The marketing of professional services is a relatively recent discipline driven by a changing political and social environment. The services marketing literature has evolved within this changing environment from an initial focus upon the distinction between products and services; to the importance of quality, relationships, interfunctional coordination and processes; and most recently to the contemporary marketing practices framework and the service dominant logic. In this thesis, secondary data were analysed to understand trends within the major forces affecting the attractiveness of the companion animal veterinary services industry in Australia. Case studies complemented this analysis by describing individual organisations operating within local environments, their marketing practices and performance. A survey of the industry was subsequently administered and analysed to describe the relative importance of industry forces upon incumbents, the range of contemporary marketing practices adopted, and to test relationships between environment, marketing practices and marketing performance. Whilst secondary data revealed that pet ownership and household demographic trends were leading to stabilisation of the number of potential buyers for companion animal veterinary services at a national level, this research has found that changing attitudes towards pets, pet care and the human animal bond, together with advances in technology and individual veterinary hospital marketing practices, had generally resulted in a positive impact on veterinary revenue within the last 10 years. For individual veterinary hospitals competing within this industry, external environmental and industry structural forces were of varying importance and both functional and process approaches to marketing were evident within the industry. Specifically with respect to the contemporary marketing practices framework, companion animal veterinary hospitals in Australia mostly related to their markets through interaction marketing but also employed transaction, database and network marketing practices. Network marketing practices were found to be effective for acquiring clients and interaction marketing practices were effective in driving revenue growth. This research has provided potential contributions to extant literature in the areas of industry analysis, services marketing and more specifically within the discipline of veterinary business management. Firstly, the framework combining external forces (political, economic, social, technological and natural) with industry structural forces analysis was an effective method for analysing the marketing environment affecting the companion animal veterinary services industry in Australia. Secondly, industry attractiveness was significantly related to industry profitability and transaction marketing practices were associated with less attractive environments. Thirdly, whilst secondary data defined the industry as mature, marketing practices adopted by industry incumbents have resulted in significant revenue growth in recent years. Finally, whilst the marketing literature has emphasised the distinction between transactional and relational perspectives, this research has highlighted the possibility of considering a functional and process approach to the marketing of professional services. Linked to this latter finding, this research has highlighted the value of the contemporary marketing practices framework for understanding the marketing of professional, high-involvement services, and integrating theoretical and empirical perspectives in marketing. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/273606 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Baguley, John, University of Western Sydney, College of Business, School of Marketing |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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