Paper info

THE CHARACTER OF NON-PRIME BUSINESS FROM INTERNATIONAL B2B MARKETING

Maria Elo

The paper was published at the 27th IMP-conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2011.

ABSTRACT
The international trade has developed radically and has opened up many opportunities for all kind of
trading companies with all kinds of products and goods. Not only positive phenomena are observed,
also negative topics such as counterfeit and grey imports challenge many manufacturing companies.
This research paper explores and describes the role and importance of non-prime business in the
contemporary international B2B trade. Non-prime business means here trading with all those
products and goods that do not originate from intentional planned production and do not carry the
original prime brand image. This study provides a tentative taxonomy which describes the main
differences between prime and non-prime business. Theoretically both international marketing,
especially branding, and product life cycle theory are challenged with this phenomenon. The purpose
of the study is to analyse and present the characteristics and particularities of non-prime business
alternatives, such as remanufacturing, that are often neglected due to the invisible nature of this
business. Especially marketing strategies, product and distribution policy and instruments such as
branding and purchasing criteria are topics which are highly impacted by non-prime business. The
concepts of this paper are based and developed on primary and secondary empirical material.
KEYWORDS
Non-prime business, stock lots, remanufacturing, product life cycle theory, post-life cycle, branding,
B2B, purchasing, international marketing