https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.2307%2F3343168.pdf

Development as Freedom

All these premises having, as I think, been clearly made out, it is impossible that the rulers now on earth should make any benefit, or derive any the least shadow of authority from that, which is held to be the fountain of all power, Adam's private dominion and paternal jurisdiction; so that he that will not give just occasion to think that all government in the world is the product only of force and violence, and that men live together by no other rules but that of beasts, where the strongest carries it, and so lay a foundation for perpetual disorder and mischief, tumult, sedition and rebellion, (things that the followers of that hypothesis so loudly cry out against) must of necessity find out another rise of government, another original of political power, and another way of designing and knowing the persons that have it, than what Sir Robert Filmer hath taught us.

Two Treatises of Government.

The importance of developing and maintaining enduring relationships with customers of service businesses is generally accepted in the marketing literature. A key challenge for researchers is to identify and understand how managerially controlled antecedent variables influence important relationship marketing outcomes (e.g., customer loyalty and word-of-mouth communication). Relational benefits, which have a focus on the benefits consumers receive apart from the core service, and relationship quality, which focuses on the overall nature of the relationship, represent two approaches to understanding customer loyalty and word of mouth. This article integrates these two concepts by positioning customer satisfaction and commitment as relationship quality dimensions that partially mediate the relationship between three relational benefits (confidence benefits, social benefits, and special treatment benefits) and the two outcome variables. The results provide support for the model and indicate that the concepts ...

/pdf/understanding-relationship-marketing-outcomes-an-integration-58m18mxtpu.pdf

Understanding Relationship Marketing Outcomes An Integration of Relational Benefits and Relationship Quality

This research, investigating retailer-consumer relationships, has three distinct intended contributions: (1) It shows that different relationship marketing tactics have a differential impact on consumer perceptions of a retailer’s relationship investment; (2) it demonstrates that perceived relationship investment affects relationship quality, ultimately leading to behavioral loyalty; and (3) it reveals that the effect of perceived relationship investment on relationship quality is contingent on a consumer’s product category involvement and proneness to engage in retail relationships. The authors empirically cross-validate the underlying conceptual model by studying six consumer samples in a three-country, transatlantic, comparative survey that investigates two industries.

Investments in Consumer Relationships: A Cross-Country and Cross-Industry Exploration

Capitalism and Freedom

Companies implement preferred supplier programs to reduce their vendor relationships to a reasonable few. Consequently, vendors who do not effectively manage their customer-based relationships are strong candidates for deletion from a customer’s list of long-term suppliers. The emergence of preferred supplier programs suggests that businesses are beginning to formally recognize and reward differences between their qualified vendors. Vendor stratification is proposed as a framework for understanding the evolution of preferred vendor programs. With the growing interest in relationship marketing, a study was conducted to empirically examine the extent to which businesses use relationship quality perceptions to differentiate their qualified vendors. The findings support the notion that relationship quality is a higher-order construct that can be used as a basis for developing vendor stratification systems. The article concludes with a discussion of the managerial and research implications of the study findings.

The Role of Relationship Quality in the Stratification of Vendors as Perceived by Customers

(1998). Assessing the Theatrical Components of the Service Encounter: A Cluster Analysis Examination. The Service Industries Journal: Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 116-134.

Assessing the Theatrical Components of the Service Encounter: A Cluster Analysis Examination

The degree to which a franchise system penetrates a target market over time often is influenced by the rate to which its individual franchisees expand. Yet a franchisee's decision to expand the business operation depends, in part, on the perception of value that the franchisee expects to receive from the franchisor in return for a variety of fees (for example, entry fee, advertising fees, royalties). Moreover, the franchisee's experience with its franchisor may strengthen or weaken his or her perception of franchisor value. The change in perception of franchisor value can influence franchisees' decisions to expand their franchise operations. To date, scant research exists on factors influencing a franchisee's decision to expand. In the reported study, a four-stage analysis was conducted to examine empirically whether franchisees' opinions about the value of their franchisors changes over time. The study findings reveal that franchisees had the strongest, positive opinions when asked to recall an earlier decision to expand their franchise operations. These opinions weakened when franchisees contemplating expansion of their operations were asked for their current and anticipated future opinions of franchisor value. Overall, franchisees were undecided when asked about their perceptions of current franchisor value and anticipated future franchisor value. Implications of these findings for theory and practice of franchising are discussed. Introduction Franchising commonly is considered a contractual vertical marketing relationship between a franchisor and one or more franchisees. Franchisees of various types exist, often distinguished by the size of their operation and the modalities of the contractual agreement with the franchisor (Kaufmann and Kim 1995; Kaufmann and Dant 1996). They typically pay an entry fee as well as recurring royalties and advertising fees to the franchisor. In return, franchise owners receive the right to use the trademark or even the entire business format as well as a host of services provided by the franchisor, often including legal advice, consulting on location and real estate development, national advertising campaigns, training, and so forth. The franchisor-franchisee relationship represents a partnership conducted as a form of relational exchange. As such, the strengthening of the franchisor-franchisee relationship, such as through expansion of individual franchisees' businesses, involves a sharing of benefits and costs (see Macneil 1980 for a description of relational exchanges). Accordingly, of particular interest to franchise owners is the balance between the payments made to the franchisor (that is, franchisee costs) and the "value" (that is, franchisee benefits) received in return (Porter and Renforth 1978; Kaufmann and Lafontaine 1994; Michael 1999). Moreover, consistent with partnership theories (for example, Garbarino and Johnson 1999), franchisees are expected to remain in the relationship as long as they perceive to receive adequate value for their contributions to the franchisor. Recognizing that franchisees' perceptions of value of services received versus payments made to the franchisor may change over time, it is important that franchisors effectively manage franchisee perceptions of the value received from the franchisor. Unfortunately, research on franchisees' perceptions of their franchisors is scant. As a first step to filling this gap in the understanding of franchisee-franchisor relationships, we empirically examine whether franchisee perceptions of franchisor value change over time. In essence, we are aiming to answer the question, "Does the strength of perceptions of value assessment change over time?" More specifically, we examine single-unit and sequential multiunit franchisees' perceptions of value received from the franchisor at the present time and compare these assessments to expectations for the future and to expectations they recall from their past. …

Does the Franchisor Provide Value to Franchisees? Past, Current, and Future Value Assessments of Two Franchisee Types

As many segments of the tourism industry reach the maturation stage, marketers have turned their attention to building long-term relationships with their best customers. Despite the importance of customer loyalty for understanding these relationships, there is no consensus as to how loyalty develops. Most loyalty programs currently being used promote repeated purchases but are ineffective in enhancing customers’ psychological attachment. The purpose was to test a conceptual framework of the development of loyalty that is grounded in resource theory, reciprocity, and customer equity. The results indicated that if customers perceived that a provider was making an investment in them, they in turn made a similar investment in the provider, and those investments led to loyalty. The findings revealed that investments of love, status, and information were more closely associated with loyalty than investments of money. These findings support the proposed theoretical model and help explain how well-designed loyalt...

Can Tourism Providers Buy their Customers’ Loyalty? Examining the Influence of Customer-Provider Investments on Loyalty

Even though service marketers are interested in influencing customer choice at the service provider level (i.e. the service brand level), the decision to patronize a particular service firm seldom occurs until after the customer decides to use a service provider in the first place. Ultimately, this initial “make‐or‐buy” purchase decision – the decision to use a service category – restrains customer decisions at the service provider (brand) level. To enhance our understanding of customers’ service category decisions, a double cross‐validation approach was employed to investigate the applicability of a service category choice model which we adapted from Howard’s work on consumer decision making. Our model, which was tested with two different service categories, was supported.

Michael J. Dorsch

Papers

The Role of Relationship Quality in the Stratification of Vendors as Perceived by Customers

Assessing the Theatrical Components of the Service Encounter: A Cluster Analysis Examination

Does the Franchisor Provide Value to Franchisees? Past, Current, and Future Value Assessments of Two Franchisee Types

Can Tourism Providers Buy their Customers’ Loyalty? Examining the Influence of Customer-Provider Investments on Loyalty

Consumer intentions to use a service category