Ebook: Relationship Marketing: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Customer Satisfaction and Customer Retention

The concept of marketing and managing relationships with customers and other interest groups is at the core of marketing today. In the academic world, the topic is covered in special issues released by numerous journals (e. g. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Psychology & Marketing), and conferences and conference sessions regularly discuss the advantages of the approach. But relationship marketing is not limited to theory. On the contrary, no service firm or business-to-business company can now do without some form of long-term orientation, and all have implemented at least some elements of the relationship market­ ing concept. Even in the consumer goods sector, there are a growing number of cases where the traditional orientation towards brand equity is being complemented by a relational focus. As Berry has mentioned, relationship marketing is a "new­ old" concept. Several important aspects of relationship marketing were already being discussed in the marketing literature. This applies both to central constructs (such as customer satisfaction) and to single elements (such as the management of complaints and after-sales services). Although they do not involve explicit mention of the term relationship VI Preface marketing, a long-term orientation can be found in the network approach of industrial marketing (closely related to the work of the IMP Group), in the work of Gronroos, Gummesson and their colleagues at the Nordic School of Services Marketing and, last but not least, in the concept of customer-focused marketing.

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The focus of marketing is shifting away from transactional marketing and toward relationship marketing. Companies are beginning to recognize the economic value of stable, long-term customer relationships based on a high degree of customer satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty. The book provides a comprehensive overview of both fundamentals and important recent developments in this fast-growing field. It also presents examples of successful relationship marketing in practice.
"This book makes a landmark contribution in assembling some of the best contemporary thinking about relationship marketing illustrated with concrete descriptions of companies in the automobile industry, consumer electronics, public utilities and so on, which are implementing relationship marketing. I highly recommend this to all companies who want to see what their future success will require."
Prof. Philip Kotler, Northwestern University, Illinois

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The focus of marketing is shifting away from transactional marketing and toward relationship marketing. Companies are beginning to recognize the economic value of stable, long-term customer relationships based on a high degree of customer satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty. The book provides a comprehensive overview of both fundamentals and important recent developments in this fast-growing field. It also presents examples of successful relationship marketing in practice.
"This book makes a landmark contribution in assembling some of the best contemporary thinking about relationship marketing illustrated with concrete descriptions of companies in the automobile industry, consumer electronics, public utilities and so on, which are implementing relationship marketing. I highly recommend this to all companies who want to see what their future success will require."
Prof. Philip Kotler, Northwestern University, Illinois
Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XVII
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Relationship Marketing — Some Reflections on the State-of-the-Art of the Relational Concept....Pages 3-27
Customer Loyalty: Fata Morgana or Realistic Goal? Managing Relationships with Customers....Pages 29-48
Front Matter....Pages 49-58
Patronage and Loyalty Strategies: Understanding the Behavioral and Attitudinal Outcomes of Customer Retention Programs....Pages 59-67
Closeness in Customer Relationships: Examining the Payback from Getting Closer to the Customer....Pages 69-69
Relationship Marketing Success Through Investments in Services....Pages 71-87
Relationship Marketing Success Through Investments in Customers....Pages 89-105
Relationship Marketing Success Through Investments in Products — The Case of BSH....Pages 107-125
Front Matter....Pages 127-146
The Importance of Internal Relationship Marketing for External Relationship Success....Pages 147-157
Internal Marketing and its Consequences for Complaint Handling Effectiveness....Pages 159-159
Gaining Customer Satisfaction Through the Empowerment of Service Personnel in Retailing Organizations....Pages 161-192
Front Matter....Pages 193-216
Using New Media for Customer Interaction: A Challenge for Relationship Marketing....Pages 217-230
Enterprise Customer Management: Integrating Corporate and Customer Information....Pages 231-231
Front Matter....Pages 233-253
Cultural Influences on Relationship Marketing....Pages 255-268
Internationalization of Encounter-Based Relationship Strategies....Pages 269-269
Front Matter....Pages 271-278
Services Relationship Marketing: A Sector Case Study....Pages 279-295
Customer Relationship Marketing in the Airline Industry....Pages 297-297
The Close Connection Between Relationship Marketing and Marketing Research: The Globus Experience....Pages 299-316
Front Matter....Pages 317-331
Relationship Marketing from a Consumer Policy Perspective....Pages 333-349
Front Matter....Pages 351-351
Why Customers Build Relationships with Companies — and Why Not....Pages 353-367
The Three Rs of Relationship Marketing: Retroactive, Retrospective, Retrogressive....Pages 351-351
Lost in Relationship-Marketing Space: The Limitations of Relationship Marketing from the Perspective of the Consumer....Pages 369-391
Back Matter....Pages 393-413
....Pages 415-435