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Describes how customers potentially influence the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of other customers in many service environments. Explains why service marketers and operations marketers should be aware of the impact of such customer‐to‐customer relations. Examines the issues of customer compatibility and customer behaviour, finding that the classification of compatible and incompatible behaviours is often situation‐specific. Explores how the way customers affect each other can be positively influenced.

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This national study of 554 adults investigated consumers' satisfaction with 32 behaviors in which other consumers may engage when in public business environments. Respondents were most pleased when other consumers demonstrated "gregarious" behaviors, but generally were displeased with "violent" or "grungy'' behaviors. Satisfaction ratings also were found to vary somewhat by situational context (i.e., restaurant versus bowling center) and respondent characteristics (i.e., demographics, religion, smoking behavior, and alcohol consump tion). Implications for consumers and businesses are discussed.Relationships between human beings are omnipresent, inescapable, and highly interdependent. As Johnson and Johnson observed, From the moment we are born to the moment we die, relationships are the core of our existence. We are conceived within relationships, are born into relationships, live our lives within relationships. . . . Our relationships with others form the context for all other aspects of our lives. (1989, 107)

Once-daily topical ocular administration of latanoprost solution (0.005%) reduced IOP in healthy dogs without inducing adverse effects but did not affect IOP in healthy cats. Latanoprost may be useful for treating glaucoma in dogs.

Offers a fresh outlook for managing the delicate interaction between the customer and the contact employee in the service environment. Emphasizes that the quality of the customer‐employee interfacehas a great effect on customers′ perceptions of the quality and value of the service, as well as on their satisfaction. Suggests a model of how companies can improve this interface by treating employees ascustomers and customers as employees, thus developing lower cost and higher quality services and also higher levels of satisfaction on the part of both customers and employees. Recommends various steps for management to take.

IntroductionBecause products/brands mean different things to different people, consumers form varying levels of loyalties or attachments to the products/brands[1] they acquire. Consumers' attachments may be quite different in nature and intensity from those of their neighbors. Understanding these attachments -how they differ, how they form, and how they can be influenced -clearly is in the interest of product and brand managers.This study investigates these consumer-product relationships from the product (rather than consumer) side of the dyad -although as with any sort of research of relational phenomena, neither half of the dyad can be fully understood out of its context with the other. Specifically, three key questions guided the research:(1) To what extent are some products more relationship-prone[2] than others?(2) What attributes differentiate relationship-prone products from those that do not seem to be relationship-prone?(3) If salient points of differentiation exist, what can product/brand managers and new product development teams do to create, build and maintain desirable consumer-product relationships? BackgroundAt least three streams of marketing inquiry converge to provide meaningful insights into the investigation of consumer-product relationships: relationship marketing, product meaning, and involvement. Relationship marketingRelationship marketing has been advanced as the new paradigm of marketing in the 1990s (Grönroos, 1994;Gummesson, 1994;Kotler, 1991)[3] suggesting that the focus of marketing efforts are (and should be) shifting from marketing mix manipulation for the purpose of immediate exchange transactions to those that focus on longer-term exchange relationships. Driven by intense competition, escalating marketing costs, and a shortage of new sales prospects, relationship marketing's emphasis is on customer satisfaction and repeat patronage (Kotler, 1991). Product/service quality initiatives, responsive and direct communication with customers, internal marketing, continuity or membership programs, customer-tocustomer compatibility, management, affective engineering campaigns, and more detailed customer profiling leading to increased customization, are but a few of the many strategies and tactics used to cement relationships with 6

A study of 205 US commercial service providers, representing 31 two‐digit SIC codes, identified companies’ customer relationship‐building objectives and practices. Of 42 possible relationship‐building objectives, the four rated as top priorities were: encouraging customers to think of the firm first when considering a purchase; providing better service; encouraging customers to speak favorably about the firm; and encouraging customers to trust the firm. Answers to open‐ended, exploratory questions revealed 18 categories of relationship‐building initiatives. The findings suggest that “customer relationship‐building” means different things to different people and that practices to build such relationships vary considerably. By inventorying the range of relationship‐building objectives, quantifying their priority levels, and identifying specific practices used to build customer relationships, a greater understanding of current practices was achieved. Thus, the findings promise to benefit researchers, practitioners and consumers in terms of knowledge development, prescriptions for success, and enhanced value and satisfaction, respectively.