Business marketing (B2B) is the practice of organizations selling products or services to other businesses, governments, or institutions, either for resale, use in production, or to support their operations. Historically, this field took "a back seat" to consumer marketing, as noted by Michael Morris, Leyland Pitt, and Earl Dwight Honeycutt, despite existing since the mid-19th century according to David Lichtenthal.
However, academic interest in business marketing significantly grew from the mid-1970s, leading to dedicated journals and making it a prominent subject taught in universities, with over half of marketing majors, as Jeremy Kourdi states, beginning careers in B2B. A key characteristic is "derived demand," meaning the need for business products stems directly from consumer market demand, illustrating its foundational role in the economy. Ultimately, the success of B2B transactions hinges on a business's external efficiency—its ability to effectively market itself to leverage the market and maximize profits from its internal, cost-efficient operations.