Category Archives: Uncategorized

B-to-B Leadership Board Underway

By Ralph Oliva | Published: April 10, 2012
Fred Wiersema is underway now doing a variety of preliminary ethnographic and interview research to help ISBM set the stage for research moving forward to the end of the decade. And… some of the issues that he’s connecting with are fairly primal. One key one is just what is marketing anyway? This question comes up again [...]
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The Top 10: The Best Practices in Business-to-Business Corporate Marketing

By Ralph Oliva | Published: March 28, 2012
I am working with Atlee Valentine Pope of Blue Canyon Partners, currently soliciting inputs from select CMO’s on the top 10 best practices that drive the emergence of a world class B-to-B corporate marketing organization. Feel free to pile on if you‘d like. Right now our list includes: 1. Establish marketing plans 2. Be the link for communication and learning 3. Be [...]
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Some Thoughts on Sustainability

By Ralph Oliva | Published: March 23, 2012
Sustainability these days is like a three-legged stool (with one leg missing?) Avoid Waste. Save where it makes sense. Focus on and use what’s important. Penn State has done an admirable job of defining the ephemeral word “sustainability.” “Sustainability is the simultaneous pursuit of human health and happiness, environmental quality, and economic well-being for current [...]
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Members Meeting Insights from Parker Hannifin, Kennametal, and Arizona Chemical

By Ralph Oliva | Published: March 20, 2012
Some insights from ISBM and our recent Members Meeting on “Brand the Process” At a recent meeting of ISBM, Craig Maxwell, Corporate VP Technology and Innovation at Parker Hannifin, enlightened us with a view on how he’s built a strong market and customer connection to the R&D function at Parker. This powerhouse firm has led the way [...]
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Three Ways B2B Marketing is Changing

By Ralph Oliva | Published: February 1, 2012
I wanted to share an interview I did this week with Mike Colucci of The SDG Group on the state of B2B marketing. See the full interview here or read it below: http://www.thesdggroup.com/#/blog/4555170456/Three-Ways-B2B-Marketing-is-Changing/982659 Enjoy, Ralph Three Ways B2B Marketing is Changing By Mike Colucci, Jan 30 2012 8:24AM B2B marketing has its own set of challenges. And no [...]
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Role of Corporate Marketing in B-to-B

By Ralph Oliva | Published: November 10, 2011
Been working together with Atlee Valentine Pope of Blue Canyon Partners on a paper investigating the question: “What is the role of the Corporate Marketing Function/CMO?” Been navigating waters with several CMOs lately, it seems as if that question is another one of the perennials: “Why is it that it’s so difficult to define the best [...]
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ISBM Members Meeting Updates

By Ralph Oliva | Published: October 25, 2011
We’re building some excitement and momentum for our upcoming ISBM Winter Meeting, March 6-7, 2012 in Dallas, TX. Although I’m still working on the title, we’ll basically be focusing on “Building B-to-B Marketing Connections to the “C Suite”: Driving Stronger More Effective Dialog with the CEO, CFO, CTO… It’s getting exciting! Had good discussions on this with Dr. [...]
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Reflections on ISBM Meeting

By Ralph Oliva | Published: October 7, 2011
This week has been somewhat of an “afterglow” of the September 2011 ISBM Members Meeting on “Reinventing Innovation.” Had a lot of thank you’s to send out, and generally the meeting left my head spinning. From Larry Keeley, who built on his “Ten types of innovation” framework to talk about the “plumbing” you need to implement [...]
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Innovation in Customer Facing Organizations

By Ralph Oliva | Published: September 22, 2011
Some great insights on innovation and customer management from George Brown that were published in IP Frontline. Click here for the full read. Best, Ralph
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China’s Next Generation Competitors

By Ralph Oliva | Published: September 14, 2011
Here is a great write up from friends of the ISBM, George F. Brown and David G. Hartman, who provide insight around what it is like to be a western firm operating in China, response to market trends there, and shed light on the 2nd mouse concept. ‘Where the early bird may get the [...]
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