RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: IMPORTANCE AND IMPLICATIONS IN THE CONSUMER MARKET

ABSTRACT Viewed by the companies as a way of achieving competitive advantage or simply of not to be left behind by those which have already practiced it, relationship marketing has many different approaches in terms of definition, presentation, interpretation and practice. However, in its essence, the relationship marketing concept aims to the maintenance of loyal, profitable and lasting clients, offering them, for this intention, value above the competitors’ offerings levels. The main purpose of this article was to understand some outlining aspects of the importance of relationship marketing to the companies, as well as some implications of this concept to their strategies definitions. To meet this objective, an exploratory research was conducted based on in-depth interviews with senior executives of leading consumer market companies, from eight different industries. As a result, there was a general acceptance by the companies that a good relationship philosophy, with proactive posture, without neglecting the human factor, can be very beneficial to their strategies. However, despite having succeeded in some cases, they frequently face other priorities, employees’ resistance and lack of interest, and scarceness of resources, among other discouraging factors, illustrating different evolution stages of the relationship marketing in the organizations.