Question

Which of the following is true about business-to-business marketing and buyer-seller relationships?​ a. B​uyers and sellers cooperate in business-to-business marketing through Web services. b. M​anufacturers use a technique call national account selling to serve their smallest customers. c. E​DI does not have non-commercial applications. d. I​n order for Web services to work, the firms involved must have the same or compatible software. e. B​uyer-managed inventory has replaced vendor-managed inventory in many instances today.

Answer 1

The following features whether true or false, about business-to-business marketing and buyer-seller relationships:

a) Buyer and sellers cooperate in business to business marketing through Web services.

This statement is true.

The buyers and sellers cooperate in B2B marketing through Web Services, but there are also other communication alternatives that can be taken like face to face exchange of information or through manual drafts and postal mails. But these processes are cumbersome and time taking. These kinds of processes slower the business operations so in recent times all such transactions are taking place through Web Services to foster the business and provide better services.

b) Manufacturers use a technique call national account selling to serve their smallest customers.

This statement is true.

National Account Selling is a strategy selected by the sales team to overcome the challenges of reaching sales accounts of the customers. This is the reaching out to the remote customers and educating them about the products the business offers. This is used in business to business processes as well, where the salesperson suppose an Engineer meets the client Manager and gain his interest in the product to lock the sale. This is the strategy where the sales account team to structure the policies for sales generation and providing the best customer services. So through this strategy, the salespeople reach remote customers and generate sales for the company. The procedures involve newsletters, emails, cold calls, face to face discussion, etc. This is one of the most relevant strategies to reach most of the customers within the target.

c) EDI does not have non-commercial applications.

True

EDI or Electronic Data Interchange is a process where business partners exchange information and business documents through computers, using standard document formats. So EDI involves strict business information exchange between business partners and it is a commercial application of EDI. And we can see that from the meaning of EDI it only involves businesses which are strictly commercial, and it does not have any non-commercial application.

d) In order for Web services to work, the firms involved must have the same or compatible software.

True

When the firms are using software for business transactions and processes, and it is a B2B process, both the parties should use the same or compatible software to work efficiently. Using different software may give rise to troubleshooting problems and the transactions may not be carried out efficiently. And incompatible software will not work together, the system will crash down and the processes will not be completed, and even if they run, the processes will be slow and there will be a lot of errors and distortion in the processes. So most business partners use the same software or at least compatible software with the other partners to work efficiently, as it is not possible to work with incompatible software.

e) Buyer-managed inventory has replaced vendor-managed inventory in many instances today.

False

Vendor-managed inventory is one of the best and widely used inventory management systems where the supplier maintains the data of the customer provide reports and support processes using different portals, software, and Web services to provide with the best quality services to its customers. The customers or buyers do not involve themselves in such processes and only monitor the reports of the suppliers. Vendor Management System is very effective for businesses operating globally, and outsourced processes. To overcome the limitations of buyer managed inventory system, most of the businesses adopted Vendor Management System throughout the world.