Page 87 - MYM 2015

becomes more than a function as all of company’s activities are focused on the customer and the market in order to ful ll consumer’s needs and wants better than the competition. For example in the research and development process, the customer can be integrated into the design process in order to ensure that product decisions re ect real-customer needs.
In the framework of a holistic and integrative approach to marketing today’s marketers have to work closely with a variety of marketing partners when it comes
to creating customer lifetime value and building strong customer relationships. In addition to being
just excellent at customer relationship management, marketers must also be skilled at partner relationship management, which implies working closely with partners in other company departments and outside the organization to jointly bring greater value to customers (Kotler and Armstrong, 2009).
To conclude transactional marketing and relational marketing can indeed coexist and RM should not be considered simply as a replacement for TM strategies but as another – more integrative – perspective in marketing and the marketing management process.
It is instrumental in making companies focusing less on product pro tability as a one-dimensional driver but more on customer relationships, customer lifetime value and customer equity. Essentially, this is what
an integrative marketing management really implies, namely to direct each and every activity towards
the customer, making formerly product-focused companies fully customer-centric. The RM concept of lifetime value focuses the company on long-term health rather than on short-term earnings which
are often at the expense of future and sustainable performance.
Putting it all together, RM can help imbue companies to rethink marketing and develop a more inclusive approach directing all departments, functions and staff towards the customer. Although this requires organizational transformation and a change in mindset, it is an inevitable competitive way to serve customers and ensure a sustainable growth of companies in the 21st century.
References
1. Berry, L. L. (1983) Relationship Marketing, in Berry, L.L., Shostack, G.L., Upah, G.D. (Eds.) Emerging Perspectives on Service Marketing, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, pp. 25-28
2. Berry, L. L. (1995) Relationship Marketing of Services Growing Interest, Emerging Perspectives, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23 (Fall), pp. 236-45
3. Berry, L. L. (2000) Relationship Marketing of services: growing interest, emerging perspectives, in Shet, J. N. and Parvakiyar, A. (eds) Handbook of Relationship Marketing, Thousand Oaks, pp. 149-170
4. Brodie, R. J., Coviello, N. E., Brookes, R. W. and Little, V. (1997) Towards a paradigm shift in marketing: an examination of current marketing practices, Journal of Marketing Management, 13 (5), pp. 367-382
5. Brooksbank, R. (1996) The BASIC marketing planning process: a practical frame-work for the smaller business, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 14/4, pp. 16-23
6. Chartered Institute Of Marketing (2005) Marketing and the 7Ps, Cookham, Chartered Institute of Marketing
7. Chaston, I. (1998) Evolving “new marketing” philosophies by merging existing con-cepts: application of process within small high-technology rms, Journal of Marketing Management, 14, pp. 273-291
8. Doyle, P. (1995) Marketing in the new millennium, European Journal of Marketing, 29 (12), pp. 23-41
9. Drucker, P. F. (1993) Management Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, Harper and Row, New York
10. Egan, J. (2008) Relationship Marketing, Pearson Education, Harlow
11. Gordon, I. H. (1998) Relationship Marketing, Etobicoke, John Wiley & Sons
12. Grönroos, C. (1994) From marketing mix to relationship marketing: towards a par-adigm shift in marketing, Management Decisions, 32, pp. 4-20
13. Grönroos, C. (1995) Relationship marketing: the strategy continuum, Journal of Marketing Science, 23 (4), pp. 252-254
14. Gummesson, E. (1999) Total Relationship Marketing: Rethinking Marketing Management from 4Ps to 30Rs, Oxford, Butterworth Heinemann
15. Hollensen, S. and Opresnik. M. (2015) Marketing – A Relationship Perspective, 2nd ed., München, 2015
16. Kotler, P. (1997) Method for the millennium, Marketing Business, February, pp. 26-27
17. Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2009) Principles of Marketing, 13th ed., Pearson, New Jersey
18. Pels, J. (1999) Exchange relationships in consumer markets?, European Journal of Marketing, 33 (1/2), pp. 19-37
19. Rust, R. T., Moorman, C. and Bhalla, G. (2010) Rethinking Marketing, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2010, pp. 94-101
Author: Professor Marc Oliver Opresnik, Chief Research Of cer, Kotler Impact Inc
mind I87 your
marketing