The supply chain concept aided marketing by highlighting relationships that form a network of firms creating products for consumers. It helped change the focus from individual transactions to a more comprehensive view of the entire system. The value chain concept in marketing extends the supply chain view in an important way: it explicates the value that is created at each stage of the chain. For marketers, it is a vital tool in satisfying consumers -the final part of the value chain. This value chain can be viewed as having two components: the value delivery system and the consumer. This paper explores several approaches to value that are important in the functioning of the value chain. It then delineates three main elements of the value chain and traces them as they apply to services. It then focuses on one of the more complex services, the health care delivery system. It goes on to describe the health care value network and examine the critical factors that affect the success of the health care process. Finally, it delineates several important implications for health care marketers.
Purpose – The authors apply Alan P. Fiske's relational models framework to customers' engagement with service firms – specifically, they propose that customers who hold different relational models for the service firm are likely to engage with the firm in dissimilar ways, thus generating different types of customer engagement value for the firm. Fiske's relational models framework is eminently suitable for studying customer-service firm engagement because it is widely adopted in the social sciences as a rigorously developed framework for conceptualizing social interactions. Design/methodology/approach – The article bridges Fiske's relational models framework and Kumar et al.'s customer engagement value framework, and conceptually demonstrates that customers employing different relational models for the service firm are likely to generate different types of customer engagement value for the firm. Findings – The article demonstrates conceptually that customers' relational models, schemata, and scripts influence how consumers engage with the firm and the type of customer engagement value accruing to the firm. Research limitations/implications – This research has implications for service firms' relationship strategies. First, service marketers can determine the desired customer engagement value(s) and then craft their customer relationship strategy so that it maximizes those engagement value(s). The article suggests relationship strategies that service firms may implement for encouraging customers to adopt different relational models. Originality/value – No research has bridged relational models theories and customer engagement value theories.
This article reviews the provision of information on third party certification marks to consumers, focusing on the potential for misperceptions. Two consumer studies are employed to examine the changes in consumers’ perceptions and usage of one certification mark in 1972 and 1980. The relationships between misperception of the marks and usage were positive in both years. In spite of public policy, which impacted the information content of certification marks, significant consumer misperceptions of the certification mark examined still exist.
There exists a vibrant literature dealing with one‐to‐one marketing and mass customization. The practice holds the promise of very satisfied customers, and profitable marketers who can create their own unassailable market positions. One of the building blocks of mass customization is knowledge of the customer and his/her complex set of preferences. There is a significant obstacle to gaining this information, namely the growing trend toward consumer privacy. Traditionally, businesses have collected massive amounts of information, hoping to identify responsive market segments. In the process, they have collected data on numerous individuals who would not realistically become customers. One solution to the problem is a strategic management approach involving an exchange of value between customers and marketers. Using a strategic approach, marketers can target the most attractive consumers, avoiding those whose lifetime value to the firm is low. By employing the relationship management processes of one‐to‐one marketing, marketers can avoid privacy issues altogether. This paper discusses the conceptual background of information based value exchange, proposes a new orientation toward customer relationship management and discusses several implications for marketers.
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