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Introduction to Part 1

This first part presents the three fields at the intersection of which this book is positioned: customer orientation, service and B2B.

Customer orientation is debated in a dense literature that focuses on defining and justifying its benefits and also questions how it can be implemented in the company. This customer orientation is a direct result of the marketing culture. Translated into a managerial skill, customer orientation allows for the diffusion of a marketing culture within the organization as a whole.

The interest in the service sector in particular is justified by its economic weight and also indicates the need for a specific approach in order to implement customer orientation in a relevant and effective way. It is, thus, necessary to understand the reality, the stakes and the specificities of the service sector in order to introduce an adapted customer orientation.

As for the focus on B2B, it implies a significant distinction between B2B and B2C in terms of customer orientation. One often resorts to endless lists to justify what distinguishes B2B from B2C. Two specificities are in fact essential to understand, the first one is related to the market and the second one to the relationship. While the first one, involving the notions of channel and derived demand, is specific and exclusive to B2B markets, the second one, which defends the importance of the relationship between customers and their providers, is also at the heart of B2C. Nevertheless, the B2B relationship, because of its strength, depth and duration, is becoming a major managerial challenge.