Marketing communication: principles and practice

WHAT IS INTERNAL MARKETING?
The literature on marketing, services marketing, corporate strategy, total
quality management, operations management, human resource management,
organizational communication, and organizational development refers to
an internal-marketing concept, an internal-market concept, or an internal
customer–supplier relationship concept. 
The internal-marketing concept has its origins in the writings on service
management and service quality improvement which have flourished since
the mid-1970s. More recently, the concept has been given wider application
as the belief that all corporations provide some degree of service has gained
acceptance. The notion of an internal supplier–customer chain can be traced
to the early literature of the resurgence in interest in quality. Another
perspective is that of internal organizational communications. 
It is increasingly recognized that in order to sustain a competitive position,
the corporation must develop a customer service culture that both allows and
encourages employees to give good service. While the possibility of differing
goals between managers and employees is recognized, nevertheless internal
customers have to be served well as part of the service to the ultimate external
customer. Employees who believe that their corporation facilitates their
performance, aids their career aspirations, and provides ‘positive’ supervision,
will feel free or ‘enabled’ to carry out the corporation’s main work of serving
customers. 
In the service business, you can’t make happy customers
with unhappy employees.
(Unattrib.)
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An internal market consists of people with moods, needs, and wants, which
must be continuously assessed, and satisfied. 
The need for real improvement in organizational capability for, and the
delivery of, valuable customer service, which matches customer needs, as a
basis for competitive strategy and competitive advantage, has received
widespread attention in the academic and professional management literature
in recent years. Bennis (1989) has spoken of the need for a ‘social architecture
capable of generating intellectual capital’ as a key to competitive advantage.
The ‘servitization’ of business (Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988) is resulting
in more employees becoming recognized as service providers, to each other
and to (external) customers. 
Their individual accumulated know-how within the corporation can turn
knowledge into applications that add value to the product or service offered
to customers. This is a service-centred business philosophy. Fisk 
et al
. (1993)
argue that internal customers and employee satisfaction are prerequisite
management concepts for (external) customer satisfaction. A service-centred
business philosophy is called for and competitive advantage is increasingly
achieved through the mobilization of the accumulated know-how of
individual employees to create value for customers through processes (service
activities) and relationships which are not easily copied. Competitive
advantage comes from recruiting and retaining more capable and better-
motivated staff than those of competitors. Studies have shown that employee
commitment requires that they have opportunities to participate in company
decisions and a clear understanding of company values.
Managers are urged to create actively the conditions under which people
will tend to be motivated (Weiss, 1989). This requires managers to focus on:
• finding the right person (abilities, skills, knowledge, but also behaviour
and understanding of others – Weiss terms this personal style)
• structuring the role to add value to organization activity and future
direction
• establishing proper mechanisms to ensure superior performance, requiring
flexibility, support, and feedback
However, there is continuing internal resistance to marketing in some
corporations, particularly when the pursuit of a marketing organization 
would require major organizational or procedural change. Managers may
also be required to assume greater responsibilities through direct involve-
ment in the marketing process. This, potentially at least, may be a dilemma 
for managers. Internal marketing has been suggested as a means to develop
employee awareness of their roles and help them to commit to active