ISBM

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Institute for the Study of Business Markets

The Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) is a global network of business-to-business (B2B) researchers with headquarters based at the Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University.. The ISBM is dedicated to the advancement and understanding of business-to-business (B2B) marketing, innovation, and sales. The ISBM is also comprised of a network of corporate members providing funding and receiving education and insights. Established in 1983, ISBM stands as the world’s only dedicated institute focused exclusively on business-to-business (B2B) marketing and innovation, functioning as a bridge between academic researchers and industry practitioners. The institute operates with a dual commitment: advancing B2B knowledge while translating insights into practical strategies for its corporate members.

History

The Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) was conceived in the early 1980s out of a growing awareness that business-to-business (B2B) marketing was largely overlooked in academic research and teaching. One of the institute's founders, Dr. Irv Gross, played a central role in shaping its direction based on his career experience in operations research and marketing research at DuPont, and academic roles at Wharton and Monash University. "We want to shift the attention of the academic marketing community toward business marketing," he (Gross) said.

Gross had long been concerned that academic marketing focused almost exclusively on consumer markets, despite the importance and complexity of B2B transactions. At the time, roughly 90 percent to 95 percent of all research and teaching was being done in the area of consumer marketing, although less than 50 percent of marketing was aimed at consumers. The remaining 10% of research was related to B2B or industrial marketing.

Recognizing this gap, he envisioned an institute that would:

• Advance rigorous academic research in B2B marketing,
• Provide a platform for collaboration between academia and industry, and
• Elevate the status of B2B marketing in business education.

In May 1982, a concept meeting was held at Penn State University with both academics and practitioners. Shortly thereafter, a formal proposal was submitted to the dean of the Smeal College of Business by Peter Bennett, Gary Lilien, and Dave Wilson—two senior Penn State faculty members with active B2B marketing research agendas, and a longtime collaborator of Gross.

The Institute was officially launched in 1983 under the name Institute for the Study of Business Markets, with four founding corporate sponsors: DuPont, AT&T, General Electric, and Control Data Corporation. Dr. Gross served as the first Executive Director, alongside Gary Lilien (Research Director) and Dave Wilson (Managing Director). By 1987, ISBM corporate sponsors included Du Pont, General Electric Co., American Telephone & Telegraph, Co., Aluminum Company of America, GTE, Trinet, Westinghouse Electric Corp., PPG, US West, the Donaldson Co., and the Stackpole Corp.

From its inception, ISBM focused on fostering rigorous academic work while ensuring strong engagement with industry. In its first five years, ISBM expanded its membership, launched multiple research and educational programs, and earned recognition from Penn State as an "area of excellence"—granting it special university-level support.

Significant milestones for ISBM include:

• 1985: First course, Market Oriented Business Strategy, launched.
• 1986: Initiated the ISBM Working Paper Series and its newsletter, Marketplace.
• 1988: Strategic partnerships formed with the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group and the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
• 1992: Held the first Doctoral Support Award competition, with global participation.
• 1996: Dr. Gross retired; he was succeeded by Ralph Oliva, formerly of Texas Instruments, as Executive Director.
• 2003: ISBM celebrated its 20th anniversary with 60 corporate members.

• 2005: Moved into the new state-of-the-art Business Building on Penn State’s University Park campus and launched the first Business-to-Business Doctoral Research Camp.
• 2019: Established an external, corporation-focused LLC to disseminate knowledge and financially support the academic research coordinated by ISBM and conducted across its network of Academics from many Universities.
• 2024: ISBM celebrated its 40th Anniversary at Penn State with a joint meeting of academic and practice presentations.

Over the decades, ISBM expanded its global reach, built a robust academic community, successfully established its corporate B2B membership model, and influenced the practice of B2B marketing through seminars, executive education, sponsored research, and high-impact publications.

Mission and Objectives

• 1. Advancing rigorous academic and applied research in B2B marketing and communications.
  2. Elevating B2B marketing as a distinct scholarly discipline and core business function.
  3. Be the premier organization for dynamically and intimately connecting B2B Marketing professionals with thought leaders, educators and academic researchers advancing the science of B2B Marketing for the benefit of the growth of our Member Companies.
  4. Providing a comprehensive suite of courses and workshops spanning the practice of B2B marketing, taught by world-leading researchers and thought leaders from universities around the world.

It pursues these aims through research, education, and B2B corporate practitioner outreach, with a focus on delivering thought leadership in B2B markets.

At Penn State, ISBM engages in:

• Academic programming, including the biennial ISBM Academic Conference, PhD Research Camp, and IPSS (ISBM PhD Seminar Series).
• Doctoral support, including dissertation funding and competitions.
• Research dissemination and the B2B Pulse platform.
• Industry collaboration, including webinars, workshops, and consortia focused on current challenges in B2B marketing and sales.

The institute operates with a dual commitment: advancing knowledge while translating insights into practical strategies for its corporate members. As highlighted in a 2007 Sales and Marketing Management profile, ISBM was created not just to expand B2B marketing research, but to make that research “real-world ready” for its member companies.

Programs and Offerings

ISBM provides a variety of educational programs and events designed for both academics and practitioners:

• B2B Marketing Mastery TRACK™: A comprehensive series of four workshops covering core B2B marketing topics such as strategy, Voice of the Customer (VOC), pricing, and sales alignment.
• Specialized Workshops: Intensive 1.5‑day workshops led by industry experts, covering themes such as AI-driven strategy adoption, pricing optimization, and B2B culture and competencies.
• Custom “Action Learning” Workshops, where working teams from member firms bring an issue, new offering or challenge, and through live education and “laboratory” sessions, leave with new skills, and real outputs for execution going forward.
• PhD and Academic Engagement: Activities include the ISBM PhD Seminar Series (IPSS), doctoral research camps, dissertation support awards, and partnerships with universities.

Corporate Membership

ISBM corporate membership is designed to connect business professionals to cutting-edge B2B marketing research, peer collaboration, and actionable strategic learning. Corporate members gain access to a wide array of exclusive benefits and knowledge resources6:

Member Benefits

• Free access to workshops and webinars throughout the year, with discounted access to the Mastery TRACK program.
• Peer-to-peer learning through Member Meetings and Executive Sessions, where professionals across industries share insights on challenges, innovations, and best practices.
• Custom roundtables and facilitated discussions on member-identified topics.
• Access to curated academic research and the B2B Pulse content platform, which bridges academia and real-world applications.
• Custom “Action Learning” Workshops, where working teams from member firms bring an issue, new offering or challenge, and through live education and “laboratory” sessions, leave with new skills, and real outputs for execution going forward.

Member Activities

• Participate in ISBM Member Meetings—in-person and virtual gatherings for collaborative knowledge-sharing.
• Signature Events: Premium events like “Foresight in B2B: The Next 40 Years in B2B Marketing,” held at Penn State in June 2024, spotlight emerging trends in industrial marketing.
• Engage in Member Jam Sessions, often hosted virtually, which allow real-time learning between peers and experts on specific strategic or operational challenges.
• Custom education and marketing process improvements specifically designed for the Member Firm.
• Access recordings of past sessions and exclusive research tools to support marketing strategy development.

Membership is typically held at the corporate level, giving companies the flexibility to involve multiple team members across marketing, sales, and product strategy functions.

As noted in Sales and Marketing Management, ISBM serves as a vibrant community for marketing professionals from technical backgrounds (e.g., engineering, manufacturing, IT) who face unique B2B challenges not addressed by traditional consumer-marketing approaches5.

Publications and Knowledge Sharing

ISBM has supported or produced several influential publications, including:

• The Handbook of Business-to-Business Marketing, edited by Gary Lilien and Raj Grewal, a comprehensive resource covering B2B strategy, channels, pricing, buyer behavior, and analytics.
• B2B Pulse, an online knowledge hub curating academic research, case studies, webinars, and reports tailored to practitioners and scholars.
• Principles of Marketing Engineering and Analytics, an accessible overview of the most widely used marketing engineering concepts and tools, written by Gary Lilien, Arvind Rangaswamy, Arnaud De Bruyn, and co-sponsored by the ISBM
• ISBM Connect, weekly blog series focused on the most relevant information and insights happening in B2B markets
• ISBM Expert Extracts™ , knowledge resource created exclusively from ISBM’s own curated content—specifically materials from B2B Pulse and the ISBM intellectual property library.

Leadership

At Penn State, ISBM is led by a team of academic and professional staff:

• Stefan Wuyts, Director and Professor of Marketing, Penn State
• J. Andrew Petersen, Associate Director and Associate Professor of Marketing, Penn State
• Lori Nicolini, Program & Event Manager, Penn State
• Sotires Pagiavlas, Editor of B2B Pulse and Assistant Professor of Marketing, Penn State

The ISBM LLC, focusing on B2B Corporate members, events, and programs, is led by:

• Paul Drees, ISBM Executive Director
• Rand Mendez, ISBM Executive Director
• Lynn Yanyo, ISBM Executive Director

Emeritus leaders include:

• Irv Gross - Founding Executive Director
• Gary L. Lilien - Research Director Emeritus
• Ralph Oliva - Executive Director Emeritus

Academic Research Fellows include:

• Michael Ahearne - Professor and C.T. Bauer Chair in Marketing at the University of Houston, The Coca-Cola Company Chair of Marketing and Professor, Department of Marketing
• James C. Anderson Archived 2025-07-13 at the Wayback Machine - William L. Ford Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Wholesale Distribution at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
• Sundar Bharadwaj Archived 2025-08-07 at the Wayback Machine - the Coca-Cola Company Chair of Marketing and Professor, University of Georgia
• Bob Cooper - Co-founder of Stage-Gate International, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University
• George S. Day - Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
• Liam Fahey Archived 2025-06-13 at the Wayback Machine - Co-founder and Executive Director of Leadership Forum, Inc.
• Srinath Gopalakrishna Archived 2025-06-22 at the Wayback Machine - David and Judy O’Neal MBA Professor, and Faculty Directory, MBA, University of Missouri
• Rajdeep Grewal - The Townsend Family Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Area Chair of Marketing, University of North Carolina
• Abbie Griffin - Presidential Professor Emerita at the University of Utah (Retired)
• Mark Houston Archived 2025-06-15 at the Wayback Machine - Professor & Associate Dean of Research, Texas Christian University
• Sandy Jap Archived 2025-06-22 at the Wayback Machine - Sarah Beth Brown Professor of Marketing, Emory University
• Bernie Jaworski Archived 2025-07-12 at the Wayback Machine - Peter F. Drucker Chair in Management and the Liberal Arts, Claremont Graduate University
• Erich Joachimsthaler Archived 2025-08-03 at the Wayback Machine - Leading expert in strategy, branding, and innovation, and the founder and CEO of VIVALDI
• Wes Johnston - Retired CBIM RoundTable Professor of Marketing in the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University
• Ajay K. Kohli - Gary T. and Elizabeth R. Jones Chair at Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology
• V. Kumar Archived 2025-08-11 at the Wayback Machine - Professor of Marketing and Goodman Academic-Industry Partnership Professor, Brock University
• Gary L. Lilien - Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Marketing, The Pennsylvania State University
• Das Narayandas - Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School
• James A. Narus - Professor Emeritus at Wake Forest University
• Robert W. Palmatier - Professor of Marketing at UW Foster School (researcher in sales and marketing strategy)
• Werner Reinartz - Professor of Marketing, University of Cologne (German economist and professor)
• Mohan Sawhney - Professor of Marketing and digital innovation at Kellogg School, consultant and author
• Lisa K. Scheer - Retired Emma S. Hibbs Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri
• Don E. Schultz - Professor Emeritus of Service at Northwestern University's Medill School (deceased)
• Venky Shankar - Harold M. Brierley Endowed Professor, Southern Methodist University at SMU, marketing scholar and author widely cited
• Jagdish N. Sheth - Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University
• Robert E. Spekman Archived 2025-08-08 at the Wayback Machine - Tayloe Murphy Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
• Hari Sridhar Archived 2025-08-08 at the Wayback Machine - Senior Associate Dean, Professor and Joe B. Foster Chair in Business Leadership, Presidential Impact Fellow, Texas A&M University
• Raji Srinivasan - Marketing Professor at the University of Texas
• Rajendra Srivastava - Novartis Professor of Marketing Strategy and Innovation at the Indian School of Business.
• Gerard J. Tellis Archived 2025-08-11 at the Wayback Machine - Neely Chaired Professor of American Enterprise, Director of the Institute for Outlier Research in Marketing, Director of the Center for Global Innovation, at the USC Marshall School of Business
• Bob Thomas Archived 2025-07-10 at the Wayback Machine - Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Georgetown University
• Barton Weitz Archived 2025-01-16 at the Wayback Machine - Professor of Marketing J.C. Penney Eminent Scholar at the University of Florida (deceased)
• Fred Wiersema - Retired Professor at Harvard University, Business Strategist,
• Andy Zoltners Archived 2025-07-19 at the Wayback Machine - Frederic Esser Nemmers Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (deceased)

Practice Fellows include:

• Dan Adams - B2B marketing author and innovation expert (The AIM Institute founder)
• Ralph Cummins - President and Managing Director, EMM Group
• Gerry Katz - Vice Chairman Emeritus, Applied Marketing Science, Inc.
• Ralph Oliva - Director Emeritus, Penn State and ISBM
• Laura Patterson - Co-Founder at VisionEdge Marketing
• Joanne M. Smith - Founder and President of Price to Profits Consulting'

References

This article "ISBM" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:ISBM. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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