Competitive advantage, knowledge and relationship marketing: where, what and how?

An organization's ability to enjoy long‐term competitive advantage is closely related to its capacity for knowledge creation, dissemination and use. From a practical point‐of‐view the value of this statement could be increased if suggestions could be made to managers as to what kind of knowledge to seek for their organization, where and how to look for it. This article provides tentative answers to these questions from a relationship marketing perspective. In doing so the scope, processes and technologies of relationship marketing are discussed and their knowledge content and potential outlined. Finally, a conceptual framework for knowledge generation and dialogue in relationship marketing is proposed and directions for further research, alongside their practical implications for contemporary firms, delineated.