David Bejou

Tourism destination marketing alliances

Abstract Tourism destination marketing involves many stakeholders and a complex product offer. Complexity and interdependency among stakeholders have resulted in the creation of many local tourism marketing alliances. The nature of their environments influences the domain over which they have authority. This paper uses a model describing the coverage, form, mode, and motivation of an alliance. A comparison of UK and USA alliances indicates that the domain of the latter are more constrained by the social, economic, and political environment in which they operate. Prescriptions for local tourism marketing alliances should not be made without understanding the needs of stakeholders and the constraints of their environments.

Using Neural Network Analysis to Evaluate Buyer‐Seller Relationships

Conceptual arguments favouring a relational rather than a transactional approach to the study of buyer‐seller relationships are now well understood. However, attempts to quantify the factors contributing towards relationship quality have been held back by the complexity of the underlying factors and their interrelatedness. Traditional regression techniques are not effective in analysing data with high levels of multi‐collinearity and missing information, typical in many studies of buyer behaviour. Makes use of a relatively new technique – neural network analysis – to try to quantify the factors contributing to buyer‐seller relationship quality. The technique uses a statistically‐based learning procedure modelled on the workings of the human brain which quantifies the relationship between input and output variables through an intermediate “hidden” variable level analogous to the brain. For this study, a neural network was developed with two outcome components of relationship quality (relationship satisfact...

Determinants of relationship quality: An artificial neural network analysis

Abstract Relationship marketing has emerged as a focal point by which a company can succeed in a competitive environment. Understanding the success of methods used to develop long-term relationships with consumers, thus, becomes critical in the process of gaining competitive advantage. This article reviews the relationship quality (an important component of relationship marketing) literature and examines the factors that previous research has shown to be important. The article then presents an analysis of a survey of financial services consumers using a relatively new technique called artificial neural network analysis (ANNA). The technique is used to investigate the potential determinants of relationship quality. Methodologically, ANNA is shown to have a better predictive power than more conventional analytic techniques such as multiple regression.

Service failure and loyalty: an exploratory empirical study of airline customers

There has been considerable analysis of buyer‐seller relationship development within the services sector. While a lot of attention has been given to the processes by which relationships are developed, the subject of relationship deterioration is less well researched. Examines the impacts of service failure on the quality of relationships between airlines and their customers who have suffered service failure. In particular, the effects on customers’ trust and commitment to the relationship are studied, the latter being assessed in terms of their willingness to recommend the airline they use to others. Reports on a study of airline customers in the south‐eastern USA which suggests that the impact of a given level of service failure is dependent on the duration to date of a customer’s relationship with the airline they use. However, a non‐linear correlation was found, suggesting that customers experience stages of being initially open‐minded about service failure, followed by lower tolerance of failure, which gradually gives way to a closer relationship which is more resistant to service failure

Trust, ethics and relationship satisfaction

The development of effective customer relationships is increasingly recognised as an important component of marketing strategies, particularly in the case of service industries. Developing and maintaining satisfactory customer relationships can help to reduce perceived risk, reduce transactions costs, increase customer loyalty and customer retention and thus impact on organisational performance. From the customer’s perspective, the determinants of relationship satisfaction are thought to include factors such as customer orientation, trust, length of relationship, expertise and ethics. Provides further evidence on the cognitive antecedents of relationship satisfaction based on evidence from the financial services sector.

Buyer‐seller relationships: A conceptual model and empirical investigation

Increasing emphasis is being placed by marketing managers on the need to build long‐term relationships between themselves and their customers. Analysis of long‐term buyer‐seller relationships has drawn heavily on the literature of social psychology, especially in making comparisons with family relationships. It has been proposed that buyer‐seller relationships go through some form of life‐cycle, paralleling cyclical relationships in other areas of human activity. However, models of the evolutionary development of buyer‐seller relationships have remained largely theoretical, with little empirical validation of the life cycle concept, or analysis of the changing composition of a relationship as it progresses through a life cycle. This paper provides cross‐sectional empirical evidence of the existence of a buyer‐seller relationship life cycle within the investment services sector. The elements that buyers perceive as being important in holding a relationship together are dependent on the duration to date of ...

The effects of gender on the development of relationships between clients and financial advisers

The advantage of relationship marketing strategies over discrete transactional activity is now widely recognized in banking and financial services markets. This has triggered research to identify the factors perceived by customers to be important in the development of ongoing relationships with front line staff. Sales personnel′s level of customer orientation, trust and ethical credibility has received much attention. Adds to previous research by analysing the role of gender in the development of buyer‐seller relationships. While there has been much research into gender differences in buyer behaviour on the one hand, and in sales effectiveness on the other, the combined effects of gender interaction have received little attention. Reports a survey of customers of financial advisers which compares dyads of gender‐defined buyer‐seller groups using constructs commonly found in both the relationship marketing and the social psychology literature. The results indicate that dyads do exhibit significant differen...

Customer Relationship Management in Electronic Markets

Abstract Customer relationship management, or CRM, has found increased attention in both the academic and managerial worlds of marketing in recent years. While the Internet has greatly enabled the application of CRM in fostering loyal customers, the preliminary results on the effectiveness and efficiency of technology-based CRM has been far from discouraging. The authors identify various contentious issues behind the various key concepts of relationship management and identify several areas that deserve closer academic scrutiny and managerial inspection. The paper also comments on the extent to which Internet technology can bring about closer relationships with a firms customers.

The Future of Relationship Marketing

* Preface * The Future of Relationship Marketing (Adrian Palmer and David Bejou) * Relationship Marketing: The Challenge of Dialogical Interaction (Richard J. Varey and David Ballantyne) * Trust, Satisfaction and Loyalty in Customer Relationship Management: An Application of Justice Theory (Lyle R. Wetsch) * Are Variety-Seekers Bad Customers? An Analysis of the Role of Recommendations in the Service Profit Chain (Herbert Woratschek and Chris Horbel) * The 4Ps of Relational Marketing, Perspectives, Perceptions and Paradigms: Learnings from Organizational Theory and the Strategy Literature (Jaqueline Pels and Michael Saren) * An Exploratory Analysis of CRM Implementation Models (Stephan C. Henneberg) * Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships Through Face to Face Negotiations (Tracy G. Harwood) * Index * Reference Notes Included

Internal relationship management : linking human resources to marketing performance

This paper focuses on the theme of internal relationship management and the linkages between human resource management and marketing performance. Interdisciplinary research in marketing has been gaining some momentum in recent years as many scholars have noted the intriguing and vitally important linkages between managerial practice and marketing performance. Still, this area of research remains understudied and underdeveloped in the marketing literature. This fact served as the motivation in doing this special volume. Given the realities of today’s competitive business environment, firms are forced to leverage all assets at their disposal in their attempt to differentiate product offerings, offer exceptional quality and value, and deliver on their promises of customer satisfaction. Today, more than ever, firms realize that their most important asset is their people, especially the employees that are responsible for delivering quality, value,