In Search of a New Logic for Marketing

The book features 9 previously published journal articles written by Christian Gronroos between 1979 to date. Four of the articles will be on service marketing and four on relationship marketing, which emphasize his knowledge and expertise in the field of service, and relationship marketing during the last 27 years. The articles build to form a clear picture of the continuous development of the field, leading to a synthesis article and a comprehensive concluding chapter. The author offers an alternative to the mainstream marketing mix logic and has consistently pursued the search for an alternative logic for marketing. Preface.

Introduction: I Did It My Way.

Chapter 1. Marketing - A Discipline In Crisis.

PART ONE: ARTICLES ON SERVICE MARKETING.

Chapter 2. A Service-orientated Approach to Marketing of Services.

Chapter 3. An Applied Service Marketing Theory.

Chapter 4. A Service Quality Model and Its Marketing Implications.

Chapter 5. Marketing Services: The Case of a Missing Product.

PART TWO: ARTICLES ON RELATIONSHIP MARKETING.

Chapter 6. Relationship Approach to Marketing in Service Contexts: The Marketing and Organizational Behavior Interface.

Chapter 7. Quo Vadis, Marketing? Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm.

Chapter 8. Relationship Marketing: Challenges for the Organization.

Chapter 9. The Relationship Marketing Process: Communication, Interaction, Dialogue, Value.

PART THREE: A NEW LOGIC FOR MARKETING.

Chapter 10. Adopting a Service Logic for Marketing.

Conclusion: Towards Contemporary Marketing Theory.

Index.

Christian Grönroos is Professor of Service and Relationship Marketing at the Hanken Swedish School of Economic and Business Administration in Finland. He is also the Chairman of the board of its research and knowledge centre, CERS – Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management. He is the author of the best-selling textbook Service Management and Marketing – now in its third edition. Grönroos is a pioneer in his field and is one of the first to be associated with the term ‘service management’ to describe market-oriented management. He also introduced the concept of ‘service competition’ to describe modern service and information technology driven competition. In Search of a New Logic for Marketing is a unique collection of journal articles, illustrating 30 years of Christian Grönroos’ research into service marketing and its extensions into relationship marketing. Christian Grönroos portrays the reasons for his search and how it all began. He depicts the difficulties he encountered as a student who challenged the established truths. The book features eight journal articles on service marketing and relationship marketing published between 1978 and 2006 in which Gönroos demonstrates how his service logic based marketing theory evolves. His scientific background is that of the Nordic School of marketing, according to which nothing is constrained under scientific paradigms. Everything can and should be challenged.

The final part of the book discusses the foundations for contemporary marketing theory based on a service logic perspective. Grönroos challenges the convenience of the marketing mix metaphor and the exchange concept. He distinguishes interactions and relationships in networks as essential elements of today and introduces a promises management process, integrating several organizational functions as a backbone of contemporary marketing.