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B2B marketing strategies in healthcare management: intellectual structure and research trends

João J. Ferreira (Department of Management and Economics and NECE – Research Unit in Business Sciences, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal)
Pedro M. Veiga (School of Education – Polytechnic Institute of Viseu and NECE Research Unit in Business Sciences, Viseu, Portugal)
Cristina I. Fernandes (Department of Management and Economics and NECE – Research Unit in Business Sciences, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal and Centre for Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK)
Sascha Kraus (Department of Management and Economics, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy)

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

ISSN: 0885-8624

Article publication date: 15 February 2021

Issue publication date: 21 June 2022

1369

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to map out the ways in which the intellectual structure and research trends of scientific publications come together in business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategies in the health-care sector. More specifically, it aims first to identify the fundamental contributions of research in this area of knowledge and second to determine the lines of research that constitute the most prominent intellectual contribution to the development of a solid future research agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

The statistical and analytical methods include bibliometric, co-citation and cluster analysis techniques. To identify useful patterns of information within the paper, this study sought paid special attention to scholarship that was jointly cited. This study then applied hierarchical cluster analysis to the totality of the co-cited paper and then grouped the interrelated paper into distinct sets.

Findings

This study were able to systematically identify and classify various theoretical perspectives of B2B marketing strategies within the health-care sector into four main approaches, namely, decision-making strategies; relational marketing; co-creation; new challenges.

Originality/value

By systematically identifying, exploring and analyzing the key priorities of B2B marking within the health-care sector, this study contributes positively to the existing literature. The added value is that the work will help to further improve the international standards of excellence within the health-care sector and its marking apparatuses.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Portuguese authors would like to thank The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Grants and NECE - UIDB/04630/2020) provided support for this study.

Citation

Ferreira, J.J., Veiga, P.M., Fernandes, C.I. and Kraus, S. (2022), "B2B marketing strategies in healthcare management: intellectual structure and research trends", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 37 No. 8, pp. 1580-1593. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-07-2020-0339

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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