Special challenges and opportunities confront the marketer who intends to serve the needs of organizations rather than households. Business-to-business customers represent a lucrative and complex market worthy of separate analysis. A growing number of collegiate schools of business in the United States, Canada, and Europe have added industrial or business marketing to their curricula. In addition, a large and growing network of scholars in the United States and Europe is actively engaged in research to advance theory and practice in the business marketing fi eld. Both the breadth and quality of this research has increased markedly during the past decade.

营销人员面临着特殊的挑战和机遇，他们打算服务于组织而不是家庭的需求。企业对企业客户是一个利润丰厚且复杂的市场，值得单独分析。美国、加拿大和欧洲越来越多的商学院在课程中加入了工业或商业营销。此外，在美国和欧洲，一个庞大且不断增长的学者网络正在积极从事研究，以推进企业营销领域的理论和实践。在过去的十年里，这项研究的广度和质量都有了显著的提高。