Are You Ready for Relationship Marketing? It is a Business Challenge

Abstract

Relationship marketing has become an established approach to marketing. According to the Nordic School of marketing thought, RM cannot be understood within a conventional marketing framework. RM has to break traditional marketing borders and permeate large parts of the organization. It cannot be managed by a separate marketing department. Based on promise theory and a promise management approach to marketing, a relationship marketing grid which enables the analysis of a firm’s readiness for RM is developed. It is argued that for this RM readiness analysis it is enough to address two key questions, namely “Does the firm know its customers’ processes as well as its own processes?” and “Does the firm understand what its customers’ consider good quality as well as its own view of the quality of its offerings?”.