The relationship between a market and a consumer is complex. Far from simply an exchange of services there is an often complex transaction of feeling, meaning and experience. How does the study of relationship marketing interpret this? In this exciting new book the authors explore the factors of relationship marketing in its contemporary context, with the consumer in mind. From the experience of a football club supporter to experiences of gap year travel, to text messaging behaviour, and to using the library, the focus of this text is on the consumer perspective. From this angle, issues of relationship marketing, and its management, take on a new and exciting bearing. Topics examined include: frameworks for analyzing the consumer experience; consumer communities; issues of customer loyalty; the impact of ICT on relationship marketing; and the creative consumer. Each chapter is supported by - or based on - an in-depth case study, many of which are drawn from the authors' research.

Unsettled times can arise from a variety of causes, including ones that are environmental, climatic, economic, social or political in nature. They can result in citizens' loss of homes and possessions, jobs, health or mobility. Citizens move from above the level of consumption adequacy, where their behaviors reflect long-term and higher-order needs, to below the level of consumption adequacy, where they are forced into a short-term focus on simple existence. In parallel, services provided by various organizations - utilities, transportation, medical, maintenance, housing, education, broadcasting, national state and local governments - may become ineffective or unavailable under such conditions. This book explores the effect of unsettled times on spatial service systems. It describes the scope and breadth of the problem as well as providing solutions by offering original insights from managers of service organizations (especially public services), policy-makers and service system researchers and students. The book briefly introduces the related concepts of consumption adequacy and spatial service systems. The impact of these issues for spatial service systems is analyzed, implications discussed, the lessons to be learned and conclusions will be drawn on the actions needed to build spatial service system resilience for future occurrences. The potential for this book is interdisciplinary, and could be relevant not only for business/management courses, but also in the areas of public administration and also economic geography.

The relationship between a market and a consumer is complex. Far from simply an exchange of services there is an often complex transaction of feeling, meaning and experience. How does the study of relationship marketing interpret this? In this exciting new book the authors explore the factors of relationship marketing in its contemporary context, with the consumer in mind. From the experience of a football club supporter to experiences of gap year travel, to text messaging behaviour, and to using the library, the focus of this text is on the consumer perspective. From this angle, issues of relationship marketing, and its management, take on a new and exciting bearing. Topics examined include: frameworks for analyzing the consumer experience; consumer communities; issues of customer loyalty; the impact of ICT on relationship marketing; and the creative consumer. Each chapter is supported by - or based on - an in-depth case study, many of which are drawn from the authors' research.

With the rise in deregulated service-based economies in developed countries over the last 40 years, an understanding of the marketing of services is essential to the marketing student, researcher and practitioner. This four-volume collection is structured around the evolution of services marketing scholarship from 1970 to the present, giving an unprecedented, detailed account of the relationship between the theory and practice of services marketing and the changing social, economic and technical environments over time. Each volume takes a distinct time period and theme as its subject. Volumes One to Three offer the last word on services marketing research of the 20th century, with volume Four looking towards a unified marketing approach for the current century. Volume One: The Development of Ideas for the Marketing of Services describes the evolutionary stages of research that established the credibility of services marketing. Volume Two: The Creation of the Sub-Discipline of Services Marketing covers the period in which service marketing became recognised as a sub-discipline of marketing, with its own boundaries and debates. Volume Three: A Focus on Customer Experience and the Changing Roles of Customers and Consumers discusses the scholarship of the late twentieth-century which started to foreshadow changing consumer experiences brought about by technology. Volume Four: Towards a Unifying Marketing Approach through Service treats the service-dominant logic of marketing with a focus on the debates seeking to eliminate the division between business-to-business marketing and business-to-consumer marketing.