Normal vs spectacular science: The IMP Group and BtoB marketing

This paper endeavours to track the underlying scientific process driving research activities and output. It takes research in the business-to-business field as the empirical setting and puts the works of the IMP Group into focus, using bibliometric analyses and historical vistas as background evidence. We argue that what may appear at first sight as a limited development should rather, in fact, be interpreted as “normal science,” i.e. based on the robustness of the core models and conceptual framework, with fine adjustments of these taking place over time. Indeed, the BtoB realm—and in particular the activities and production of the IMP Group and associated researchers—would seem to contrast rather radically with the broader area of marketing in that it benefits from a resistant conceptual framework which seems to have weathered the test of time, and which can be used as a building block for research development and is less sensitive to managerial trends and fashion.

本文致力于追踪推动研究活动和产出的潜在科学过程。它以企业对企业领域的研究为实证背景，以国际营销与采购集团（IMP Group）的研究成果为重点，同时将文献计量分析和历史视角作为背景证据。我们认为，乍一看可能是有限的发展，实际上应被解释为“常规科学”，即基于核心模型和概念框架的稳健性，并且随着时间的推移对其进行微调。事实上，企业对企业领域——尤其是国际营销与采购集团及其相关研究人员的活动和研究成果——似乎与更广泛的营销领域形成了相当鲜明的对比，因为它受益于一个稳固的概念框架，这个框架似乎经受住了时间的考验，可以用作研究发展的基石，并且对管理趋势和时尚不太敏感。