Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore, analyse and discuss the published concepts of “the customer” and “customer service” in the context of managing international emergency relief chains. Design/methodology/approach – This is a literature‐based approach that extends...

In recent years, many retail industries have come to be dominated by a few extremely large competitors. For example, Wal‐Mart, Kmart, and Target prevail in the discount competitive set. Such customers are referred to as key accounts and are “treated differently” by selling firms. The...