Practices of Relationship Marketing: A Domain Review

This paper traces the issues relating to the practice of relationship marketing (RM) in the business-to-business context. Because of its inherent suitability, it generates fruitful result for the practicing organizations. Rapid technological advancement, adoption of total quality programs, rapid growth of the service industry, organizational redesigning and reengineering and an increase in competitive intensity leading to the growth of relationship marketing orientation. Relationship marketing has its long historical background. From the pre-industrial era to the present post-industrial era it is evolving and more and more organizations are embracing the relationship marketing stance. To do better with the RM approach its inherent characteristics including structural characteristics and process characteristics should be understood clearly by the practicing companies. As relationship marketing is a multi-dimensional construct consists of various elements like bonding, empathy, tangibility, reciprocity and trust, due attention needed to be availed by the organization to utilize the RM strategy properly. In addition, conditions for practicing relationship marketing should be understood well to avoid the situation made the approach less effective. Finally as divergences are available, its comparatively new area of key account management strategy is also examined.