Insegnamento a.a. 2026-2027

Overview of the specificities of business markets

Compare and contrast different types of exchange processes in B2B markets

Business customers buying behavior

Segmenting and targeting business markets

Developing effective value propositions for business customers

Designing and magaging customer solutions

Designing and managing KAM processes in B2B markets

Managing and measuring Customer Equity in B2B markets

Students will learn:

- the specificities of business markets compared to consumer markets

- the variety of the types of market exchange processes and the multifactorial determinants of this variety 

- the specificities of the business customers buying behavior and how they differ depending the different purchase situations

- the specificities of the segmentation and targeting strategies in business markets

- the different types of value propositions for business customers and how they differ depending on the types of market exchange processes

- what is a customer solutions in a business market

- the rational of developing KAM strategies in business markets and the different features affecting an effective KAM strategy and organization

- the way Customer Equity in business markets can be measured and managed

Students will be able to:

- manage effectively business customer behavior processes

- cope with the typical complexity of the decision making unit of business customers 

- develop effective segmentation and targeting strategies in business markets

- design and manage effectively effective value propositions, including customer solutions

- design and manage effective KAM strategies and organization

- measure Customer Equity of business customers  

• Lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Collaborative Works / Assignments

- Face-to-face lectures introduce each topic, providing the students with an overarching framework of the key concepts of each topic. This framework provides a guidance for subsequent discussion throughout the topic, mostly taking place through the discussion of how these concepts operates in practice.

- Guest speaker's talks give the students an opportunity to interect with outstanding professionals and get exposed to real contexts where some topics of the course can be observed in practise in their full complexity and in their more recent developments. The inclusion of guest speaker's talks urge students to deepen their practical knowledge and to exert their critical thinking.

- Group assignments gives the students the opportunity to expose the students to fruitful contexts of application of the specific topics included in the course program. Per each session designed for this purpose, there will be students presenting their solutions to the managerial problems raised in the case and students discussing the solutions provided by the pesenting groups. By this way, students learn how to use concepts and models in practice as well as they are challenged in their critically thinking of ways to solve issues that firms managing business customers typically face, as well as they are encouraged to nurture their communication and collaboration skills.

- The written exam is taken at the end of the course in one of the regular exam dates. The written exam is based on three questions extracted from a list of questions on the course contents included in the program and discussed during class hours. The overall list of questions from which the text of the exam is extracted is distributed in the few days following the end of the course. The written exam mostly assesses the

acquisition of the concepts of the course and, to a lesser extent, the practical knowledge and critical thinking of the students.

- Collaborative work takes place throughout the whole course as the topics of the course are discussed in the lectures. Per each case study provided, there are presenting groups (students discussing the group solution provided to the managerial problem raised by the case study) and discussants (students critically discussing in group the solution provided by the presenting groups). The collaborative work helps better develop a practical understanding of the topics included in the course and urges the students to nurture their soft skills (critical thinking, collaboration skills, teamworking).

- Active class participation assessment is based on the quality of the students’ contribution during class discussion. Students are encouraged to read in advance the material referred to the class topic and their contribution to class discussion on that topic is assessed.

Also, students’ contribution in collaborative work and active class participation is assessed and included in this area of evaluation. The evaluations of the students’ collaborative work and active class participation are valid for the three regular exam calls in the academic year 2026-2027.

Non-attending students have to take a written exam, on the contents of the course textbook, in one of the official exam dates. The written exam mostly assesses the acquisition of the concepts of the course and, to a lesser extent, the practical knowledge and critical thinking of the students.

A selection of papers from the Reading Collection: B2B Marketing, EGEA 2026. The selection of papers are those included in the course detailed program.

Reading Collection: B2B Marketing, EGEA 2026. The whole set of papers published in the Reading Collection is required for non-attending students.