Normal vs spectacular science: The IMP Group and BtoB marketing

This paper endeavours to track the underlying scientific process driving research activities and output. It takes research in the business-to-business field as the empirical setting and puts the works of the IMP Group into focus, using bibliometric analyses and historical vistas as background evidence. We argue that what may appear at first sight as a limited development should rather, in fact, be interpreted as “normal science,” i.e. based on the robustness of the core models and conceptual framework, with fine adjustments of these taking place over time. Indeed, the BtoB realm-and in particular the activities and production of the IMP Group and associated researchers-would seem to contrast rather radically with the broader area of marketing in that it benefits from a resistant conceptual framework which seems to have weathered the test of time, and which can be used as a building block for research development and is less sensitive to managerial trends and fashion.