2020; Boehe, 2016), research on the phenomenon remains sparse (Taylor, Jack, Madsen & Alam, 2021). Furthermore, the changing global environment \u2013 with growing deglobalization tendencies (Witt, 2019), structural shifts across industries and increasing conditions of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (Petricevic and Teece, 2019) known under the VUCA acronym \u2013 also begs the question: How do changes in the global environment impact B2B service firms across different industries and markets in their internationalization efforts\/practices?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This question is set against the backdrop of a more perennial issue of the impact of the changing nature of globalization on the structures, strategies and practices of B2B firms (Cavusgil, Yeniyurt & Townsend, 2004). However, contrary to understanding how recent changes in the global environment have impacted global marketing of B2B firms generally (Leonidou & Hultman, 2019), we know far less about the impact on the internationalization of B2B service firms. For example, how do increased volatility, a deeper level of uncertainty, growing complexity and emergent ambiguity interact with the so-called four IHIP characteristics (i.e., intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability) of internationalizing B2B service firms (e.g., Gansser, Bo\u00dfow-Thies & Krol, 2021)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, there remains a dearth of research into the service characteristics of B2B firms and their impact on the internationalizing process, which should be seen as a two-way process of both outward and inward internationalization processes. Understanding the nature of B2B service characteristics and their impact on the internationalization process is critical for knowing how such firms expand overseas or are influenced by overseas players in their domestic environments. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has not only disrupted existing B2B relationships and business practices (e.g., Sheth, 2020; Chesbrough, 2020). It has also, for example, created new opportunities for operating in a virtual world, for example, by combining relational and virtual governance approaches (Jean, Kim, Shin & Hult, 2021) which are particularly important for international\/internationalizing B2B service firms. Likewise, it has facilitated new forms of coopetitive behavior (Crick & Crick, 2020) which remain to be explored in a B2B service firm internationalization context<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, we invite contributions that explore the internationalization of B2B services as an object of marketing, or as an offering. Gr\u00f6nroos (2020) notes that the marketing of services cannot be understood conceptually without an understanding of what service as an object of marketing consists of conceptual development of service as an offering or an object to be marketed. An explicit understanding of what constitutes B2B services that are innovated, designed and branded for consumers in international markets, has not yet been explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Existing literature also acknowledges the important role played by the \u201cdubious nature\u201d of the institutional environment in international business (Aguilera & Gr\u00f8gaard, 2019) and the role of home country and host country contexts in supporting the internationalization efforts of B2B firms (Chan & Pattnaik, 2021). While traditionally, the concept of \u201cdistance\u201d has been a cornerstone concept within the international business literature, the so-called \u201cinstitutional orientation\u201d has recently also become a prominent strategic orientation within the industrial marketing literature (Chaney, Carrillat & Zouari, 2019). While the concept of institutional distance still features quite prominently within the industrial marketing literature (e.g., Cheng & Huang, 2019), recent studies within the international business literature \u2013 the home domain of institutional theory within management \u2013 have moved away from the concept of \u201cdistance\u201d and instead emphasize the role of home and host country contexts (Harzing & Pudelko, 2016). The international business literature has also moved away from the idea of distance as a type of diversity to be managed (Lumineau, Hanisch & Wurtz, 2021; Kostova & Beugelsdijk, 2021). However, what is not clear in existing literature is how such support is facilitated (Lindsay, Rod & Ashill, 2018) and how this support impacts the B2B service internationalization process, as it continues to evolve in keeping up with the changes in the global environment. Moreover, existing research largely focuses on institutional support for B2B service firms undertaking internationalization for the first time rather than post-entry internationalization (Lindsay, Rod & Ashill, 2017). As noted by Torres, Clegg and Varum (2016, p. 496), in referring to government support organizations, \u201cWhile they [home country (government) support measures towards internationalization] are widely recognized in academic literature, and in policy circles, the process through which they exert their effects is poorly understood, both by academic researchers and policymakers themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sample Topics<\/strong>
There is a need for more understanding of why, when and how B2B service firms internationalize, de-internationalize and\/or re-internationalize. This special issue welcomes high quality submissions in the form of conceptual and empirical papers that develop new perspectives on the internationalization of B2B service firms to fit the 21st century global landscape marred by VUCA conditions (i.e., volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). Suggested questions of interest include (but not limited to) the following:
– An understanding of what B2B services consist of when firms internationalize and how the nature of service characteristics shape the internationalization process of B2B service firms (such as choice of market and entry mode).
– The role of learning capabilities in technical (product, process) service innovation that drives administrative (managerial, marketing) service innovation in service internationalization (see Weerawardena, Salunke, Knight, Mort & Liesch, 2020).
– The effects of formal and informal institutions (home and host) on the internationalization of B2B service firms which go beyond the enabling or constraining \u201cgames rules\u201d nature of institutions and focus on various structuration processes and the actors involved in them that uphold, strengthen and\/or challenge\/change such institutions. We are also interested in institutional differences and the \u201cdubious\u201d nature of institutions across markets.
– New internationalization frameworks applicable to the internationalization of B2B services, which consider the plurality of internationalization processes (i.e., outward and inward internationalization, the role of digital internationalization, the role of ecosystems etc.)
– Post-entry internationalization of B2B service firms, de-internationalization and re-entry or re-internationalization of B2B service firms.
– The role of the institutional agents as boundary-spanners and brokers connecting the B2B service firm with knowledge and relevant actors necessary for successful internationalization.
– The internationalization process of \u2018soft\u2019 and \u2018hard\u2019 service firms, including firms operating in creative industries, artificial intelligence, professional services, higher education, healthcare, engineering design, biotechnology, digital services and e-commerce.
– The role of social, human and symbolic capital in delivering B2B services during internationalization.
– The customer experience and B2B service internationalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparation and submission of paper and review process<\/strong>
Papers submitted must not have been published, accepted for publication, or presently be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Submissions should be about 6,000-8,000 words in length. Copies should be uploaded on\u00a0Industrial Marketing Management\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0homepage through the Editorial management system. You need to upload your paper using the dropdown box for the special issue on VSI:\u00a0\u201cInt. B2B Service Firms\u201d.\u00a0<\/strong>Guidelines here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papers not complying with the notes for contributors (cf. homepage) or poorly written will be desk rejected. Suitable papers will be subjected to a double-blind review; hence, authors must not identify themselves in the body of their paper. Manuscripts within the scope of the special issue (as described above) and deemed to have a reasonable chance of conditional acceptance after no more than two rounds of revisions will enter the review process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Important dates<\/strong>
Deadline for initial expressions of interest and one-page abstracts (via e-mail): June 1, 2022 (strongly recommended but not mandatory)
Submission opens: February 1, 2023
Deadline for submission: April 1, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest editors<\/strong>
– Managing Guest Editor:\u00a0Asc. Professor Matev\u017e Ra\u0161kovi\u0107<\/a><\/strong>, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
– Professor Nick Ashill<\/a><\/strong>, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
– Professor Valerie Lindsay<\/a><\/strong>, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
– Professor Michel Rod<\/a><\/strong>, University of New Brunswick, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See full CfP here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special Issue in Industrial Marketing Management. The Nature of Marketing in International B2B Service Firms: Review, Dynamics and Prospects Guest Editors: Ra\u0161kovi\u0107 M., Ashill N., Lindsay V., & Rod M. Deadline:\u00a01 April 2023 The central aim of this special issue of Industrial Marketing Management is to develop new insights into why and how B2B service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":9723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[314,550,557],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11685,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11683\/revisions\/11685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}