1、1 Relationship marketing and service marketing: convergence point of Culture Department of value creation ABSTRACT Using the relationship paradigm as a theoretical framework, a management model for cultural services (relationship marketing of cultural organizations) is proposed, what is an unprecede
2、nted contribution in the marketing field. By combining two convergent perspectivesas relationship marketing and services marketing, the model is structured on the basis of two large types of relationships in the management of a cultural organization: instrumental relationships and group relationship
3、s. The paper is an in-depth study of relationships regarding performing arts audience. A theoretical/empirical approach was applied, including face to face interviews to 1005 performing arts consumers and telephone interviews to a sample of 2005 individuals in Spain. Keywords: Cultural marketing erf
4、orming arts services relationship marketing 1. INTRODUCTION: The most recent literature on marketing management is demonstrating a revolutionary change in both form and content, which, undoubtedly, will result in several research projects in the short term aimed at shedding some light on this dilemm
5、a. Traditional management models and paradigms do not adapt to the requirements of new products, as there are more and more exceptions and questions on the models developed so far (Lovelock and Gummesson, 2004； Vargo and Lush, 2004). In this complex context, this paper aims to make an in-depth study
6、 of the field of cultural services management by using two concurrent perspectives relationship marketing and services marketing, in order to contribute to the development of the new marketing domain: cultural marketing (Kotler, 2005). This is a field still in its development phase, but has probably
7、 found, with these new trends, the right moment to grow and develop management structures and models that meet its particular requirements. From the very beginning, contributions made to the cultural sector by the marketing discipline have been very diverse. However, although they seem to have come
8、to a consensus 2 in the scientific world about the idea that the management of cultural identities presents such special characteristics that make it considerably different (Voss and Voss, 2000； Colbert, 2001； Johnson and Garbarino, 2001； Arts Council of England, 2003； Kotler and Scheff, 1997). Cont
9、ributions from the marketing management area still do not suffice to construct a knowledge base that is solid enough to create a theoretical management framework similar to the one other disciplines with more tradition in marketing research have. In this context, it is stated that the relationship m
10、arketing paradigm offers a suitable framework for the implementation of cultural management and this research study has focused on the performing arts services sector, as considering that it is one of the most forgotten sectors by scientific researchers of management. Furthermore, the decreasing con
11、sumption of this art form in Europe goes against the trend if taking into account that time and money invested in leisure activities has not stopped growing with countries economic development. In view of this situation, questions as following are required: what is the reason for this loss of compet
12、itive advantage?, what is being done wrong to be losing impact in a market, which, in theory, is becoming more and more inclined to consume leisure activities, such as the performing arts?, which agents are responsible for the results?, which agents are affected by the results?, what can be done to
13、improve this? These questions are the basis for carrying out this research study. 2.RELATIONSHIP MARKETING, SERVICES MARKETING AND CULTURAL MARKETING AS THREE CONVERGENT PERSPECTIVES: Relationship marketing has become one of the most important contributions in the development of modern marketing sci
14、ence (Payne and Holt, 2001), and it has generated a recognised interest in the field of scientific research. What is more, in the opinion of numerous authors, it has even been seen as a new paradigm (Gummesson, 1999； Peck et al., 1999； Webster, 1992； Sheth and Parvatiyar, 2000； Kothandaraman and Wil
15、son, 2000). With the concept by Gummesson (2002) on “relationship marketing is interactions in networks of relationships” as a starting point, the management of a cultural organization is understood as being necessarily determined by a multitude of agents in the market, be included in the organizati
16、ons planning process, since the value of the final product is going to depend on them to a large extent. The role of the interest groups in the planning process of the organizations is one of the least cultivated areas of relationship marketing (Henning-Thurau and Hansen, 2000). Payne and Holt (2001
17、) explicitly refer to this deficiency: “understanding long-term relationships with both customers and other stakeholder 3 groups has been neglected in the mainstream marketing literature； managing the organizations internal and external relationships needs to become a central activity； this central
18、activity is relationship marketing”. We are faced, therefore, with a new scenario in which one-to-one marketing has given way to many-to-many marketing (Gummesson, 2004)； in other words, planning relationships with individuals has evolved to planning relationships with collectives, with interaction
19、networks. On the other hand, either when contributions in the field of cultural marketing do not record enough standardization or volume to be grouped in trends or schools, they do share a value: the importance of relationships in their management. Contributions made in this area are very diverse, i
20、n most cases focusing on relationships with customers (relationships with the performing arts audience). Garbarino and Johnson (1999) use the stage of an off-Broadway theatre in New York to explore the transaction/relationship continuum proposed by Gronroos (1995) to conclude that the performing art
21、s audience has different behavioural profiles depending on the relationships developed with the organization or, specifically, “in a consumer environment in which customers receive highly similar services . there are systematic differences in the relationalism of different customer groups”. Rentschl
22、er et al. (2001) also considered an empirical approach to relationships with the audience of performing arts organizations in Australia: “what arts organizations need to consider is whether the expense of having high single-ticket sales is sustainable and, if not, what to do about it”. 3.THE PRODUCT
23、 AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS SUGGESTIONS ON A MODEL FOR THE RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL SERVICES: Relationships with the audience are the central component in the configuration of the relationship marketing management model for cultural organizations. This central place is shared with t
24、he cultural product, whose general marketing model presents special characteristics that differentiate it from the classic structure of marketing, as: 1. Marketing process starts in the producer organization, and from this origin (the cultural product) a decision has to be made concerning the part of the market that may be interested in consuming it. 2. Once potential consumers have been identified, the company will decide on the remaining relationship policies (instrumental and group, which we will cover below). Therefore, we are faced with a kind of market whose marketing process shows a
