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"The strategic management of customer relationships is a critical activity for all enterprises. The means of effectively managing relationships with customers are typically addressed under the headings of relationship marketing and customer relationship management (CRM), to name but two terms used to describe the management of customer relationships"--

Abstract

Given today's concerns about the impact of globalisation on the developing world, companies must demonstrate that they are operating responsibly, and work to become more accountable to stakeholders. At the same time there is continuing debate as to the proper role and responsibilities of companies in relation to that of governments when it comes to sustainable development. A cornerstone of British American Tobacco's corporate social responsibility strategy is the initiation of partnerships with non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) to address issues of mutual concern that impact on sustainable development. This paper describes in detail two such partnerships, one focused on preserving biodiversity, the other on trying to eliminate child labour in tobacco growing. it is argued that business‐NGO partnerships such as these can add an extra dimension to the contribution that companies can make themselves in terms of helping the communities and countries in which they operate meet their sustainable development needs.


Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Relationship marketing has taken off over the past 10 years with a burst of vigour. Were relationships staring marketers in the face and were we too preoccupied to see them? We begin with a short historical perspective on the origins of relationship marketing. A discussion on future directions and theory development based around the concept of value exchange follows. A `view from the edge' of chaos is then offered. We conclude that marketing as a discipline is forever changed.

The hypothesis was tested that broadly-defined managerial functions can be sub-divided on the basis of their members' internal and external task orientations, and that the resulting subfunctions are, respectively, predominantly "adaptive" or "innovative" in terms derived from Kirton's adaption-innovation theory. Data from samples of British (N = 115) and Australian (N = 123) mid-career managers undertaking MBA programs who completed the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) and provided employment histories displayed the expected patterns of task orientation and cognitive style. Implications for adaption-innovation theory and the management of organizational change are briefly discussed.

Enthusiastic customer endorsements can significantly influence buying decisions and drive sales. In service contexts, advocates are especially important because the specific and complex characteristics of services make personal recommendations very effective. Customer advocacy communications differ from other positive word of mouth (PWOM), though literature on advocacy is surprisingly sparse and inconsistent. Notably, advocacy is strong, passionate, explicit, and ongoing, with an explicit goal of positively influencing others' views. As its central theoretical contributions, this article defines advocacy; identifies advocacy as a distinctive form of PWOM; conceptualizes advocacy according to a hierarchy of behaviors, which increase in intensity and effort; and develops a robust, reliable advocacy scale. By investigating positive behavioral outcomes of different levels of advocacy, this study also reveals the importance of identifying strong advocates, rather than just those who give PWOM, as well as salient drivers of advocacy. Accordingly, this article establishes a platform for further investigations of the importance of advocates, as well as recommendations to help managers identify these potentially valuable advocates.

PurposeThis paper aims to develop a conceptual framework based on the identification and examination of the mechanisms (termed "viability mechanisms") under which market-shaping activities yield the emergence of a viable market: one able to adapt to the changing environment over time while remaining stable enough for actors to benefit from it.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses extant literature to build a conceptual framework identifying viability mechanisms for market shaping and a case illustration examining how a viable market for Finnish timber high-rise buildings was created. The case exemplifies how the identified viability mechanisms are practically manifested through proactive market shaping.FindingsThe proposed conceptual framework incorporates four viability mechanisms identified in the extant literature: presence of dissipative structures, consonance among system elements, resonance among system elements and reinforcing and balancing feedback loops. It illustrates how these mechanisms are manifested in a contemporary case setting resulting in a viable market.Practical implicationsFirst, firms and other market-shaping organizations should look for, or themselves foster, viability mechanisms within their market-shaping strategies. Second, as failure rates in innovation are extremely high, managers should seek to identify or influence viability mechanisms to avoid premature commercialization of innovations.Originality/valueThis study identifies how these viability mechanisms permit markets to emerge and survive over time. Further, it illuminates the workings of the non-linear relationship between actor-level market-shaping actions and system-level market changes. As such, it provides a "missing link" to the scholarly and managerial discourse on market-shaping strategies. Unlike much extant market-shaping literature, this study draws substantively on the systems literature.