ISBM Knowledge Community

Welcome to the ISBM knowledge community!

In this new "place," we'll be assembling knowledge resources on B-to-B Marketing for ISBM Members - resources created with your support. And more!

We hope to grow this into interactive site for the advancement of the practice of business marketing. A place to share news and views, fresh insights from the field, benchmarking case discussions, and to build personal friendships across the business marketing community.

Please: come, learn, discuss, contribute!

Upcoming Live Webinars
(2010-03-16) Hunting for Hunting Grounds - An Introduction
Sometimes we fail in business precisely because we are doing all of the right things.  These ‘right things’ can add up to an overwhelming day-to-day burden and there is no energy left for experimentation and exploration.  A drive toward efficiency rarely adds up to organizational tolerance for error and a necessity for innovation. Hunting for new business ideas on the edge should be avoided by any one seeking to maximize profits this year or this quarter. But for business leaders who feel that their market or business model may be maturing and feel a need for a fundamentally new direction Hunting for Hunting Grounds is a tool you should pay attention to. This short presentation will be a case study driven introduction to the Hunting for Hunting Grounds™:  

  • Innovation while looking down the barrel of a gun – High Concrete Structures
  • Designing a Hunting for Hunting Grounds™ process for your organization – 3M’
  • Building organizational acceptance at Crystal Flash Energy
  • Building an impossibility into a possibility; or, How do you eat an elephant? - The Hershey Case

The techniques discussed in this session have been experienced in companies such as Rubbermaid, Fiskars, Masco, Singapore Air, Black & Decker, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, Kohler, and Coleman.  

This discussion is not for people who want to learn how to implement better within an existing business. If you think the old cow just might go dry, join us.

“Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible.” – M.C. Escher

Innovation Focus Inc. is an internationally recognized consulting firm driven to help you develop and implement profitable ideas for growth. By using a unique mix of creative and analytical processes, we lead you to find the wealth of answers to the question, “What If?”
Formats Available: Webinar
Original Webinar Date: 03-16-2010
On-Demand Release Date: March 17, 2010
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(2010-05-18) Meeting the Challenges of Growth in the ‘New Normal’: Part 1
Join ISBM and Deloitte for a four-part series focused on the challenges of growing in the aftermath of the recent downturn and the lasting structural changes that result.  The series will start by diving into the question of what ‘Value” means in the post down-turn economy after customers have had to do less with less.  Will they return to their old buying patterns or will there be lasting changes to the definitions of Value? 

Part 1: What does value really mean in the post-downturn economy?

Customers had to make hard decisions to minimize losses and retain cash during the toughest points in the downturn.  Companies and consumers both had to do without some things and had to re-assess how they made their tradeoff decisions on others.   For what elements of performance, service, and other elements of perceived value were they willing to pay?  As the economy recovers, how will customer buying habits have changed and how will they make those trade-off decisions now?

See how value definitions may have changed based on new customer research.
•    Priorities, tradeoffs and value.  What will customers pay for?
•    Segmentation:  How have segments been re-shaped and re-defined through this cycle?
•    What are the implications for my product portfolio, Value Propositions and Pricing?

Formats Available: Webinar
Original Webinar Date: 05-18-2010
MORE INFO
(2010-08-17) Meeting the Challenges of Growth in the ‘New Normal': Part 2
Join ISBM and Deloitte for a four-part series focused on the challenges of growing in the aftermath of the recent downturn and the lasting structural changes that result.  The series will start by diving into the question of what ‘Value” means in the post down-turn economy after customers have had to do less with less.  Will they return to their old buying patterns or will there be lasting changes to the definitions of Value? 

Part 2: Reaching new customers and penetrating new markets efficiently.   How to re-align resources to open new markets and still maintain the old without breaking the bank

The recent recession forced a number of changes in the way manufacturers do business.  One of them was to have to live with less money for revenue generation and growth.   With a less than robust recovery and shifting geographic markets, how do you re-ignite your growth engines without a return to previous spending patterns?   Learn how to become more efficient while also improving effectiveness by re-aligning scarce and expensive S&M resources where they will do the most good.

•    The funding challenge;  positioning for growth while profitability is still recovering
•    Resource re-alignment from mature to developing markets and geographies
•    Maintaining customer intimacy and service at lower cost
•    Strategies for developing opportunities
Formats Available: Webinar
Original Webinar Date: 08-17-2010
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(2010-11-09) Meeting the Challenges of Growth in the ‘New Normal’: Part 3
Join ISBM and Deloitte for a four-part series focused on the challenges of growing in the aftermath of the recent downturn and the lasting structural changes that result.  The series will start by diving into the question of what ‘Value” means in the post down-turn economy after customers have had to do less with less.  Will they return to their old buying patterns or will there be lasting changes to the definitions of Value? 

Part 3: Where did my customers go?  Dealing with migration of manufacturing for B2B suppliers

During the recent downturn many factories shut down or cut out lines.  The downturn may have only accelerated a shift that was eventually going to happen anyway.  Many of those assets that were curtailed were older or less competitive facilities that may not ever re-start given the capacity overhang in some parts of industry and the lower cost production economics in developing parts of the world.  If that production move becomes permanent, as it has in other industries following major disruptions, what are the implications for the suppliers to those industries?

•    Are suppliers prepared to follow their customers?
•    How does the move of my customer’s center of gravity effect how I operate? 
•    How do I properly service a satellite that may now be the mother ship?
•    How do you migrate your own assets that may soon face the same fate as those of my customers?
Formats Available: Webinar
Original Webinar Date: 11-09-2010
MORE INFO
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