A Cross-Industry Review of B2B Critical Success Factors

A cross-industry review of B2B critical success factors
Riyad Eid Myfanwy Trueman and Abdel Moneim Ahmed

Introduction
In recent years business-to-business international Internet marketing (B2B IIM) has received widespread attention. Avlonitis and Karayanni (2000), Hamill and Gregory (1997), Hoffman et al. (1999), Porter (2001) and Quelch and Klein (1996) conducted in-depth studies to understand those factors that are needed to enhance B2B IIM implementation. Various articles, empirical research, and secondary case studies on B2B, Internet, international marketing, and information technology were studied. The findings of these studies identified 21 factors that have a direct impact on successful implementation of the B2B IIM. These factors were classified into five categories: marketing strategy, web site, global dimension, internal and external related factors. Definitions, techniques and discussion on these factors are described in the following sections. Further discussion on each category is also underpinned.

The authors Riyad Eid, Myfanwy Trueman and Abdel Moneim Ahmed are all based at the Bradford University School of Management, Bradford, UK. Keywords International marketing, Success, Business-to-business marketing, Internet Abstract Business-to-business international Internet marketing (B2B IIM) has emerged as one of the key drivers in sustaining an organisation’s competitive advantage. However, market entry and communication via the Internet have affected the dynamics and traditional process in B2B commerce. Difficulties resulting from these new trends have been cited in the literature. Research into identifying what are the critical success factors for global market entry is rare. This research presents a comprehensive review in this field. The study identified 21 critical success factors applicable to most of the B2B IIM. These factors were classified into five categories: marketing strategy, Web site, global, internal and external related factors. The

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