Internet integration in business marketing tactics

Companies have got to learn to eat change for breakfast. Tom Peters …it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune. Niccolo Machiavelli Business Marketing Management (BMM) over the Internet has been receiving a “lot of ink” in current periodicals and to a lesser degree in academic literature. Practice changes so rapidly that principles emerging from last month's successes may need revision before they are derived and printed. There is yet a general theory of business-to-business Internet integration. Nonetheless, there is a need to build such knowledge on “the fly,” and to attempt to see patterns even if they have a short life span. The present work takes a look at the state of business-to-business Internet marketing practices as the year 2000 came to a close for larger companies. Not surprisingly, and just like the hardware that make Internet distribution density so high, we find that the Internet is having an impact on: market size and structure, business buying and selling behavior, negotiation strategies and associated pricing practices. Moreover, distribution systems are experiencing a major realignment while logistics optimizing is even greater. The Web and e-mail are becoming more fully integrated into the business communication mix. The attempt here is to learn about the most rapidly emerging and changing communication technology of the past 100 years. Business-driven technology now appears to be driving business marketing tactics and results are augmented through multifaceted complex use of the Internet.