Relationships in business‐to‐business marketing – how is their value assessed?

An investigation which collected information within four countries sought to understand the views of marketing managers in industrial markets regarding their relationships with their organizational customers. The managers interviewed showed little awareness of the formal concept of relationship marketing. Their decisions as to which customers to approach and what costs to incur in building and maintaining contact with their customers appeared primarily to be based on subjective assessments of the situation, rather than accounting information. Evidence was also obtained that a lack of understanding typified the association between marketing and accounting staff.