[1][2] It has evolved into an "informal international group of scholars concerned with developing concepts and knowledge in the field of business-to-business marketing and purchasing",[3] and is also concerned with marketing and purchasing in a business-to-consumer context.
The IMP Group (2010) explained: The first IMP Group research project was developed on the basis of empirical observations which did not fit into the mainstream economic theories’ assumption about an atomistic market: Industrial marketing and purchasing appeared to take place within stable, long-term business relationships.
These scholars have investigated a wide variety of interactions between individual companies and organisations as well as the wider network that surrounds them.
[7]The initial research of the IMP Group, as Stephen Young acknowledged, added "significantly to the knowledge of how companies in industrial markets develop their international activities and what has contributed to the success of companies".
[8] Möller and Wilson (1995) mentioned that this "work of the IMP Group can be accessed through Hakansson (1982) and Ford (1990).