This paper presents a structured glossary of key terms across two core marketing domains: business-to-business (B2B) purchasing and new product development. Chapter 6 covers the business buying process, defining roles such as buyers, deciders, and gatekeepers, as well as concepts like derived demand, inelastic demand, and systems buying. Chapter 9 addresses the new product development lifecycle, from idea generation and concept testing through commercialization, and explains the stages of the product life cycle—introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Together, these definitions provide a foundational reference for understanding how organizations purchase goods and services and how they bring new products to market.
Business market: The markets that business-to-business (B2B) marketing, selling, and service concentrate on, defined by organizational demographics. These markets are shaped more by the need to lower costs and increase sales than by individual fashions or fads.
Derived demand: When the demand for one good or service occurs as the result of demand for another—as is the case with razors and razor blades, for example. This is a critical concept for creating business models and defining pricing strategies.
Inelastic demand: An economics term referring to the pricing behavior of a product or service. Inelastic demand describes a situation where a given change in price produces a less-than-equivalent change in demand. When a product or service exhibits inelastic demand, price reductions of a given percentage do not increase demand by the same amount or more. Inelasticity is a critical concept in the pricing strategies of commodity products.
Government market: The market for goods and services in which global governments serve as the catalyst for purchasing. Government markets often have highly specific requirements and standards that must be met, frequently requiring engineer-to-order products.
Institutional market: A market segmentation term that refers to defining markets by the demographics of public and private institutions first, and often by purchasing role second. Role-based segmentation in institutional markets is frequently used to better understand the needs and preferences of customers.
General need description: As part of a new product concept, the general need description defines the key features, functions, and benefits of a product as they relate to the unmet needs of customers.
Business buying process: In B2B markets, this is the series of steps used to qualify a vendor as a supplier, conduct initial quality assurance testing, validate product designs, and eventually source materials for use in production.
Buyers: The purchasing, procurement, and supply chain professionals who seek to optimize their organizations' performance are often called buyers. Those selling products and services in B2B markets are called suppliers.
Buying centre: A centrally located purchasing and procurement office or market exchange where suppliers and buyers meet to negotiate and close contracts for products and services.
Deciders: Members of the buying process in B2B markets who are also called decision makers. Deciders are the individuals who have the organizational authority to choose one solution over another.
Gatekeepers: A person or organization that controls access to essential information, people, or resources within an organization. Gatekeepers are also frequently identified as key figures in the enterprise selling process for software.
Influences: The set of internal and external factors that shape the creation, management, and execution of a marketing strategy or initiative over time. Influences on marketing strategies are typically driven by demographic, economic, social, technological, and political factors that companies need to account for—and potentially exploit—in their marketing strategies.
Users: A term also used to define the customers for a product or service, users are a unit of measure referring to customers who have typically been loyal for over a year. It is common in the enterprise software market to refer to an installed base of users, who by definition have been customers for more than a year.
Modified rebuy: A sourcing or procurement strategy used by organizations to purchase goods from different suppliers or to modify product attributes to reflect evolving customer needs. The modified rebuy can significantly alter supply chain dynamics in B2B markets.
Straight rebuy: The concept of replenishment, in which the same goods are purchased in quantity from the same supplier, often under the same purchase order. The straight rebuy is frequently automated through the use of supplier management systems and platforms.
New task: A task initiated within a broader project to ensure the successful completion of a wider market, product, or selling strategy.
Order-routine specification: The series of processes companies rely on to capture, process, and fulfill orders from buyers or customers. The order-routine specification also defines the methods used for automating order management, including Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application and process flow.
Performance review: The process of assessing the performance of a given product line, selling initiative, service, or channel partner strategy over time, often against established benchmarks or measures of performance.
Problem recognition: The strategies used for finding the root cause of a problem. Approaches to problem recognition span accounting and financial analysis, operations research, and pricing analysis.
Product specification: A document that describes the functional performance and specifications of a product, including an assessment of its benefits and market position. The product specification serves as the basis for engineering specifications that guide final product development.
Proposal solicitation: The process and set of documents companies use to seek proposals for completing projects or providing products and services. Proposal solicitation also encompasses the quoting and ordering process in complex manufacturing environments.
Supplier search: The first step in qualifying suppliers to contribute to new products under development, typically managed as part of the initial sourcing strategy. Once sources are identified, supplier audits are completed and the suppliers' products are included in new production builds.
Supplier selection: The qualification phase of engaging suppliers to assist in creating components and assemblies for new products. The supplier selection process evaluates company viability, financial performance, risk, and the effectiveness of product strategies.
Systems buying: The strategy of sourcing products and services from a systemic, comprehensive overview of supplier strategies. Systems buying seeks to create sourcing strategies that are as replicable as possible.
Value analysis: A value analysis comprises a series of frameworks, tools, techniques, and processes that define the optimal design, process redefinitions, and systems needed to attain specific design objectives.
New-product development: The collection of strategies, techniques, and tools for transforming a vision and mission for a product into a finished product. New product development is also part of the New Product Development and Introduction (NPDI) framework that companies use to manage their product roadmaps over time.
Idea generation: Often called brainstorming, idea generation centers on creating a range of potential product concepts for later testing and analysis. Idea generation is most effective when it concentrates on the unmet needs of customers and attempts to create products that meet and exceed those needs.
Idea screening: One of the steps in the new product development process where product concepts, alternative ideas, and prototypes are evaluated. Idea screening is a strategy to mitigate and minimize risk during new product development.
Concept testing: A research approach used during new product development phases to validate or refute the value of a product, service, or market positioning concept. Concept testing is also extensively used in advertising and promotional strategy development.
Business analysis: Refers to the series of tools, techniques, and strategies used to gain insights into how a business is performing over time. Business analysis encompasses accounting, finance, statistics, operations research, and market research to provide a quantified, 360-degree view of an organization.
Product development: This term refers both to the organizational departments or divisions responsible for transforming product concepts into products and to the series of strategies used for creating new products. The essential steps in product development require intensive coordination and collaboration across the organization, making these process areas among the most difficult for companies to execute consistently and excellently.
Product concept: A management philosophy stating that an excellent product will create its own market over time. This perspective holds that innovation will fuel new customer growth more effectively than marketing or promotion strategies alone.
Product idea: The source of innovation and differentiation for a product. The product idea tends to isolate the attributes and benefits on which branding is based, including the emotions a brand seeks to evoke and nurture over time.
Product image: The center of any product branding effort, the product image is represented by the collection of attributes a company uses to align customer emotions with its brand. The product image is the catalyst of branding efforts.
Product Innovation Charter (PIC): A strategic planning document used to define the commercialization and launch strategy for a new product. The PIC is used to define objectives, goals, and guidelines for new product development. It also serves to accelerate knowledge transfer within an organization and foster greater cross-functional collaboration and performance toward strategic goals.
"Describes PLC stages from introduction to decline"
"Covers strategy statements, PIC, and commercialization"
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