For many B2B enterprises, achieving and sustaining profitable growth has never been more difficult. Customers have invested heavily in procurement organizations to extract aggressive price concessions from sellers. Global competitors are emerging with new business models, lower costs, and higher quality to undermine the value proposition of incumbents. Products are perceived to be increasingly commoditized, leading customers to demand lower prices for undifferentiated offers.
Worse, after being relentlessly beaten down on price by customers, many suppliers have themselves begun to believe that they are offering only commodities. Even suppliers that are clearly differentiated may come to accept their commoditization. So the problem is not only a commercial reality with customers but also a mindset among sellers, and in B2B it has become the new normal.
