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The IMP research on business networks: a systematic literature review and research agenda

Author

Listed:
  • Simone Guercini

    (Università degli Studi di Firenze)

  • Antonella La Rocca

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

  • Andrea Perna

    (Università Politecnica delle Marche
    Uppsala University)

Abstract

More than 40 years of Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) research have revealed that in b2b markets, business exchange is carried out in continuous buyer–seller relationships. This involves direct and indirect interaction and dynamics resulting in significant related social and material investments and in extensive interdependencies that confer on the business landscape a market-as-network structure. Since the introduction of this ideas, research on business networks has been richly alimented by researchers of the IMP community. Yet, we do not have a clear overview of what this literature has covered in the last twenty years (in the period 2002–2022), in parallel with the many changes that have affected business landscape. With this study, we aim to examine what is the status of the last 20 years of IMP literature specifically dealing with the business networks level of analysis (45 articles) and to offer key directions for imminent research in this domain while analyzing and synthesizing extant literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Simone Guercini & Antonella La Rocca & Andrea Perna, 2024. "The IMP research on business networks: a systematic literature review and research agenda," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2024(2), pages 149-175, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijmark:v:2024:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s43039-024-00096-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s43039-024-00096-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anderson, Helén & Havila, Virpi & Andersen, Poul & Halinen, Aino, 1998. "Position and role-conceptualizing dynamics in business networks," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 167-186, March.
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