Part I: Introduction
1 Customer–supplier relationships
Costumer relations is an important part of running a successful business. The value of costumer
relations has changed considerably throughout time. Costumer relationship building and customer
retention are now considered as a crucial element of running businesses businesses.
1.1 History
In transaction marketing, potential new customers are pampered. Once they made their purchase,
customers may be confronted with poor quality and poor service. They may feel ignored, neglected
and left to their own devices.
A better attunement of emotions is an important condition for a long-term consumer relationship. If
a customer leaves happy, the chance of a repeat purchase is bigger.
Marketing: an exchange process between buyer and seller, which is the basis for the later
conceptualization of relationship marketing.
The ServQual (Service Quality) technique was developed to measure service quality. It is also known
as the gaps analysis from the Gaps model of service quality or gapbased testing for customer service.
Service Quality is used by companies to assess their relationship with customers.
1.2 Description of customer–supplier relationships
1
,General
Conditions of relationships:
- Interactions between at least two parties.
- Continuity
- Longer term
A distinction is made between primary and secondary relationships
Primary relationships: Simple long-term relationships based primarily on emotional ties and a sense
of mutual obligation to each other. (family, friends) In primary relationships, one person cannot be
automatically replaced by another.
Secondary relationship: momentary interpersonal relationships with a limited degree of interaction
and etiquette rules (customer and supplier). the different players can generally be replaced more
easily.
Customer-supplier relationships
Customer-supplier relationships may be secondary, or they may lie somewhere in the transition zone
between a secondary and a primary relationship. There are various classifications (Figure 1.1) to
further clarify the differences between the parties involved in the customer-supplier relationship.
This depends on:
- Whether a transaction has already been concluded: (from
prospect to customer);
- whether there is a long-term orientation (more than 1
transaction);
- to what extent the relationship is felt by both parties;
- The extent to which both parties take an active position in the
relationship;
The classifications also indicate whether the following points are
present or not:
- Cooperation or competition
- Equal or unequal distribution of power (the customer's fate depends on the expertise of the service
provider)
- A task orientation (supermarket) or socio-emotional orientation (baker you know)
- A formal or informal form of contact
Interactions and reciprocity
2
,Relationships are built on reciprocity. Giving, receiving, and giving again are the three norms that
apply in a primitive society. "Calculated reciprocity" is the term for this.
Anything can be exchanged in a relationship. Love, services, status, information, products, and
money are the six "resources" that can be distinguished. There are two dimensions by which these
"resources" can be specified:
1. The personal aspect of the resources: if the value of a resource depends on the person who
provides it, then there is a personal aspect involved.
2 The tangibility of the resource: goods are characterized as the most concrete type of resource -
they are tangible. Status and information consist of verbal or non-verbal behavior and have the least
tangibility.
In addition to resources, there is also a distinction between costs. The cost of resources varies.
The personal nature of resources and the tangibility of resources are balanced against each other in
Figure 1.2. The exchange relationship is characterized by the types of resources. Loose relationships
with little involvement will generally be characterized by the exchange of few personal resources,
whereas in close relationships, in addition to the resources found under the diagonal, more personal
objects are exchanged.
Interactions and emotions
Seven basic emotions can be described: surprise, fear, anger, sadness, dislike and happiness.
Emotions influence our physical and mental behavior. They influence the amount of attention we pay
to something, our drive for results, our openness to stimuli and our decision-making behavior.
Trust
3
, The level of trust in the relationship will be influenced by the resource exchange and the emotional
reaction it evokes. Trust is incredibly important since it forms more goodwill, according to a report by
the Department of Labor. The consumer's engagement is therefore increased.
Commitment
There are three types of commitment: personal, moral and structural. The decision to end a
relationship can be strongly influenced by the social environment or the norms and values that
dominate this environment. It is important to take into account the impact of the social context on
commitment.
CRM definitions
Loyalty is a strong desire to repurchase or recommend a favorite product or service in the future.
Despite the fact that situational factors and marketing activities have the ability to trigger switching
behavior, it might lead to repeat same-brand or same-brand-set purchases.
In addition to the previous way of classifying commitment, there is another system for this, namely:
-instrumental or calculative commitment (For example, an investment by which you show that you
intend to stay)
-attitudinal or affective commitment (The goals and values are shared)
-a temporal component (It shows the value for the future)
1.3 The dynamic in relationships
Companies must earn trust and commitment from their customers. Companies can then turn this
into a consultative relationship by asking for feedback from customers. The focus should be on the
exchange of products and services for money at the start of the partnership
According to Dwyer et al. there are 5 phases in a relationship:
- In the first phase, both parties become aware of each other.
- The parties explore or probe in the second phase. In this second phase, the ability to empathize
plays a considerably bigger role.
- The interaction mechanisms from the previous phase are continuing in the growth phase, the third
phase. However, people are increasingly taking more risks.
- The relationship achieves its highest level of commitment, mutual dependence, trust, and respect in
the fourth phase of commitment, also known as saturation.
-The final stage is one of decline. Directness and a focus on others might suggest that the
relationship's future is in danger.
Peelen (1989) used consumer markets to bring the theory-based approach of Dwyer and colleagues
into practice. A relationship life cycle was created to depict the pattern of changes in purchasing and
commitment in a relationship through time as a result of interactions.
In the relationship life-cycle (Figure 1.3), The transitions between the phases denote occasions in the
connection when behavior changes (develops). These crucial moments occur throughout the initial
purchase's shift from the first to the second phase. The growth phase, in turn, comes to an end when
the rate of rise in purchases shifts from progressive to regressive. Finally, the declining trend
4
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