Business markets are facing a major shift towards
service logic where the key focus of business exchange centers on supporting
customer value creation. While marketing literature has addressed this shift
extensively from selling firms’ perspective, empirical research on the topic
from buying firms’ perspective remains scant. Against this background, this
study provides an empirically grounded conceptualization of value-driven buying
in business markets. Specifically, by building on 47 in-depth interviews from 15
theoretically sampled customer organizations in business markets, this study
explores the key constituents and contingencies of value-driven buying, explaining
when it is an effective approach from buying organizations' perspective. The created
novel insights in this area offer important implications for contemporary business
marketing theory as well as guidance for supplier and customer firms wanting to
move towards value-driven business exchange.