Role of References in Business Marketing–Towards a Normative Theory of Referencing

ABSTRACT Utilization of references is a common marketing practice in business marketing. The globalization of the economy is enhancing the relevance of referencing behavior further, as many SME firms try to overcome the liability of anonymity in new overseas markets. However, there is very little reported academic research on references, their creation, use, effectiveness, or even what kind of activities and customer relationships can be considered to be references. We address this gap by developing a conceptual framework identifying the key modes of using references in business marketing and the factors influencing the need and relevance of referencing. The study starts with a description of the use of references in public procurement processes, followed by a discussion of reference practices identified in marketing textbooks, and an extensive review of the treatment of references in scientific marketing literature. Based on this material, a conceptual framework model of referencing is proposed defining the tasks assigned to references and the kind of contexts where they are primarily employed. The study concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications, and a suggestion for a future research for referencing in global economy.