Abstract:
For almost half a century, academics have laboured over the refinement of
managerial models of marketing derived, originally, from studies of consumer
goods marketing in North America. These models were firmly rooted in the
microeconomic market model and ideas of monopolistic competition. Yet
critics have long argued that these managerial models and the assumptions on
which they were based were inappropriate for international, business-to business
or services marketing situations.
From the mid-1980s onwards, alternative approaches to marketing theory
began to emerge, in response to a widening gap between classical marketing
theory and marketing practice. These alternatives were loosely grouped
together under the umbrella of 'relationship marketing'. As interest in
relationship marketing increased, so did demands for the development of new
frameworks that conceptualised its scope and properties.
Given the apparent absence of such frameworks, this research set out to
contribute to knowledge through the development of a broad-based empirically
grounded framework of relationship marketing. Three case studies were
undertaken in pursuit of this objective. In each instance the focal firms studied
were UK-based manufacturers of branded consumer goods, who marketed
their products around the globe. Although all were manufacturers of consumer
products, in each instance there were vital business-to-business marketing and
service issues involved.
In constructing an empirically grounded framework of relationship marketing,
at the level of the organisation set, this research bridges a well-documented
gap in the literature. It links the large body of managerially focused work on
relationship marketing to that by academics pursuing the study of markets-as net works.
However, the alleged difficulties associated with the execution of
methodologically sound case-based research are also well documented.
Consequently, this research sought to contribute to the development of case based
research methods by introducing the use of experienced practitioners as
independent 'expert validators' to verify critical stages of the case analysis.
