Relationship Marketing Evolution
Relationship Marketing –Undergraduate Module
Question:
Some scholars regard Relationship Marketing as old wine in a new bottle, while others proponents regard it as a different approach representing a paradigm shift. Discuss.
Answer:
Introduction
Relationship Marketing (RM) attempts to involve and integrate customers, suppliers and other infrastructural partners into a firm 's developmental and marketing activities (McKenna 1991; Shani and Chalasani 1991). Such involvement results in close interactive relationships with suppliers, customers or other value chain partners of the firm. Interactive relationships between marketing actors are inherent as compared to the arm 's length relationships implied under the transactional orientation (Parvatiyar, Sheth and Whittington 1992).According to these and other authorities, this makes RM diverge from common transactional marketing which seems to put focus on transactions rather than relationships.
However, the fact that RM still has almost everything to do with customary marketing has made some authors believe that it is old wine in new bottle. Sheth, Gardener and Garrett (1988) believe that marketing as a discipline got organized around the institutional school of thought, and its main concerns centered on the functions performed by wholesalers and retailers as marketing institutions. This is the same with RM and as such they do not see much of a paradigm shift.
This paper seeks to examine these varying ideas from numerous biographers. Evolution of RM
Already in 1980, B. Schneider wrote: “What is surprising is that researchers and businessmen have concentrated far more on how to attract customers to products and services than on retaining customers”. In 1983 Levitt wrote: “In a great and increasing proportion of transactions, the relationship actually intensifies subsequent to the sale. This becomes a central factor in the buyer 's choice of the seller the next time.”
Before this, some signs of RM had
Question:
Some scholars regard Relationship Marketing as old wine in a new bottle, while others proponents regard it as a different approach representing a paradigm shift. Discuss.
Answer:
Introduction
Relationship Marketing (RM) attempts to involve and integrate customers, suppliers and other infrastructural partners into a firm 's developmental and marketing activities (McKenna 1991; Shani and Chalasani 1991). Such involvement results in close interactive relationships with suppliers, customers or other value chain partners of the firm. Interactive relationships between marketing actors are inherent as compared to the arm 's length relationships implied under the transactional orientation (Parvatiyar, Sheth and Whittington 1992).According to these and other authorities, this makes RM diverge from common transactional marketing which seems to put focus on transactions rather than relationships.
However, the fact that RM still has almost everything to do with customary marketing has made some authors believe that it is old wine in new bottle. Sheth, Gardener and Garrett (1988) believe that marketing as a discipline got organized around the institutional school of thought, and its main concerns centered on the functions performed by wholesalers and retailers as marketing institutions. This is the same with RM and as such they do not see much of a paradigm shift.
This paper seeks to examine these varying ideas from numerous biographers. Evolution of RM
Already in 1980, B. Schneider wrote: “What is surprising is that researchers and businessmen have concentrated far more on how to attract customers to products and services than on retaining customers”. In 1983 Levitt wrote: “In a great and increasing proportion of transactions, the relationship actually intensifies subsequent to the sale. This becomes a central factor in the buyer 's choice of the seller the next time.”
Before this, some signs of RM had
References: 2. Bagozzi, R. P. (1979) Toward a Formal Theory of Marketing Exchanges, in Ferrell, O.C., 3 4. Berry, L. L. (1983) Relationship Marketing, in Berry, L.L., Shostack, G.L., Upah, G.D. 5. Grönroos, C. (1990) Relationship Approach to Marketing In Service Contexts: The Marketing and Organizational Behavior Interface, Journal of Business Research, Vol 6. Kotler, P. (1972), A Generic Concept of Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 36 April, pp