Preventing escalation of commitment to dysfunctional marketing relationships: The unique case of customers

Summary form only given. In this study, the authors propose the use of a de-escalation strategy to manage declining/dysfunctional marketing relationship. A de-escalation strategy is defined as any process that limits the growth of a relationship. It may take several forms, depending upon the severity of the relationship dysfunctionality. One end is the simple stagnation of interactions at the current (or a lower) level of activity, either indefinitely or until the errant situation is remedied. At the other end lies the most the most extreme example of de-escalation-a complete termination of the marketing relationship. While investigating this phenomenon, the authors discovered that de-escalation strategy varied with the type of partnership form. Preliminary qualitative interviews suggest that vendors, suppliers and alliance partners are allowed few transgressions before a relationship is terminated. Customers, on the other hand, are given a wider berth, and firms will only terminate their customer relationships if breaches of trust and commitment become patterned, or the violation is so severe that the relationship can never be repaired.