The Evolution of Relationship Marketing Orientations
There has been a shift in the business focus from transactional to relationship marketing. Companies have been increasingly implementing relationship-marketing practices in order to survive in highly competitive markets. The main objective of this chapter is to understand the emergence of the relationship-marketing orientations. This chapter starts with examining the marketing practices of the pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial periods with the purpose of demonstrating that relationship orientation in the post-industrial era is rebirth of marketing practices of the pre-industrial age. After outlining the factors that cause re-emergence of relationship orientation in the post-industrial era, the emergence of the relationship-marketing school of thought is briefly discussed. This chapter ends with comparing the transactional marketing practices with relationship marketing practices.