Whilst the relationship marketing literature is expanding at a rather exponential rate, rapport between customers and front line employees did not get its due attention especially in the context of banking service in traditional, developing economies. This has delimited the efficacy of the established relationship theories in explaining the antecedent effect of trust, commitment, service quality and involvement for developing rapport leading to overall client (customer) satisfaction. The focus of this research, thus, is rapport. This chapter acts as a preamble that sets the ball rolling by presenting the research background; explaining the research problem and scope; and discussing the research questions. A brief note explaining the overall organisation of the thesis is also incorporated at the end of this chapter. In today’s highly competitive business environment, many organizations all over the world have been forced to put more emphasis on retaining their existing customers rather than acquiring new ones. Since conventional transactional approaches to marketing does not seem to be adequate in attaining this and other related marketing goals, many organizations seem to have been moving away from product or brand orientation to relationship marketing orientation which has been viewed as a bridge through which both customers and companies can share each other’s needs and values and can meet their potential expectations by creating two-way exchanges (Bateman and Snell, 2007). In this backdrop, rapport holds a crucial position in the customer-employee relationship arena particularly in marketing of services because it possess characteristics such as interpersonal focus, simultaneous production-consumption and the lack of standa... ... middle of paper ... ...the conceptual model used in the investigation. It also includes a section to discuss four models found in the extant literature which have been replicated in this study to test if the relationships portrayed in them were valid in the Bangladesh context. This was necessary to ensure the validity of the relationships proposed in the conceptual model. Chapter 4: Research Design – Presents details of methodology, sampling procedure, data collection process and discussions on the development of the survey instrument. Chapter 5: Data Analysis – Explains data analysis and research results. Chapter 6: Hypothesis Testing – Presents a detailed discussion on the hypotheses testing procedures and test results. Chapter 7: Conclusion – Explains research contributions of this study for both academics as well as practitioners. Also presents the limitations of the study.
In response to the question set, I will go into detail of the study, consisting of the background, main hypotheses, as well the aims, procedure and results gathered from the study; explaining the four research methods chosen to investigate, furthering into the three methods actually tested.
Nichels, W. G., McHugh, J. M., & McHugh, S. M. (2010). Moving toward Relationship Marketing. In W. G. Nichels, J. M. McHugh, & S. M. McHugh, Understanding Business (p. 363). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
The study outlined in the article is well organized in its major parts, including introduction, literature review, methodology, results, and discussions. The introduction provides the research question and purpose, while the remaining parts provide sufficient data to help in justifying the hypothesis and rationale of the study.
This study sought to answer three research questions. Although the questions have been presented in previous chapters, they are worth presenting again.
Grönroos, C. (2004). The relationship marketing process: communication, interaction, dialogue, value. Journal of Business & Industrial marketing, Vol 19, Issue: 2, 99-113.
This is why establishing a relationship with a customer is pivotal to not only keep customers happy but also keep them coming back.
Now within the rest of this paper you will be finding a few different things getting discussed. Staring it off we will be discussing the articles that we have found to make our arguments and hypotheses. After wrapping up the literature reviews we will be discussing the hypotheses thus continuing onto our variables and indicators. Once we discuss our hypotheses we will be moving onto the research design. The research design will have our general issues, sampling, and methods.
Three views of theoretical foundations are widely considered in business to business marketing: social exchange theory, social penetration theory and interaction theory. The social exchange theory as pointed out by Blau (1964, cited in Hsin Hsin et al. 2015:867) is described as social interactions involving two or more parties in order to achieve a mutually benefiting goal. What this means is that, in the marketing sphere, organization are expected to seek ways of the norm of buying and selling but develop relationships which could lead to customer retention, thereby recognising interdependence in sustaining the social exchange relationship. The social exchange theory deals with the issues of rewards and trust among the trading partners which derived from a continuous exchange of financial outcomes over a period of time (Fill and Fill 2005:149). Autry and Golicic (2010) advocates that the strength of any relationship is dependent on trust and commitment and successful fulfilment of objective. Cropanzano (2005) argues that relationship between two parties can best be sustained in the long run if certain rules of exchange are adhered to. These rules provide guidelines in which both parties are expected to comply during their exchanges
In order to retain back these potential consumers or loyal consumers businesses go through these customer retention techniques. As a result if the customer retention is improved by at the least even a small scale, the outcome is indeed a huge increase in the profit. Maintaining a close contact with its own customers, enables an organisation to know the personal satisfaction of their regular customers as well as the ability to respond quickly to their needs and demands. For businesses to keep customers loyal towards them, businesses will have to build a good relation or interaction with their customers. No interaction with its customers means no growth in an organisation. It is the base for any consumer motivation and consumer
This chapter reviews the literature that describes the published articles, journals and books were collected to investigate the theories and past empirical studies which are related to this study. This chapter consists of literature review, review of relevant theoretical model, conceptual framework and overall conclusion of chapter two.
Thereafter the researcher looked at common themes and subthemes and the relationship that need to be interpreted and synthesized (ibid). A summarization of the information gathered was done using tables according to the variables and objectives of the research. A premier qualitative report was written using Microsoft word.
This section examines the theoretical foundations of the study, review of empirical literature, the conceptual framework and research hypotheses.
Rapport is the single most important ingredient required for building relationships with your customers. It is the bridge that leads to open communication and interpersonal skills. As a team building exercise, in collaboration with your team, discuss new strategies and methods that you can all employ to build greater rapport with your customers. Discuss in detail and share with your team your ideas. Remember, you cannot be a friend on the inside without rapport.
Relationship marketing is a part of the marketing concept and strongly applies to this article. A company wants to build trust with its customers in order to build customer loyalty and a long-term bond. This gives the customer a value-added feature of doing business with a particular company. In marketing orientated companies, the customer's needs have to be targeted and different social classes or issues need to be taken into account. If a company does not take different sensitive and social groups into account when marketing, then they will not build a feeling of goodwill with the consumers. The consumer will think that the firm cares more about selling its goods than the consumer.
Wiersema, M. T. a. F., 1993. Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines. Harvard Business Review, p. 92.