Charles L. Martin

Compatibility Management: Customer‐to‐Customer Relationships in Service Environments

Describes how customers potentially influence the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of other customers in many service environments. Explains why service marketers and operations marketers should be aware of the impact of such customer‐to‐customer relations. Examines the issues of customer compatibility and customer behaviour, finding that the classification of compatible and incompatible behaviours is often situation‐specific. Explores how the way customers affect each other can be positively influenced.

Trading Places: Employees as Customers, Customers as Employees

Offers a fresh outlook for managing the delicate interaction between the customer and the contact employee in the service environment. Emphasizes that the quality of the customer‐employee interfacehas a great effect on customers′ perceptions of the quality and value of the service, as well as on their satisfaction. Suggests a model of how companies can improve this interface by treating employees ascustomers and customers as employees, thus developing lower cost and higher quality services and also higher levels of satisfaction on the part of both customers and employees. Recommends various steps for management to take.

Relationship marketing: a high‐involvement product attribute approach

This study investigates consumers’ affective attachments toward products, based on generalizable and managerially relevant product attributes. Two surveys of 123 consumers found that high‐involvement, high‐meaning products tend to share ten common attributes. The managerial implications of each attribute are discussed, including specific ways that brand managers and new product development teams can engineer relationships between brands and customers.

Building customer relationships: an inventory of service providers’ objectives and practices

A study of 205 US commercial service providers, representing 31 two‐digit SIC codes, identified companies’ customer relationship‐building objectives and practices. Of 42 possible relationship‐building objectives, the four rated as top priorities were: encouraging customers to think of the firm first when considering a purchase; providing better service; encouraging customers to speak favorably about the firm; and encouraging customers to trust the firm. Answers to open‐ended, exploratory questions revealed 18 categories of relationship‐building initiatives. The findings suggest that “customer relationship‐building” means different things to different people and that practices to build such relationships vary considerably. By inventorying the range of relationship‐building objectives, quantifying their priority levels, and identifying specific practices used to build customer relationships, a greater understanding of current practices was achieved. Thus, the findings promise to benefit researchers, practit...

Internationalization of services: identifying the building‐blocks for future research

Purpose – Internationalization of services is emerging as an important area of research as more and more service firms are going abroad in greater numbers than ever before. This special issue is an attempt to encourage and guide research in the area of internationalization of services, and this article aims to introduce the issue.Design/methodology/approach – A framework is presented as a guiding template for future research in marketing of services internationally.Findings – This article illustrates that the special issue offers intellectual contributions and calls for more theory building and testing the theory suitable to internationalization of services.Originality/value – The article presents a framework and discusses the papers within this framework.

Compatibility Management: Roles in Service Performers

Describes how customer satisfaction can be influenced by direct or indirect interaction with other customers in a service facility′s physical environment. Explores how the way customers affect each other can be positively influenced. Describes exploratory research which identified ten roles a service provider can play: Environmental Engineer, Teacher, Rifleman, Cheerleader, Police Officer, Detective, Santa Claus, Matchmaker, Legislator.

Riding the Wave: Response Rates and the Effects of Time Intervals between Successive Mail Survey Follow-up Efforts

Abstract We investigate a mail survey research issue that has received little attention in the literature: the timing of follow-up efforts. Our data indicate that there is no relationship between the number of elapsed days between waves and response rate; these findings are based on follow-up mailings sent to each of 20 different treatment groups, testing follow-up intervals ranging from three to 60 days. The implications of these findings are quite meaningful. When timeliness of mail survey responses is an important consideration, or when history and maturation biases are legitimate concerns, survey researchers should follow up sooner rather than later. A quick follow-up strategy will not jeopardize response rates.

The export of e‐services in the age of technology transformation: challenges and implications for international service providers

Advancements in information and communication technologies have created unprecedented opportunities to services providers in both developing and developed countries. The service sector represents one of the fastest growing areas of exports in the global trade. The Internet and e‐commerce make it possible to sell a variety of services, ranging from airline tickets to financial services, from anywhere in the world, around the clock. International delivery of services through electronic means is creating value in the supply chain by the reduction of many of the barriers to entry. This paper focuses on the determinants influencing the diffusion and export of e‐services across borders. The paper also presents strategic challenges, followed by implications for service providers.

Building customer relationships: An inventory of service providers' objectives and practices.

A study of 205 US commercial service providers, representing 31 two‐digit SIC codes, identified companies’ customer relationship‐building objectives and practices. Of 42 possible relationship‐building objectives, the four rated as top priorities were: encouraging customers to think of the firm first when considering a purchase; providing better service; encouraging customers to speak favorably about the firm; and encouraging customers to trust the firm. Answers to open‐ended, exploratory questions revealed 18 categories of relationship‐building initiatives. The findings suggest that “customer relationship‐building” means different things to different people and that practices to build such relationships vary considerably. By inventorying the range of relationship‐building objectives, quantifying their priority levels, and identifying specific practices used to build customer relationships, a greater understanding of current practices was achieved. Thus, the findings promise to benefit researchers, practit...

Beanie Babies: a case study in the engineering of a high‐involvement/relationship‐prone brand

Provides an example of a firm’s use of distinguishing product attributes to engineer and nurture strong consumer‐brand relationships. Ty Inc., manufacturer of the popular Beanie Babies brand, has effectively engineered the brand to incorporate attributes of nostalgic value, personification, uniqueness, facilitation, engagement, aesthetic appeal, quality/excellence, association, social visibility and image congruence, and price risk. By incorporating these attributes and actively nurturing consumer‐brand relationships, Ty has benefited from greater customer satisfaction, which has led to higher purchase volumes, brand loyalty, and positive word‐of‐mouth communications. The straightforward methodology used to examine customer perceptions of Beanie Babies involved asking respondents to rate Beanie Babies on the ten characteristics associated with high‐involvement, relationship‐prone products. The same measurement approach could be easily replicated by managers of other firms to evaluate the relational potency of their own brands.