Enacting customers—Marketing discourse and organizational practice

Fellesson, Markus

doi:10.1016/j.scaman.2011.03.002

Cited by 14 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Organisationsforskaren Marcus Felleson (2011:235) har studerat hur allmännyttiga bostadsbolag iscensätter de boende i sina verksamheter. Han konstaterar att för bolagen är det viktigt att identifiera de boendes behov vid utformningen av verksamheten, och det gör att bolagen är marknadsdrivna i sin verksamhetsutövning (Fellesson 2011). Jag har visat att vad som beskrevs vara de boendes behov gjordes till viktiga frågor för Gavlegårdarna i renoveringsarbetet.…”

Section: Sammanfattande Analyserunclassified

Omställning – Tillväxt – Effektivisering : Energifrågor vid renovering av flerbostadshus

Thoresson¹

2015

Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences

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Section: Sammanfattande Analyserunclassified

Omställning – Tillväxt – Effektivisering : Energifrågor vid renovering av flerbostadshus

Thoresson¹

2015

Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences

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“…Yet, as numerous studies have highlighted, the customer focus policies and practices enacted on the ground within actual public services invariably diverge from the NPM/private sector ideal (see, inter alia, Clifford, 2012;Fellesson, 2011;Needham, 2006;Rosenthal & Peccei, 2006. As I detail in Chapter Two (literature review), although the nature of these divergences varies significantly, the literature consistently attributes them to tensions between the conception of the customer as a 'sovereign consumer' and the traditional objectives, relationships and practices of public services.…”

Section: Examining the Integration Of Customer Focus And Compliance Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other studies have found that, rather than being completely blocked, the customer focus is enacted in complex and contradictory ways by service providers (Fellesson, 2011;Howard, 2012;Rosenthal & Peccei, 2007). In these cases, people are treated like 'sovereign consumers' in some aspects of service delivery, such as being offered personalised services, but are then subordinated to organisational objectives, such as securing compliance, increasing efficiency or meeting performance targets, in other aspects.…”

Section: Examining the Integration Of Customer Focus And Compliance Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consumer sovereignty is the belief that consumers are a better judge than producers about what products satisfy their needs and preferences, hence goods and services ought to be 'distributed according to the overall preferences of consumers' within the conditions of competitive markets (Korczynski & Ott 2004: 582). Managerial discourse took from this notion the implication that, in order to attract customers and remain competitive, firms must understand their customers' needs and preferences and tailor their service offerings accordinglythat is, they must adopt a customer focus (Fellesson, 2011;Skålén, Fellesson, & Fougère, 2006).…”

Section: New Public Management and The Critique Of Bureaucratic Adminmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, today one is a 'customer' not only when one purchases something on the private market but also when one is admitted to the local hospital (Clarke, Newman, Smith, Vidler, & Westmarland, 2007;Sturgeon, 2014), registers for unemployment benefits (Howard, 2012;Rosenthal & Peccei, 2006, applies for or resides in public housing (Fellesson, 2011;Marston, 2000;McIntyre & McKee, 2008), or attends university (Lorenz, 2012). Moreover, we are imputed the customer identity in these contexts regardless of the fact that, in many cases (although certainly not all), we do not make direct payment for the service we consume, we do not choose from a market of competing providers and we may not always have much choice over whether or not we consume the service at all (Alford, 2002;Clarke et al, 2007).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Governing customers? Integrating customer focus and compliance in the urban governance context

Clarke¹

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The drive to instil 'customer focus' in government services has always been controversial. However, it is particularly controversial when adopted in services that have compliance functions, such as regulatory bodies, the police and some welfare agencies. The reason for this is that, whereas customer focus discourse prescribes that public services tailor their offerings to the preferences of individual service users, compliance-oriented services produce public goods (order, safety, etc.) by compelling individuals to do/stop doing certain things regardless of their preferences. There is, therefore, a prima facie tension between customer focus discourse and the objectives and practices of compliance, and this raises important questions about why and how customer focus is adopted in compliance-oriented services, and what the consequences of this are.This thesis addresses these questions by investigating the adoption of customer focus policies in the compliance branch of an Australian city council. It is informed by a conceptual framework derived from the governmentality studies literature, where numerous theoretical resources exist for examining how styles of thinking, such as customer focus, shape, and are shaped by, practices for governing the conduct of political subjects. In particular, I draw on the theoretical and methodological insights of a number of recent governmentality studies that examine governing at the level of situated practices as well as, or instead of, at the level of widespread discourses or political rationalities. The rationale for attending to situated practices is to grasp how discourses like customer focus are mobilised by situated actors to address problems emerging in particular governmental contexts, such as urban governance.It is also to facilitate analysis of how heterogeneous discourses and practices, such as customer focus and compliance, are assembled together and how tensions between them are managed on the ground.The thesis presents data collected through ethnographic fieldwork that I conducted with the compliance branch of the city council mentioned above. An ethnographic approach was adopted because it best aligned with my theoretical orientation to study governing at the level of situated practices. Adopting an ethnographic approach allowed me to observe firsthand how customer focus discourse is integrated with compliance practices in the day-to-day operations of urban governance.It also allowed me to overcome some of the limitations associated with the reliance on textual analysis of archival materials in governmentality studies, such as the tendency to infer the operation and effects of governing practices from how they are represented in programmatic texts.Previous research has foregrounded the tensions that arise when customer focus is adopted in compliance-oriented public services and has warned that these tensions risk undermining the public interest outcomes that compliance services produce. The findings presented in this thesis contributes to this literature by...

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