Research Korner: Quality Assurance Strategies

Relationship Marketing

Marketing Coursework   Relationship Marketing   Introduction             Relationships are essential in the various aspects of life, whether in romance, family, or in business, for this becomes the foundation of good interrelations with one another. Making good relationships benefit many individuals, including many business organizations. This also becomes one of the good foundations of companies and organizations to attain growth and profit in the market, for their relationships with their customers, shareholders, and employees become strong and established, if each individual would strive to make good interrelationships. With the fast-changing world today, many gadgets and technologies have become a means for many individuals to enhance their relationships with the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web. With the innovation and evolution of technology, many business organizations are able to identify and focus on the needs of their customers, which enhance customer value in terms of marketing. In addition to this is the use of other factors in marketing, such as traditional marketing, selling, and database marketing, which are responsible for enhancing and developing good relationships with customers. In this paper, the factors concerning customer value within relationship marketing will be evaluated. Customer value will be discussed to how the customer perceives potential benefits in their relationship with the business organization.   Customer Value and Relationship Marketing              (1991) reports that positioning begins with the customer, for customer thinks about products and companies in relation to other products and companies, and what really matters is how existing and potential customers think about a company in relation to its competitors. Customers set up a hierarchy of values, wants and needs based on empirical data, opinions, word-of-mouth references, and previous experiences with products and services, and use this information to make purchasing decisions (1991). Today, the importance of market positioning depends on not only the products, services, and needs of the customers, but on the company’s competitive strategy, pricing, packaging, distribution, service, support and communications, such as the use of advanced technologies. This is why, traditional positioning strategies are inadequate because they do not consider technology and change to be significant factors, and because building and sustaining customer relationships is never their central aim. They believe that a static, impersonal customer and marketplace exist, where technologies, products and customer perceptions change very slowly (1991). In contrast, dynamic positioning strategies are very different, for it is based on manipulation of the customer’s mind, on using a bag of marketing tricks to entice the customer into awareness of a company’s desired position, which is company centered than customer centered. This strategy is applicable in a complex, fast-changing industry, where radical changes are occurring everyday. These changes become a response to the fact that products evolve, markets change, competitions change, and new technologies emerge. This is why new and established companies are constantly trying to innovate and improve their products and services ( 1991). In addition to this, are the company’s continuous strategies of improvement in terms of customer value, for these are important in sustaining relationship marketing.             It has been reported that relationship marketing is a form of marketing, in which emphasis is placed on building longer term relationships with customers rather than on individual transactions, involves understanding the customer’s needs, and emphasizes in providing a range of products and services to existing customers as they need them ( 2006). Relationship marketing is important for it enables many companies to become permanently established in the market and provide longer-term service and products to new and existing customers. With relationship marketing, the company not only can serve their customers, but also generate profit and company gain for a longer period. The application of relationship marketing also provides the consumers with great value to their money, which gives the company a good reputation in the market, for the company relies on building a strong and long-lasting personal relationship with their customers.             However, the concept of relationship marketing will not be complete without the existence and influence of customer value.  (2003) provided several definitions of customer value. First, customer value is what the customer believes that a product or service provides in a certain use situation. Second, it is an implicit comparison between what the customer receives from the provider and what the customer provides in time, effort, and money, where the frame of reference is not just the price tag on the product, but also the ease and convenience in the acquisition and use of the product and the entire interactive experience the customer has with the firm. Third, is that customer value can be shaped by attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of others, such as friends, family, media, the providing firm, and other competitors in the industry as well as in substitute industries. Lastly, is that customer value determines customer satisfaction and the likelihood of brand or firm loyalty, where the cause-effect relationship could be affected by comparisons with competitors and other substitutes (2003). Moreover, many firms focus on the product rather than on the customer, but when the focus is on the customer, the business is defined in terms of customer value, not in terms of product, for the product is viewed as a customer solution and experience, which is the most fundamental definition of any business firm. If firms are focused on the customer, they ought to see themselves in the role of providing solutions, not products, which leads to giving importance for customer value (2003). By focusing on customer value and customer’s perspectives, business organizations can identify their mission and values, and can better understand their strengths and sources of competitive advantage, for business firms are better positioned and more effective in allocating resources and efforts both strategically and operationally, if they are better situated to understand what would be considered superior customer value ( 2003).   Factors concerning Customer Value             In line with the advantages in determining customer value are several factors, which are important to identify in response to providing value-added and high-quality products and services to the consumers. Important factors include perceived value, service quality and value, and social and emotional value in terms of brand loyalty. These factors are related to marketing and technological means, which also determine the effectiveness and success of the company in the market.             It has been reported that customer perceived value could be related to a single purchase of a good or a service, or to a relationship between a supplier and a customer, or even to a net or network of such relationships ( 2004). Professional services are always customized, which creates a need for the parties to interact intensively in every phase of their joint value creation, thus, are often bought within relationships. In business relationships, two exchange partners coordinate a number of activities in a way that it increases their interdependence, thus, raising their joint productivity and creating value (2004). If the customer has a positive or pleasant perceived value towards a product or service, then most likely, consumers purchase that specific product regularly. However, if the customer has a negative perceived value towards a product or service, then consumers will be patronizing other brands from other industries. The role of communication and technology somehow determines the building up of the consumer’s perceived value, as more consumers today rely on what different media can say about a specific product or service. A good venue for developing perceived value is through the Internet, representing a state of pure competition, where there exist many buyers and sellers and a lot of market information on which to base decisions in purchasing or patronizing a product or service (2004). In addition to the influence of the Internet and the World Wide Web is the influence brought about by other means of communication, such as the television, radio, and printed media. Moreover, the perceived value factor of consumers determines relationship marketing, for with this perceived value, the company can base the innovation and features of their products to satisfy their customers and attain customer loyalty. This is a way of responding to the needs of their customers, for taking note of their perceived value regarding a product or service would mean listening and paying attention to their needs.                        The second factor is service quality and value. In understanding customer value, improving service quality and value is important, being an element of customer focus and service orientation. In order for the company to deliver customer value, it must strive to aim at customer satisfaction, to achieve customer loyalty. Firms design a product concept based on their understanding of the customer’s expectations, and then configure their value-creating assets accordingly in an operations design, which determines the customer experience. Thus, customer value must be closely aligned with customer expectations, and this can be achieved by continuously improving, developing and innovating a company’s products and services (2003). Through the influence and role of communication means, the service quality and value of a product or service can be altered. This includes the assessment of the media on the reliability and quality of the product or service, which determines its success in the market. In relation to relationship marketing, the improvement in service quality and value of a product or service would enable the company and customers create a good and lasting relationship, for the customers provide solutions to the problems of the consumers, and in turn, the consumers provide the company profit through continuous loyalty and patronage.             In line with this, a study done by  (2005), which aims to examine the relative impact of service quality on service value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty, including positive word-of-mouth communication, proves the positive impact of good service quality and value to relationship marketing. The first implication of their study is that the greater the tangibles, assurance, and sensory dimensions of service quality, the greater are the perceived service values by the customers. The second result is that the greater the empathy dimension of service quality, the greater is the customer satisfaction. Third, the greater the service value, the greater are the customer satisfaction, the positive word-of-mouth communication, and continuous patronage of the customers. Lastly, the greater the customer satisfaction leads to greater positive word-of-mouth communication and patronage of the customers (2005). This study proves that with good service quality and value, consumers have positive response regarding a product or service.             The third factor is the social influence in terms of brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is the consumer’s conscious or unconscious decision, expressed through intention or behavior, to repurchase a brand continually, and occurs because the consumer perceives that the brand offers the right product features, image, or level of quality at the right price (2002). The different aspects present in society, such as media, advertising and communications, influence brand loyalty. With the advancement of technology, advertising brands is not anymore a hard task, so many companies invest on making advertisements to introduce their brands in the market. Because most consumers are exposed to the different means of communication media, many consumers base their judgments and decisions in purchasing and patronizing a specific product or service.             In relation to relationship marketing, companies can easily introduce their products and services to the public through the different advertising media. Companies can express their aim of targeting the needs of their customers by properly and effectively advertising their products and services. This is why, companies should always strive to improve and develop their products and services, because the society can easily detect the qualities and characteristics of products through the advertising media. Through good customer value, companies can attain brand loyalty from their consumers, as a consequence of implementing an effective relationship marketing strategy with the consumers.             The last factor is the emotional value of consumers in terms of brand loyalty. It has been reported that emotional loyalty occurs on one of two pathways, each with its own threshold (1999). The first pathway suggests that emotional loyalty is born out of a consumer’s personal relationship with a brand, and this relationship may very well start through the satisfaction of a functional need or an expressiveness need. Consumers cross the threshold from a mere brand relationship into emotional loyalty when they “animate” the brand, and relating to it in the same way they relate to human beings ( 1999). The second pathway is the formation of a strong user community around the brand, where the consumer crosses the threshold to emotional loyalty when membership in the brand’s user community becomes an end in itself. In essence, the emotional value of consumers toward a product or service depends on certain circumstances when they have found attachment to the product or service. This attachment well depends on customer value, which in turn creates good interrelationships between the producers and the consumers. In addition, the key to creating value from emotionally loyal consumers is to manage simultaneously their purchase behavior and their influence on others, for the halo effect created by this small consumer segment can be used to expand the value of the brand, create line extensions, or build a beachhead into other categories (1999). The company must make sure to maintain the good and high quality of their brand to ensure the public of their perceived value and in turn, the brand loyalty and continuous patronage of their consumers.   Conclusion              Relationship marketing is important in the aim of many business organizations to identify customer needs and provide answers or solutions to their problems. In having a good relationship with customers, the company can continue innovating solutions to serve consumers and establish the company in the market. In line with relationship marketing, is the concept of customer value, which is important to determine and evaluate to successfully and efficiently provide the needs of the consumers. Customer value can be influenced by several factors, namely, perceived value, service quality and value, and social and emotional value in terms of brand loyalty.             Perceived value determines the success of a product or service, because with a positive perceived value of consumers creates a positive effect in the value of a product or service. Similarly, a good service quality and value helps generate a good profit for the company. In addition, the society has a big influence on brand loyalty, with the role played by the different advertising media. Likewise, emotional loyalty affects relationship marketing, for with the continuous patronage of consumers on specific products or services, the company can cater to their needs. With relationship marketing, customer value can always be determined by the company, which is essential in their aim to efficiently providing their consumers with good and high quality products and services.

Relationship Marketing

Marketing Coursework Relationship Marketing Introduction Relationships are essential in the various aspects of...

SOCIAL CARE PROVISION IN UK

Social Care Provisions in UK   Poverty is one of the major causes of the uprising of health problems especially in poor nations and countries worldwide. Government and other people are burdened by the fact that the promotion of health is one of the most important responsibilities of every individual. However, the effect of poverty in the population cannot be denied if we look at the health of the people experiencing it. Recent studies have shown that wealthier nations are healthier as compared to economically challenged nations and countries (, 2005). It was held by  and  (2002) that in meeting the specific needs of the vulnerable populations and groups worldwide, there must be a balance between accessible, high quality universal services, and targeted programs. With this, the World Health Organization have acknowledged the help of non-government organizations to the poor people who are not able to access on proper health care system, sewage disposal, clean water, food safety.   A second influence on the development of a new policy agenda for health promotion has been the rediscovery of the determinants or ‘root causes’ of excess morbidity and premature mortality which are external to individuals and provide the context for their behaviour and actions. Several widely used models of health ( & , 1991, , 1998,  & , 1994) illustrate the range of contextual factors, including the economic, psychosocial, cultural and physical environments that shape overall population health and inequalities in health relating to socio-economic status, gender, age and other social positions.   Health promotion is increasingly characterized by working with key stakeholders or agents in decision making processes that affect outcomes ( 2001), although the means of achieving collaborative practice are still not fully understood. Working with people and communities, ‘people-centered health promotion’ ( &  1998) requires an ecological and holistic approach to health, one that can capture complex social phenomena ( 2001). Within health promotion, key principles of sustainability and community development are focused on. Health promotion approaches to justify the effectiveness of their practice and to demonstrate measurable outcomes. Internationally it has resulted in a number of initiatives, particularly in Europe, which aim to build an ‘evidence base’ for health promotion. Although in the process of the development of these initiatives, there have been debates on what constitutes evidence in health promotion (, 2000;  & , 2001) and the criteria by which evidence is defined have been subject to philosophical and theoretical scrutiny ( & , 1998), there remains a danger that initiatives will encourage the very value systems they seek to challenge by buying into the notion of the existence of objective evidence.   Public health is the promotion of health at a community level by the government. It includes prevention of disease through supplying clean water, proper waste disposal, and legislation for clean air, health education programs, and medical care for the whole community through doctors, nurses, and hospitals (). Government acceptance of responsibility for public health began in UK with the Public Health Act in 1848. Now, the welfare state, National Health Service, and health education and protection measures are government responsibility. In early 19th century, concerned social reformers tried to improve the living conditions of the poor. In 1842,  recommended that investing in public health would improve the health and reduce the death rates among the poor. He contended that the expense of basic public health measures would be less than the cost of having to support a poor and unhealthy population ().               With the government taking over the responsibility, developments in public health included the introduction of environmental health officers to investigate potential hazards such as hygiene in shops and restaurants, the launching of health education campaigns, such as anti-smoking campaigns to reduce cancer and heart disease, and road safety campaigns to encourage drivers to slow down and pedestrians to take care when crossing the road. Food safety became one of the biggest issues of public health in UK. The government implemented laws on food safety, such as the  (1990). In 2000, the British government established the Food Standards Agency to coordinate action on food safety and the protection of public health ().               Since 1997, the Government has set out a major program to improve public health and address health inequalities. The program includes action to eradicate child poverty, improve poor housing, raise employment, and strengthen communities, in order to address the deep-rooted causes of ill-health. It also includes major programs to prevent cancer and heart disease, and modernizing public health. The department’s approach is to create an environment where people are encouraged and supported to adapt healthy lifestyles. This may be done by providing clear information to enable people to make their own decisions about choices that may have some impact on their health, offering tailored support, personalized services and equal access, and by partnership working across communities (). The Department of Health in 2004 also issued the following standards, the minimum level of service that patients and service users have a right to expect, that health care organizations, including the NHS Foundation Trusts, and private and voluntary providers of NHS care are expected to meet in terms of safety; clinical and cost effectiveness; patient focus; accessible and responsive care; care environment and amenities; and, public health. The standards were divided into two categories – core and developmental. These standards are part of National standards, local action, the NHS three year planning framework, and are in line with actions set out in the NHS improvement plan (, 2004).   In UK, the Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health ( 1998) was guided by a socio-economic model of health. This model emphasized the impact of over-arching general, societal, living and working conditions, which themselves influence the quantity and quality of social and community networks, which in turn condition health lifestyle attitudes and behaviors. The Report notes the evidence of long-standing and widening gradients in mortality between the higher and lower socio-economic groups in UK and prioritizes the implementation of policies which will reduce income inequalities and lead to the redistribution of resources to those who find themselves, unavoidably, outside the labor market. The authors of the Report are adamant that the policy emphasis must move ‘upstream’, from the de-contextualized individual to the social and economic structure: ‘We consider that without a shift of resources to the less well off, both in and out of work, little will be accomplished in terms of a reduction of health inequalities by interventions addressing particular “downstream” influences’ (, 1998, ).   This view is reinforced by the growing evidence of a strong relationship between income inequality and premature mortality within developed societies (see, especially,  1996). One plausible explanation for this relationship is the relative strength or weakness of the psychosocial fabric, in particular, features of everyday life which engenders and promotes social cohesion. ‘Social capital’, which has been defined by  (1995) as ‘the features of social organization such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate co-ordination and collaboration for mutual benefit’, is the concept now widely employed to capture this societal attribute. It is hypothesized that more egalitarian societies generate higher levels of social capital which in turn reduce health inequalities and increase life expectancy.  (1998) argues that the notion of social capital revitalizes social approaches to public health and health promotion, since it permits examination of the processes whereby social connections operating through different networks can act as a buffer against the negative health impact of relative (as well as absolute) deprivation.   Recognizing the multi-faceted nature of health, its production and maintenance, the tendency has been to assume that health promotion practice should encompass a similarly broad sweep.  (1997) have argued that this tendency is unhelpful because it masks tensions between competing paradigms and agendas. Specifically, they warn that ‘the creation of …“global” health promotion models could inhibit constructive debate around alternative perspectives on health’ (). They conclude by noting that ‘permanent tensions’ exist that need not necessarily be resolved. They identify three initial areas for attention: professional and political matters, technical and methodological dilemmas, and research questions. The challenge for practitioners is how they manage these tensions in order to deliver action that addresses contemporaneous policy agendas (, 1997, ).   The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of health promotion interventions are under increasing scrutiny in the new evidence-based cultural climate within the health sector in UK. While there is some concern about the extent to which expectations relating to the success of health promotion practice are more pronounced than those relating to clinical practice, the problem most commonly identified by researchers is the unwillingness of funding and commissioning agencies to accept the validity and viability of non-experimental evaluation strategies.   As such, this will divert limited resources from knowledge development in collecting evidence to satisfy a managerial agenda driven by searches for efficiency, cost effectiveness and quality assurance in public expenditure, which, in the UK at least, has led to an obsession with targets and indicators. Much better that those resources are invested in the development of approaches which address the complex holistic nature of the social change processes that constitute health promotion. It is also important that the methods and criteria of effectiveness used are consistent with the fundamental principles of health promotion, empowerment, participation, collaboration and equity.                       References:

SOCIAL CARE PROVISION IN UK

Social Care Provisions in UK Poverty is one of the major causes of the uprising of health problems especially in poor nations and co...

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