Contemporary managers regularly face complex multifunctional problems. Unfortunately, researchers are not always there to help them. The research conducted within the B2B field is often of a high quality and magnitude, but does not always seem to reach managers to a great extent. There are also signs that the gap between managers and researchers could be especially significant when it comes to industrial marketing (Brennan & Turnbull, 2000, 2002, Ankers & Brennan, 2002). We believe that this development could jeopardize the long-term health of the B2B marketing field and that further elaboration is called for; hence, this ebook. We are not alone—82 percent of B2B marketing researchers believe it is "important" or "very important" for research to be of potential value to managers (Brennan and Turnbull, 2000).

Despite the fact that almost all published articles have a section on how results could be of use for managers, these managerial implications are somehow out of reach for most managers. This ebook is dedicated to exploring and enhancing the understanding of the gap between managers and researchers—why it is there, what it consists of—and presenting various perspectives on how it can be bridged, or at least narrowed.