Business-to-business markets are evolving and transforming worldwide due to global economic and market changes (e.g., Beverland, Napoli and Yakimova, 2007; Hur, Kim, Kim, 2013). Competitive pressure has increased and firms face challenges from domestic and international firms alike (Cretu and Brodie, 2007; Melewar and Nguyen, 2015). Technological advancements, high capacity information exchange and new supply chain management models all fuel the changing competitive landscape (e.g., Davis, Golicic and Marquardt, 2008). In addition, the differentiation of business-to-business products is fading as firms return to compete merely on pricing (Hinterhuber, 2004) and personal relationships (Han and Sung, 2008), consequently, eroding profits (Keh and Xie, 2008). The various cost reduction measurements adopted by firms, such as low cost production and technology, exacerbate the problem and create generic markets with little differentiation (e.g., Kotler and Pfoertsch, 2007; Wang, Hsu, and Fang, 2009).
