An impact-oriented implementation approach in business marketing research: Introduction to the Special Issue on ¬タワImplementing Strategies and Theories of B2B Marketing and Sales Management¬タン

a r t i c l e i n f o There are serious concerns about the theory–practice gap in the research on business marketing. One of the key aspects is the relevance and implementability of the results. The overarching objective of this special issue of " From Strategy Frameworks to Value-in-use: Implementing Strategies and Theories of B2B Marketing and Sales Management " is to enhance understanding of managerial implementation. We have four goals in this introductory article. First, we discuss implementation as a concept, given the varying views and the considerable ambiguity. Second, we identify and analyze aspects that influence the potential for carrying out managerially relevant research and challenge the implementation process. As a result we propose an implementation framework for use in our third task: to introduce the articles in this special issue. We conclude by presenting an agenda for enhancing the managerial relevance of future business-marketing research. " There is an alarming and growing gap between the interests, standards , and priorities of academic marketers and the needs of marketing executives operating in an ambiguous, uncertain, fast-changing, and complex marketspace. " 1. Introduction Marketing is a paradoxical discipline; it is simultaneously seen as overtly empirically driven and wanting in advanced theory construc-and is criticized for lacking in practical implementation and thus being poor in managerial relevance (Gummesson, 2002; Piercy, 2002). This kind of tension is typical in most applied fields; there are always scholars who pursue new knowledge for its own sake and researchers who want to excel in producing relatively rapidly implementable results. However, in spite of calls to combine scientific " rigor " and managerial or social " relevance " (Brennan, 2004; Varadarajan, 2003), and efforts to develop joint research agendas among academics and practitioners (Guesalaga & Johnston, 2010), there are serious concerns that the theory–practice gap is actually growing wider (Reibstein et al., 2009). This is alarming given that without at least long-term implementability business-marketing research – and researchers – will lose their credibility. The overarching goal of this special issue of " Implementing Strategies and Theories of B2B Marketing and Sales Management " in Industrial Marketing Management is to respond to the need for information on managerial implementation, thereby enhancing the relevance of research on business marketing, and especially sales management, which has been rising in prominence (LaPlaca, 2013). We are sincerely grateful to Peter LaPlaca, the Editor-in-Chief of the IMM, for …