The emergence of the relationship marketing approach in the marketing field is
seen as a paradigm shift from the traditional marketing mix of ‘4 Ps’. As a result,
organisations began to look for ways to develop strong and lasting relationships
with their customers. This paradigm shift resulted in relationship marketing being
researched extensively. Most research on relationship marketing has been done
from the perspective of the organisation. The uniqueness of this particular study
lies in the fact that research has been done from the perspective of the customer
(licensed tavern owners).The aim of this study is to investigate the perceived value
of relationship marketing from the perspective of the customer (licensed tavern
owners). The study focuses on the relationship between the supplier organisation
(Distell Limited) and the customers (licensed tavern owners). The empirical study
was quantitative in nature. Data was collected using self-administered
questionnaires. The research study focused on a sample of 100 licensed taverns
in the Durban Metropolitan Area of KwaZulu-Natal, of which 96 responded. The
findings of the study confirmed the importance of relationship marketing activities
as applied by the supplier organisation to the licensed tavern owners. Significant
importance was placed on relationship marketing strategies: the results rated
social bonds as most important, followed by structural bonds and then financial
bonds. The most important contribution of the study is in the development of a
framework for the management of long-term relationships. This was done through
the construction of a model which can be used for the development and the
management of long-term relationships in the supplier-customer context. The
current study focused on one sector of the liquor industry, namely the licensed
tavern business. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/10815 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Memela, Mziwandile Siyabonga. |
| Contributors | Kaplan, L. V. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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