L’anatomia dei mercati business-to-business

[Autom. eng. transl.] The market conception, right or wrong, is important because it guides the behavior of various market players and therefore becomes a decisive factor for the performance of customers and suppliers. The conception of business-to-business markets, defined as markets where customers are companies and other organizations, is often blurred and the characteristics of these markets appear quite different from how they are presented in the generic conception of the market proposed in the canonical texts of economics and management. As consumers and therefore market players, we have direct knowledge of the market and its functioning which can however be misleading in the approach to the business-to-business market which has rather particular characteristics and functioning. The characteristics of the business-to-business market reflect the logic and purchasing behavior of 'business customers' - companies and other organizations - which differ from the purchasing behavior of consumer customers for reasons and methods of operating. Companies, businesses and other organizations, as customers, are characterized by structures and processes that are often unexpected and perhaps even surprising if approached with the lens of consumer goods markets. Actions and behaviors based on a 'canonical' conception of the market, which is proposed to us in economic theory, tend to be ineffective and sometimes even dysfunctional. This is the reason why in this chapter we will deal with the anatomy of the business-to-business market and a concept of the market aimed at promoting an effective understanding of the possible mechanisms of action.