eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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This thesis project was initiated in the autumn of 2012 to particularly look into the area of business-to-business relationships in the context of the advertising industry. In particular, the focus being to research this aspect from the view of different advertising mediums. The motivation for this stemmed from the idea of various B2B studies existing on a general level, while specific studies into B2B relationships and their impact on advertising effectiveness do not exist, particularly from the viewpoint of different advertising channels. In order to tap into this gap, this study incorporated advertising mediums from print and tablet advertising. This was done due to the novelty and increasing importance of tablet advertising and the possibility to compare it to more traditional advertising channels (i.e. newspaper and magazine advertising).

Following the notions rising from the literature, the research set particular focus on existing B2B taxonomy study by Cannon and Perreault (1999) and sought out to adapt the featured scales into advertising industry context. The research was based on a survey that tested the relationships depending on the mediums and reviewed their impacts on advertising effectiveness. The survey was sent out to the largest companies in Finland by revenue with 46 fulfilled responses arising high-level decision makers, such as CEOs, Marketing Directors/Managers and other relevant personnel.

For the analysis, the study utilized qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and its fuzzy-set variant that make it possible to implement the positive aspects of qualitative analysis over more than a handful of cases. In addition, the method includes quantitative, empirical foundation and thus overall provides for scientifically viable results through configurations that lead to an outcome. Using this method, the research determined that there are notable differences between the advertising mediums, when considering relation-specific details that lead to advertising campaigns to succeed. Highly prioritized print media mediums were more prone to be used in a less-cooperative manner, whereas the lower prioritized tablet advertising was sought to succeed with tight cooperative actions between the advertiser and the provider.

Thus, for decision makers in the advertising industry, it can be useful to be aware of the perceived factors that lead to success (e.g. whether to share proprietary information) and how these are dependent on the advertising medium. In the case of advertising providers, it can be seen equally as important to react accordingly to these perceptions to build successful relationships between the parties that yield value and success. This research was seen to tap into these issues and as such provide for both managerial and theoretical implications.