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This paper centers round outsourcing. The purpose of this paper is to direct attention to outsourcing in the public sector and focus on what could be special when considering outsourcing in such contexts. The authors try to portray the business activities in private and in public sector settings and identify some similarities and – more importantly – some significant differences.

The authors use two analytical tools, a classification system of various interfaces between a selling and buying firm and a two-fold scheme for strategic analyses of outsourcing or not as well as in what ways to outsource. These tools have been developed in studies of private sector outsourcing but are applicable, as tools, also in public sector contexts. Two empirical cases from public sector outsourcing are used to illustrate options and obstacles for outsourcing ventures in the public sector.

The analytical discussion aims at pointing out when and how outsourcing should be a straightforward choice in the public sector. The authors also point at situations when it is a much more complicated process and thus restricted.

This study gives strong support for the need to identify which theoretical model has been used by the involved organizations in their evaluation of the situation.

In this chapter, we try to put ourselves in the buyer’s situation. It is a strong ongoing change force among contemporary organizations. Purchasing organizations are getting more capable, better equipped with tools, methods, higher skilled people, and improved organizational designs. This means that the business landscape for sales has changed significantly.

In this chapter, we describe this development and what it means for the ways in which purchasing organizations manage their business and also what are the implications for sales organizations. Our message is that these developments are important to be aware of for people in sales as well as for the entire sales organization and sales managers.

This chapter is a response to observations from previous chapters where we have learnt that the context surrounding B2B sales seem to deviate quite a lot from a traditional market view based on neoclassic theory. In the first part of this chapter, we contrast the two different views of markets and with that as our reference point, we discuss some general implications for marketing, sales, and purchasing.

The chapter looks deeper into a “markets-as-networks” perspective and argues that such lenses applied on marketing and sales activities in business markets will have implications on ways to organize marketing and sales. Actors, activities, and resources are embedded into structures (activity, actor, and resource structures), and it is important to have a reasonable sense of what and how these structures look in order to make the best priorities for the short- and long-term success of the business.

The chapter addresses how the market system surrounding the supplier–customer interchange contributes to setting the scene for operating exchange processes. Five general network themes and challenges for sales and marketing have been identified and explored. Against these, the chapter puts organizational issues in focus. Two aspects are in focus of this concluding discussion: first, organizational variety and ongoing processes of organizational adaptation, and second, coordination and communication.

B2B business is very much about relationships, and solution-oriented business may further underline this. But relations could look very different and the interface between buyer and seller could also vary a lot and be more or less fit for purpose.

In this chapter, we point at possibilities to be more methodical about the ways in which the interfaces are organized. In longer-term business, this seems to be a core factor in order for the two or more parties involved how to get the best value of their relation. We discuss interaction patterns and what seem to be the most important factors influencing the success or failure.

The purpose of this chapter is to set the stage for the rest of the book. It is based on a number of interesting observations illustrating contemporary activities in regard to a broad range of sales-related topics. Among other observations are a number of developments that have followed with digitalization.

The chapter presents the core themes of the book and provides rationales for the choices. The themes are: value-based offerings, solution-oriented business, and on-going efforts of organizing to manage the multitude of issues connected to sales and marketing.

A second issue is the presentation of a framework against which to position important core issues in sales management. This includes aspects of organizational design, leadership, technology support, and more. All these are organized into four main categories. This “map” is utilized to position the coming parts and chapters.

In the final chapter of the book the authors discuss potential continued developments of some of the topics addressed in the previous texts of the book. The final overview of the book starts with a set of some more practical, empirical issues that deserve attention.

The choice of practical issues in marketing organization are collected from the authors of the various chapters, in contacts with marketing practitioners, and from various secondary sources. The issues deal with, for example, the new business landscape with well-informed and capable procurement organizations and aspects of organizing marketing in order to deal with customers in the public sector. Furthermore, the practical issues discussed deal with the organizing of marketing as part of the organizing of markets.

The aim of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the complexities of marketing organization especially in bigger firms. This chapter draws attention to one of these major drivers for change — globalization. This is done with the help of an in-depth case study of ABB Robotics.

The case describes how a change is achieved through a major marketing reorganization process. Initially, there are major difficulties grasping the organizational problem and identifying its causes. Many different organizational “issues” are part of the problem in the multifaceted case. Relying on complexity theory, the case suggests that a more complex environment with greater number of relevant players, which are — themselves — interconnected through networks, will also exhibit a greater range of change. Change and reorganization processes like the one confronting the case company would rather be the normal situation for companies embedded in complex global networks.

The topics of this chapter are quite fundamental for the book. The chapter deals with value in B2B; what is value, what creates value, how could value be identified, estimated, and exploited. For these reasons, the chapter presents a value calculation model and carries out a critical discussion of the meaningfulness of doing such calculations.

A second theme is a discussion about solution sales relative to product sales and also systems selling. We also provide a comparison between business ventures focusing on selling goods, a goods-dominant logic, relative to services, a service-dominant logic. This comparison is made with reference to the two underlying themes of the book, the solution-oriented business and the continuously ongoing organizing activities.