-
Relationship marketing and service
marketing: convergence point of
Culture
Department of value creation
ABSTRACT
Using
the
relationship
paradigm
as
a
theoretical
framework,
a
management
model
for
cultural
services
(relationship
marketing
of
cultural
organizations)
is
proposed,
what
is
an
unprecedented
contribution
in
the
marketing
field.
By
combining
two
convergent
perspectives
–
as
relationship
marketing and services
marketing
–
, the model
is
structured on
the
basis
of
two
large
types
of
relationships
in
the
management
of
a
cultural
organization:
instrumental
relationships
and
group
relationships.
The
paper
is
an
in-depth
study
of
relationships
regarding
performing
arts
audience.
A
theoretical/empirical
approach
was
applied, including face to face
interviews to 1005 performing arts consumers and
telephone
interviews to a sample of
2005 individuals in Spain.
Keywords: Cultural marketing
erforming arts services
relationship marketing
1.
INTRODUCTION:
The most recent
literature
on marketing management is
demonstrating a revolutionary
change in both form and content, which,
undoubtedly, will result in several research
projects
in
the
short
term
aimed
at
shedding
some
light
on
this
dilemma.
Traditional
management
models and
paradigms do not adapt to the requirements of new
products, as there are more
and
more
exceptions
and
questions
on
the
models
developed
so
far
(Lovelock
and
Gummesson, 2004; Vargo and Lush, 2004).
In this complex context, this paper aims to make
an
in-depth
study
of
the
field
of
cultural
services
management
by
using
two
concurrent
perspectives
–
relationship
marketing
and
services
marketing
–
,
in
order
to
contribute
to
the
development of the new marketing
domain: cultural marketing (Kotler, 2005). This is
a field
still
in
its
development
phase,
but
has
probably
found,
with
these
new
trends,
the
right
moment
to
grow
and
develop
management
structures
and
models
that
meet
its
particular
requirements.
From
the
very
beginning,
contributions
made
to
the
cultural
sector
by
the
marketing
discipline have
been very diverse. However, although they seem to
have come to a consensus
1
in the scientific world about the idea
that the management of cultural identities
presents such
special characteristics
that make it considerably different
(V
oss and V
oss, 2000;
Colbert, 2001;
Johnson
and
Garbarino,
2001;
Arts
Council
of
England,
2003;
Kotler
and
Scheff,
1997).
Contributions
from
the
marketing
management
area
still
do
not
suffice
to
construct
a
knowledge base that is solid enough to
create a theoretical management framework similar
to
the one other disciplines with more
tradition in marketing research have.
In
this
context,
it
is
stated
that
the
relationship
marketing
paradigm
offers
a
suitable
framework
for
the
implementation
of
cultural
management
and
this
research
study
has
focused
on
the
performing
arts
services
sector,
as
considering
that
it
is
one
of
the
most
forgotten
sectors
by
scientific
researchers
of
management.
Furthermore,
the
decreasing
consumption of this art form in Europe
goes against the trend if taking into account that
time
and money invested in
leisure activities has
not
stopped growing
with
countries‘ economic
development. In view of this situation,
questions as following are required: what is the
reason
for this loss of competitive
advantage?, what is being done wrong to be losing
impact in a
market, which, in theory,
is becoming more and more inclined to consume
leisure activities,
such as the
performing arts?, which agents are responsible for
the results?, which agents are
affected
by the results?, what can be done to improve this?
These questions are the basis for
carrying out this research study.
ONSHIP
MARKETING
, SERVICES
MARKETING AND
CULTURAL
MARKETING AS THREE CONVERGENT
PERSPECTIVES:
Relationship
marketing
has
become
one
of
the
most
important
contributions
in
the
development
of
modern
marketing
science
(Payne
and
Holt,
2001),
and
it
has
generated
a
recognised
interest
in
the
field
of
scientific
research.
What
is
more,
in
the
opinion
of
numerous authors, it has even been seen
as a new paradigm (Gummesson, 1999; Peck et al.,
1999; Webster, 1992; Sheth and
Parvatiyar, 2000; Kothandaraman and Wilson, 2000).
With
the
concept
by
Gummesson
(2002)
on
―relationship
marketing
is
interactions
in
networks of relationships‖
as a starting point, the management of a cultural
organization is
understood
as
being
necessarily
determined
by
a
multitude
of
agents
in
the
market,
be
included in the organization‘s planning
process, since the value of the final product is
going
to depend on them to a large
extent. The role of the interest groups in the
planning process of
the
organizations
is
one
of
the
least
cultivated
areas
of
relationship
marketing
(Henning-Thurau
and
Hansen,
2000).
Payne
and
Holt
(2001)
explicitly
refer
to
this
defic
iency: ―understanding
long
-term relationships with both
customers and other stakeholder
2
groups
has
been
neglected
in
the
mainstream
marketing
literature;
managing
the
organization‘s
internal
and
external
relationships
needs
to
become
a
central
activity;
th
is
central
activity
is
relationship
marketing‖.
We
are
faced,
therefore,
with
a
new
scenario
in
which one-to-one marketing has given
way to many-to-many marketing (Gummesson, 2004);
in other words, planning relationships
with individuals has evolved to planning
relationships
with collectives, with
interaction networks.
On
the other hand, either when contributions
in
the field
of
cultural
marketing do not
record enough standardization or volume
to be grouped in trends or schools, they do share
a
value: the importance of
relationships in their management. Contributions
made in this area
are very diverse, in
most cases focusing on relationships with
customers (relationships with
the
performing
arts
audience).
Garbarino
and
Johnson
(1999)
use
the
stage
of
an
off-Broadway
theatre
in
New
York
to
explore
the
transaction/relationship
continuum
proposed
by
Gronroos
(1995)
to
conclude
that
the
performing
arts
audience
has
different
behavioural
profiles
depending
on
the
relationships
developed
with
the
organization
or,
specifically, ―
in a consumer
environment in which customers receive highly
similar services
[...]
there
are
systematic
differences
in
the
relationalism
of
different
customer
groups
‖.
Rentschler
et
al.
(2001)
also
considered
an
empirical
approach
to
relationships
with
the
audience
of
performing
arts
organizations
in
Australia:
―
what
arts
organizations
need
to
consider is whether the
expense of having high single-ticket sales is
sustainable and, if not,
what to do
about it
‖.
PRODUCT
AND
RELATIONSHIPS
WITH
CUSTOMER’S
SUGGESTIONS
ON
A
MODEL
FOR
THE
RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT
OF
CULTURAL
SERVICES:
Relationships with the
audience are the central component in the
configuration of the
relationship
marketing
management
model
for
cultural
organizations.
This
central
place
is
shared
with
the
cultural
product,
whose
general
marketing
model
presents
special
characteristics that
differentiate it from the classic structure of
marketing, as:
1.
Marketing
process
starts
in
the
producer
organization,
and
from
this
origin
(the
cultural
product) a decision
has to
be made concerning
the part of the
market
that
may be
interested in consuming it.
2.
Once
potential
consumers
have
been
identified,
the
company
will
decide
on
the
remaining relationship policies
(instrumental and group, which we will cover
below).
Therefore,
we
are
faced
with
a
kind
of
market
whose
marketing
process
shows
a
3