Relationship marketing and service: an update

In marketing, service and relationships interrelate. Service is based on relationships between actors, and according to the Nordic school research tradition, relationship marketing cannot be implemented without service. The development of service logic in the literature emphasizes that adopting a service perspective on their business and marketing enables service firms and product manufacturers alike to develop, maintain and enhance relationships with customers. From the customers’ point of view, all firms are service firms. “Promise theory” points out that promises made by conventional sales and marketing efforts must be successfully kept. Otherwise marketing will fail. The present article describes connections between service logic and relationship marketing, and between promise making and promise keeping. To implement relationship marketing, deep understanding of service culture and internal marketing as strategic management issues is central. Therefore, integrated management of the marketing and organizational behavior interface is imperative. This warrants cross-functional and inter-disciplinary research and decision-making. Finally, challenges for the organization relating to the implementation of relationship marketing are put forward.