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The purpose of this paper is to critically explore business‐to‐business critical success factors (B2B CSFs) for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the Chinese B2B marketplace, evaluate the findings, and use the generated CSFs to propose a framework to assist in the marketing management of B2B in China. The proposed framework provides a guideline for academics and practitioners and highlights the significant role of each factor in developing and sustaining effective B2B electronic commerce (B2B e‐commerce) practice for SMEs.

The proposed framework is constructed by combining the empirical findings and B2B literature. The quantitative (online survey) was targeted at, proprietors, chief executive officers, managing directors, general managers, sales/marketing managers and export managers in selected SMEs that participated in B2B electronic marketplace (B2B e‐marketplace) in China. The data received from the recipients were processed on SPSS to conduct factor analysis to identify whether a factor structure underlies the correlations between a number of variables.

The findings are indicative of two sets of internal and external critical factors, including: successful customer relationships, supply chain facilities, global competition, information system/information technology (IS/IT) infrastructure and performances, information visibility, top management support and commitment, government encouragement and commitment, security and trust, and cultural consideration.

SME managers can derive a better understanding and measurement of marketing activities that appropriately balance between traditional and B2B e‐commerce practice. At the same time, the CSF can be integrated into the companies to determine the level of marketing performance in B2B e‐marketplace.

The paper's findings provide new theoretical grounds for research into B2B relationships in the digital business environment. The paper also provides an empirical assessment of the essential components in B2B e‐commerce adaptation, and implications for the means to prioritize CSF.

Blogs (a term that is short for weblogs) are one mean of getting public opinions about important topics. Several techniques could be used to reveal important views and directions from the analysis of blogs posted on the internet. The paper investigates issues concerning blogs.

The paper applies a methodology to investigate blogs on domains of software design patterns and integration solutions within information technology community.

The methodology developed and implemented is an end‐to‐end approach to the collection, cleansing and analysis of bloggers posts.

While the paper addresses a specific sector of bloggers, the methodology and templates used could be implemented and further improved for use with any other bloggers segment.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a clear understanding of the performance of business‐to‐business (B2B) e‐marketplace in conducting e‐marketing in the global business environment. The proposed framework is intended to be used as a guide for B2B firms especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who wish to adopt a proactive approach in the use of information and communication technology for business efficiency and competitive advantage, and those who wish to explore the internet technologies for marketing activities.

Literature from the B2B e‐marketplaces and operations of e‐marketing fields were analysed, and the findings were synthesised to develop a preliminary conceptual model of e‐marketing. The conceptual model was tested empirically through an online survey from various industries in China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

With significant online and offline publications from both academia and industry, there is a growing awareness of the contribution of the e‐marketing in the global environment. This new marketing paradigm is reported to reshape the business relationships between both consumer marketers and consumers, improving business processes and enhancing the business exposure in the new markets.

The major limitation of this paper is associated with the sample selection. Although the literature findings were international, the empirical study was restricted to China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Therefore, the generalizability of the results may not be applicable for other countries. Furthermore, the majority of the respondents participated were SMEs. Hence, the applicability of findings to large‐scale organisations may be limited.

The framework allows B2B firms to capitalise and understand the e‐marketing opportunities provided by B2B e‐marketplace. The framework also offers guidance to marketing managers a most appropriate approach to adopt B2B e‐marketplace to perform their e‐marketing activities.

Based on the need for a framework for e‐marketing, this study is significance to: SMEs, marketers, information technology practitioners, and all other stakeholders that adopted the internet and other electronic means for marketing purposes.

This study aims to analyze the available literature on the use of digital marketing in a business-to-business (B2B) context. It identifies gaps in the current research knowledge and proposes a research agenda for scholars and practitioners.

A systematic literature review has been conducted on B2B digital marketing. The various themes have been identified on the basis of the comprehensive analysis of extant literature. Also, semi-structured interviews with B2B marketing experts were also conducted to further refine the emerged digital marketing themes.

Although some B2B firms use digital marketing, most are unable to leverage its full benefits because of the dearth of comprehensive research on the subject. This review provides an insight into the emerging themes by developing a collaborative conceptual framework. The review highlights that few areas such as digital marketing communication and sales management have witnessed steady development while decision support systems, critical success factors, electronic marketing orientation (EMO), etc., were lesser explored. Furthermore, it identifies research gaps and highlights the emerging research themes for future researchers.

The collaborative framework will help organizations to align their digital marketing activities as per the changing market dynamics such as the focus on building social media capability, EMO and value co-creation.

Research on the use of digital marketing by B2B firms is still at the embryonic stage. This study is a pioneering effort to review the use of digital marketing in B2B organizations and identify research priorities for scholars and practitioners.