Relationship Marketing and Cusomer Satisfaction (PDF)

Businesses are as a constant race to increase profits, keep the current customers and gain or poach new ones, competing for customers on a globalised market like never before. One of the many sets of tools aimed at aiding the interaction between supplier and customer are the Relationship Marketing methodologies. RM is aimed at building strong long term relationships that keep customers coming back repeatedly. It aims to help organizations build individual customer relationships in such a way that both the firm and the customer get the most out of the exchange providing both parties with long term benefits.
The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of the usages of RM in B2B forms. To reach this understanding the dissertation starts with three research questions based on this purpose on which theory is collected. The three areas of concern are: objectives, strategy and measurement of RM. Using the collected theory about these questions a frame of reference is chosen and used to collect information from Malcolm firms operating from Uganda. This company was studied through case analysis and compared to theory. The data collected from it was primarily attained through structured interviews.
The findings indicate that much of the explored theory regarding RM is true for the B2B sector. There are, however, a few areas in which the firms diverge from theory, specifically those relating to the usages of estimated values such as loyalty and satisfaction in customer evaluations. It was also found that there is a lack of research in the areas of evaluation of RM. Furthermore, the findings indicate that RM in B2B focuses on the organizational aspects of RM and a strong goal for businesses is to unlock the information the employees have and store it in a place the business can own.