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The challenge of relationships in services ‐ a New Zealand study

Mark Colgate (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
Kate Stewart (University of Ulster, Northern Ireland)

International Journal of Service Industry Management

ISSN: 0956-4233

Article publication date: 1 December 1998

2011

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the challenge posed by the management of customer relationships in services. The focus is on banks, although similar service businesses (with long‐term customers) may be expected to encounter like challenges. The relationship approach for businesses is discussed and is judged to be quite fundamental with wide‐ranging implications. The paper considers the appropriateness of the relationship approach for retail banking given the prerequisite conditions suggested by the literature. The personal banker strategy is considered as a means to implementing the relationship approach in retail banking. Empirical findings from a study examining the role of personal bankers in New Zealand are presented. It is concluded that a relationship strategy can be a double‐edged sword: implemented well it can have the desired effects; implemented badly it can have a negative impact that will leave the organization with more problems than if they had done nothing at all.

Keywords

Citation

Colgate, M. and Stewart, K. (1998), "The challenge of relationships in services ‐ a New Zealand study", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 454-468. https://doi.org/10.1108/09564239810238857

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited

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