1. The Big Picture: Why the Going Gets Tougher!

This chapter deals with the big picture, in the context of which the enormous dynamics of change in B2B marketing must also be considered. The question is not whether Amazon will 1 day also sell, manufacture, and immediately ship industrial products using 3D technology, but when. After all, the necessity of rethinking in the field of B2B marketing is not an end in itself. The Netflix industry is moving in an ever-increasing direction. It is the increasingly transparent, virtual, and accelerating environment that will hit the B2B sector next. Companies and their decision-makers—and especially those who want to and will be successful in the long term—must face this change in order to survive in the long term. Because if they fail to leverage the enormous potential of modern B2B marketing, they will be left behind in terms of competition. But today’s competition only plays a minor role, because the true competitors of the future are the Amazons and Alibabas of this world. This chapter is intended to highlight the causes of this pressure for change and thereby create awareness that not only the entire training sector in the discipline of marketing but also the entire top management of industrial companies must rethink their approach.