Marketing communication: principles and practice

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and providers can ask questions. This form of ‘corporate conversation’ can
provide both parties with information on a range of aspects of a much more
negotiated relationship (trust, credibility, risk, etc). We will discuss this
further in chapter eighteen when we consider the significance of identity,
image, and reputation. Arguably, marketing via the Worldwide Web (WWW)
is changing the dynamics of competition, since it is now website creativity
rather than market power that matters – pressure is on marketing managers
to differentiate their offerings on new terms – see Box 9.19 for an example
of a potential disadvantage of website marketing. Particularly taxing is that
the consumer/buyer has to find the provider rather than vice versa.
THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET
The Internet-centred business model, which requires reorganization of
business activities around networked communities, is replacing the increasingly
outmoded model of industrial organization. For a growing number of
businesses in all market sectors, this redesign has produced increased efficiency,
enhanced service capabilities, the empowerment of employees, improved
response time, and greater customer satisfaction. All people involved in the
purchase and supply of goods and services are connected, creating an
integrated production–supply–consumption chain comprising communities
of employees, customers, managers, and suppliers and partners. The
technology adopted has to be capable of providing more than systems for
passive information transmission and electronic brochures. Interactive
networks have to be enabled. This is an issue that has yet to be fully addressed
by those software vendors and consultants who have adopted the terminology
of relationship strategy but not the substantive principles. This is considered
further in chapter twelve when we examine relationship marketing and (the
currently fashionable) customer relationship management (CRM).