Building relationship platforms in consumer markets: a value chain approach

Abstract

Relationship marketing in consumer markets predicates that the relationship between the firm and its customers adds value beyond that of the mere exchange, but it does not delineate how this value is produced. Current practices in the field suggest that customers are invited to join the value chain productively, but the means offered to them are supplier specific. In this paper, we present an alternative view of the customer's value chain and we locate relationship marketing in the blending of the activities of two strategically positioned yet highly dependent systems of production and consumption. Linking the value chains of the firm and the customer we identify viable platforms for value relationships and channels that can provide hospitality to a dialogue between the two.