Online?
En kvalitativ studie av digitala affärsrelationer
Internet and digital technology has changed the way we live our lives. As individuals we've found new ways to communicate, educate and experience. But what's the effect on B2B marketing? Previous research presents transactional benefits such as lower costs and easier access to information, but there is limited research done on more complex and long term relationships as well as on modern digital tools. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether a deeper long term B2B relationship can be created and nurtured using digital tools for communication, and if so, how these tools and processes can be described and understood. With a theoretical framework, consisting of relationship marketing, network theory and previous research on B2B-portals, seven digital creative companies from different parts of the world is investigated. The study shows that deep relationships can be created solely with digital ways of communicating and that the two most important elements in these relationships are knowledge and presence. The study also shows that the use of digital tools is diverse in the way that not just one tool is used for all parts of the relationships, rather a free combination of different tools and services.