Setting out to dispel the argument that case study research lacks the science, theory, and therefore validity of other forms of research, Evert Gummesson combines many decades of experience as both a renowned scholar and a reflective practitioner to effectively bridge the divide between case...

Ch. 1. Relational approaches to marketing -- Ch. 2. Classic market relationships -- Ch. 3. Special market relationships -- Ch. 4. Mega relationships -- Ch. 5. Nano relationships -- Ch. 6. Marketing metrics and return on relationships -- Ch. 7. RM and the network organization -- Ch. 8. RM/CRM :...

Purpose – With Sweden and Europe and the present and the future as vantage points, the purpose of this paper is to challenge the viability of customer centricity (or customer orientation) and its axiom, the marketing concept, as the basis for marketing and profitability....

This is a critical discourse on marketing management textbooks and their presentations of general marketing theory. These books claim to be general, complete and up‐to‐date, although the base of “textbook theory” is consumer goods mass marketing, a minority of all marketing if compared...

Develops a definition of action research that is particularly suitable for marketing and based on the articles in this issue of European Journal of Marketing , emphasising the breadth of action research in marketing and its distinctive interest in analytic generalisation, that is, in building a...

Purpose – To discuss and analyse three themes in qualitative research in marketing which are objects of both frustration and confusion: analysis and interpretation; theory generation; and a quest for scientific pluralism and individual researcher lifestyles. Design/methodology/approach –...

Most of a company′s marketing is not carried out by the professional full‐time marketer but by the amateur part‐time marketer (PTM), who is omnipotent both inside and outside a company. The PTM influences customer relations and revenue without belonging to the marketing or sales...

Explores the dependency between relationship marketing (RM) and new developments in organization theory. In RM, relationships, networks and interaction are in focus. The primary role of marketing is to connect suppliers and customers but RM also includes relationships with other stakeholders,...

Purpose: The purpose of this viewpoint is to analyze and interpret the author’s career as a researcher in marketing. Design/methodology/approach: This viewpoint applies case theory (Gummesson, 2017a), in which the author is the case. Findings: One should respect the difficulty of...