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lntroduction: contemporary customers and resources

A number of authors writing in the marketing and management literatureagree that today's consumers can be considered as informed, networked,empowered and active (see, for example, Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004).This phenomenon is partly made possible by the increasing presence ofinformation and communication technology (ICT), which has created muchgreater opportunity for consumers to act - individually or collectively - interms of supporting, or objecting to, organizations and their products/brands.Indeed, this activity can happen with a speed that can unhinge carefully pre-pared organizational marketing strategies and practices. This has implica-tions for the traditional view of relationship marketing illustrated in the lastchapter in Figure 5.1, where the firm is perceived to be the focal point of anetwork of relationships. We have suggested that, if we take a consumerperspective on this, Figure 5.2 rnay be a more accurate representation ofcontemporary reality. Here, consumers interact with a variety of experienceenablers - and of course, with each other. While customer-to-customer inter-actions will be considered in more detail in Chapters 9 and 10, this and thefollowing two chapters focus more specifically on consumers as individuals,and the resources that they bring to bear within their networks of exchangerelationships with experience enablers.

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102 Retationships from a Consumer Experience Perspective

We can think about this consumer role through the perspective of theservice-dominant (S-D) logic of marketing, first outlined by Vargo andLusch (2004) which was discussed in Chapter 4. To briefly recap/ the S-Dlogic focuses on intangible resources and on the co-creation of value. TheS-D logic has significant implications for how we think about marketingexchange processes and relationships, and equally importantly, theresources that are brought to bear by both organizations and consumers tofacilitate this. Constantin and Lusch (1994) distinguish between operandand operant resources. Operand resources are those on which an operationor act is performed to produce an effect, whereas operant resources are

emp)oyed to act on operand resources (and other oPerant resources).Operand resources can be thought of as physical resources which cometogether in such a way as to produce physical goods (and, as mentioned inChapter 4, 'the customer' may be viewed by some organizations as anoperand resource as actions take place fo him/her). By contrast, operantresources are often invisible, intangible, dynamic and infinite, and could be

thought of in terms of consumers' skills and knowledge, etc., held bothindividually and collectively. Thus, consumers' ability to network andinteract together can be thought of as creating and facilitating operantICSOUTCES.

This chapter considers the use of consumer resources - both operant andoperand - by consum ers as indiaidunls, in terms of what constitutes these dif-ferent types of resources, and how they may be integrated. It begins by out-lining a framework produced by Arnould et al. (2006) by which consumerresource can be considered. It moves on to look at a specific example of cus-

tomer resource utilization and integration on behalf of an organization thatcan be thought of as an experience enabler. The organization in question isthe British Library (BL), the national library of the UK, which was recentlythe beneficiary of much support from its users when faced with threats toservices and the possibility of reduction in, and charges for, services that hadalways been freely provided. The chapter considers the types of resourcemobilized by BL users on behalf of the organizalion and how these resourceswere integrated by individuals. As we said earliel, individual consumers mayalso act collectively (as indeed, was the case with the BL), and Chapters 9 and 10

consider this aspect in more detail.

Consumer resourc€s: a framework for analysis

In considering how individuals use and integrate their resources in thecourse of their experiences with a particular organization/ we can take, as a

starting point, the framework offered by Arnould et al. (2006), which sug-gests that in order to enact roles and pursue life projects, consumers deployboth operand and operant resources. Operand resources constitute tangible

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102 Re[ationships from a Consumer Experience Perspective

We can think about this consumer role through the perspective of theservice-dominant (S-D) logic of marketing, first outlined by Vargo andLusch (2004) which was discussed in Chapter 4. To briefly recap, the S-Dlogic focuses on intangible resources and on the co-creation of value. TheS-D logic has significant implications for hon'n'e think about marketingexchange processes and relationships, and equallv importantly, theresources that are brought to bear by boih organizations and consumers tofacilitate this. Constantin and Lusch (1994) distinguish between operandand operant resources. Operand resources are those on iuhich an operationor act is performed to produce an effect, whereas operant resources areemployed to act on operand resources (and other operant resources).Operand resources can be thought of as physical resources which cometogether in such a way as to produce physical goods (and, as mentioned inChapter 4, 'lhe customer' may be viewed bv some organizations as anoperand resource as actions take place fo him/her). By contrast, operantresources are often invisible, intangible, dynamic and infinite, and could bethought of in terms of consumers' skills and knowledge, etc., held bothindividually and collectively. Thus, consumers' ability to network andinteract together can be thought of as creating and facilitating operantresoulces.

This chapter considers the use of consumer resources - both operant andoperand - by consumers as indiaiduals, in terms of what constitutes these dif-ferent types of resources, and how they may be integrated. It begins by out-lining a framework produced by Arnould et a1. (2006) by which consumerresource can be considered. It moves on to look at a specific example of cus-tomer resource utilization and integration on behalf of an organization thatcan be thought of as an experience enabler. The organization in question isthe British Llbrary (BL), the national library of the UK, which was recentlythe beneficiary of much support from its users when faced with threats toservices and the possibility of reduction in, and charges for, services that hadalways been freely provided. The chapter considers the types of resourcemobilized by BL users on behalf of the organization and how these resourceswere integrated by individuals. As we said earlier, individual consumers mayalso act collectively (as indeed, was the case with the BL), and Chapters 9 and 10consider this aspect in more detail.

Consumer resources: a framework for analysis

In considering how individuals use and integrate their resources in thecourse of their experiences with a particular organization, we can take, as astarting point, the framework offered by Arnould et al. (2006), which sug-gests that in order to enact roles and pursue life projects, consumers deployboth operand and operant resources. Operand resources constitute tangible

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Consumer Resources: Use and lntegration 103

resources, especially economic resources and goods/materials over whichthe consumer has 'allocntiae' capabilities. In contrast, operant resources arethose over which the customer has 'authoritatiue' capability, and these oper-ant resources include physical, cultural and social resources. Operantresources (and their specific configuration) - as they are often linked to cul-tural schema - will influence how the consumer employs their operandresources. We will consider the different kinds of operand and operantresources in more detail below.

0perand resources

Operand resources are tangible resources, especially various culturallyconstituted economic resources (such as income, inherited wealth, credit, etc.)

and goods/raw materials over which the consumer has control - or'alloca'tiue capabilitry' in Arnould et al.'s terminology. The operand resources held bya consumer may vary in quantity and quality, and, according to Arnould et al.,

could include objects acquired from exchanges with marketers (i.e. thingsthey have bought), gifts, inherited special possessions, found and self-createdobjects, and could also include some physical spaces (such as home, work-space, garden, etc.). The amount of operand resource held by consumers willobviously affect their exchange behaviours with firms.

Operant resources

The consumer's stock of operant resources will affect how they employ theiroperand resources. For example, the operant resources - social, physicaland cultural - that are held will determine which firm resources consumersare going to draw on and how they will be deployed in order to co-createvalue. The different types of operant resource identified by Arnould et al.are described below.

Social operanf resources are:

networks for retationships with other inctuding traditionaI demographicgroupings lfamities, ethnic Aroups, social ctass) and emergent groups lbrandcommunities, consumer tribes and subcuttures, f riendship groupsl over whichconsumers exert varying degrees of command. lArnouLd et at. 2006: 931

Physical operant resources relates to consumers' physical and mentalendowments which will affect their ability"to enact life roles and projects,and can include energy, emotion and strength. Arnould et al. (2006) give theexample of people who are legally blind who may employ other operantphysical resources (i.e. other senses) and effort to a greater degree to com-pensate for their lack of vision, and/or exert authority over other socialoperant resources during an exchange process - for example by asking a


relative or friend to accompany them to oi:e: aj-'-t;e ar,d opinion in certainbuying situations.

Arnould et al. state that these types of ope:a-:': risri--ri€S above are linkedto cultural schema, such as conventions. trai:;.-:-. --.arrrs oi speech and ges-ture, and this cultural dimension r,r'ill to sorr.e :r.;i:.: rror-ide a broader con-text for their use of these other resources. J:.-::,-.;.- :,-'ari't-rtt resources - ilwhich Arnould et al. include life expectafior,. a:re .rsion; imagination andspecialized knowledge/skills - are likened rc ::.. r-i.r:-on of core competenceswhich can be applied in or extended to a \-a::ei:-r- c: si:uations. For example,a consumer may use the physical skills ac;;red. to plav one particularmusical instrument to help in learning to prar a:.c:her irstrument.

This chapter considers consumers' use o! 'roli. op€rdr1t and operandresources in order to achieve their life roles a-nc :rciecis, using the case studyexample of the British Library (BL). Here, ir-lters, researchers (both acade-mic and commercial), students and indir idual ri.embers of the public amongothers will use their own resources - in conj',mcion rr-ith those facilities andservices offered by the BL - to co-create r-alue, a--.cl in dorng so achieve theirindividual life roles/projects, whether these te adr-ancing knowledgethrough for example, academic research, t4 rng io comrnercialize anentrepre-neurial idea that they have, completing their r-rndergraduate or postgraduatedegree, or finding out more about their familr- histon-.

Context: the British Library

The British Library was created in 7972 through an amalgamation of exist-ing institutions, including the library departments of the British Museumand the Patent Office Library. Its collection comprises 150 million items,including 13 million books, 7 million manuscripts (many of unique historicalimportance),4.5 million maps, 56 million patents, 3.5 miliion sound recordings,8 million stamps and 58 million newspaper issues, serial parts, microfilmsand other formats. It is a library of legal deposit, n'hereby it receives a copyof every publication produced in the UK and lreland, and in 2003 this wasextended to electronic materials, including websites. The main collections arehoused at St Pancras in London, in the largest pubLic building constructed inthe UK in the fwentieth century, opened in June 1998. The BL also undertakesdocument supply and lending activities based in Boston Spa in Yorkshire,and also an increasingly important web presence (see www.bl.uk).

Until 2001 the BL had no coordinated marketing activity, with little unifor-mity in terms of how the organization was presented externally. As a firststep to widening awareness, participation and usage, a fuller understandingof the market was sought.In2001, following an extensive programme ofresearch into user perceptions, etc., five main'broad audience communities'were identified: researchers; business people; the library network; schools

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and young people; and the general public. For each of these communities, aHead of Marketing was appointed, reporting to the Director of StrategicMarketing and Communications. The BL has sought to meet the needs ofthese disparate groups by promoting,'ready access to the British Library'scollection and information experts through a range of free and pricedservices which are becoming increasingly integrated' (British Library 2005).

Indeed, meeting the needs of users has been explicitly articulated inmarketing communications activity which, to ensure a consistency ofapproach, is themed around the concept of Adaancing Knowledge. Thus, foreach user community, marketing communications incorporates case stud-ies of how the BL has helped organizations and individuals advance theirown knowledge in order to achieve their business and,/or personal aimsand objectives - in other words, emphasizing the co-creation of value. Inaddition, the introduction of a new logo and brand identity has alsoensured consistency of approach. All the activities described above haveincreased public awareness of the British Library - research carried out byMORI in the summer of 2005 indicated that 75 per cent of Britons knewabout the British Llbrary, a significant increase from under 50 per cent fiveyears previously (British Libraty 2006).

External communications are also targeted at central government andother funding stakeholders. In order to highlight its efficiency and cost-effectiveness, the BL commissioned independent research to measure itseconomic impact. This research concluded that for the public funding itreceived, the BL produced a benefit-cost ratio of 4.4:1 - in other words, forevery f,1 of funding received f.4.40 is generated for the UK economy (BritishLibrary n/ d). This emphasis on cost-efficiency is ongoing - and communicatingsuccesses in reducing operating costs and increasing organizational effi-ciency is an important element of the marketing effort directed towardspolicymakers and related stakeholders. This is especially important whenfunding allocations are being decided, and such a situation provides thespecific context of the case study comprising this chapter.

The British Library and the comprehensivespending review 2007

Since coming to power in1997, the UK Labour government has initiated aseries of spending reviews, whereby government-department budgets areallocated. The first spending review in 1998 was termed a 'comprehensivespending review' (CSR), and a second CSR was completed in the autumn of2007.The aim of this second CSR was to identify the further investments andreforms needed to equip the UK for the global challenges of the coming decade.As such it represents a fundamental review of government expenditure,incorporating budget allocations through to 2010/77.

106 Relationships from a Consumer Experience Perspective

Inevitably, in the run-up to the announcement of budget allocations,speculation regarding the content of the CSR ar-id its implications forindividual government departments - and as a consequence, those otherorganizations/groups in receipt of funding from department allocations -was widespread. The BL falls within the remit of the Department forCulture, Media and Sport, and there r,r'as much concern among thoseresponsible for the management of cultural anenities over reportedthreats of cuts in grants of up to 7 per cent a \-ear tsee Teodorczuk200T).The potential implications and impact of such cr-rts for the BL were consid-ered in a briefing document which was u-ide1r- disseminated to MPs andpolicymakers. Here, the most relevant implicahon rr-as a potential 35 per centreduction in Reading Room opening hours and the introduction of chargesfor access. It caused particular consternation rr-hen nel.s of these possibleimpiications of cuts in funding - with reactiot-t from a number of famousauthors - was published nationally in lhe Ittd.et'eit'i.titt on Stmday newspaperon 28 january 2007.

This story was subsequently covered br-manr- r-Lational and local Londonnewspapers, as items of news and editorial comn-Lent, and also by individualcolumnists. The basic tenor of this cor"erage \\-as critical of what LiberalDemocrat peer Lord Avebury termed the Gor-ernment's 'cultural vandalism'(see Muir 2007). Individual MPs asked ParLiamentarr. Questions and therewas an Early Day Motion on 26 Februarv regarding the issue. In addition,the issue was discussed on a number of neivspaper-based and other 'blogs'.Such coverage served to very quickly raise and disseminate awareness of theissue among BL users, particularly academics, researchers and other regularusers of the reading rooms at St Pancras, u-ho u-ould be the group mostimmediately and directly affected by these proposed actions. An online peti-tion calling on the Prime Minister to keep the BL free of charge was startedon the 10 Downing Street website.

As part of its response to this controversr', in Februar,v 2007, BL sought toelicit views from its users, and posted the follon ing statement on itsSupporters' Forum website: 'If you lr,ant to support us please let us knowwhy the British Library is important to you'. This resulted in an overwhelm-ing response from users, with hundred of messages. Tr.r'o of the authors sub-jected nearly 600 of these messages to content analr-sis, using Arnould et al.'sframework to investigate the use of consumer resources further, and thisprovides the basis for the rest of the chapter.

BL user operand resources

A key theme which emergedoperand resources were veryhighlights this:

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I suspect that few of the schotars using the Library, and none of the studentsusing it, have much in the way of financiaI support for their studies. Given theexpense of visiting/staying in London now, any additionaL expense - such asthe idea of charging an access fee - woutd be insupportabte for many.

However, what did become apparent was the fact that many users were will-ing to use their limited operand resources to access BL facilities in order toachieve their life roles/projects. The mdn financial expenditure seemed tobe on travel to London and staying in London - not the cheapest city in theworld!- while using the BL:

I woutd meet scho[ars from a[[ over the Third Wortd, university tecturers fromlndia whose salary is an average of 200 dottars a month, who had managedto get to London on a smat[ grant, feverishty accessing records otherwiseunavai[abte to them, in the few days that they coutd afford.

Various respondents emphasized that over time this expenditure could bequite substantial:

During the [ast thirty-six years, I have travetled to the UK at teast once ayearwith the primary purpose of conducting research at the rare book andmanuscript cottections at the BL. ln financiaI terms atone, these trips haverepresented a contribution in excess of f 100,000 with attendant paymentsof VAT and so forth.

BL user operant resources

This analysis of user messages of support identified the use of all the typesof operant resource mentioned above, which are highlighted below, usingquotes from these messages.

Physical resources

The physical resources of energy and emotion of BL users was evident inmost of the letters of support. User input of energy was demonstrated withrespect to their use of the BL facilities, often over many years:

I cannot say how much the British Library has meant to me as a publ.ishingschotar and teacher. Without it I coul.d not have pubtished books on and edi-tions of the pLaywrights W B Yeats, J M Synge, Bernard Shaw, Lady Gregory,nor written the biography of Mrs W B Yeats.

... I wrote my f irst feature f ilm screenptay in the British Library, with the hourl.ybenefit of its world-ctass research resources. After a three-week writing andresearch period I sold an option on the script for f7000.

108 Retationships f rom a Consumer Experience !e-s:e:i ,e

lam an academic tiving in Zututand, soutr'r Ar-.: '"-e-. scroLarty resourcesaresomewhat timited. However, lmanage lo d: s:-:.=-."'research and get myartictes in international journats and bocKs. -: s _ ::ss DLe at teast parttybecause I have access to the British Libra-,' ..

Also evident was users'willingness to eue:-.: -:.::-; j:r order to providefurther support to the BL:

I have e-maited Gordon Brown and several s;f gr r,a.:5 ::rectly.

I have sent the fol.l.owing message to the Dec: o" 0tltlre Media and Sport.Ptease forward this message to whoever at iie 3: s keeping track of suchletters of protest.

None of my work land thus my happiness and rveLt-being) wouLd have beenpossibte without the BL.

lwas in the manuscript room of the British Library on Monday and, unawareof the gathering storm ctouds, fett immensel.y priviLeged and fortunate to bethere ...

Cultural resources

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As would be expected with users of a research facilih, such as the BL read-ing rooms, their level of education and speciaLized knowledge and skills aremuch higher than the adult mean. Half the messages of support were fromacademic faculty members and postgraduate research students. The rest o{the messages were from freelance and commercial researchers, authors, jour-nalists, llbrarian/ archivists, other (non-research) students and members ofthe public more generally. Given their occupations, the support letters werehighly articulate, with personal titles and qualifications (e.g. lrrof., Dr., etc.)often emphasized within or at the end of the letter to hopeiully add weightto its contribution.

Cultural diversity was also evident, with respect to home locations andplaces of work, with two-thirds of the messages of support coming from the

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UK, and the remainder from around the world, notably from NorthAmerica,Europe and Australasia. The cultural diversity was often linked to the user'shistory of research work using the BL s facilities:

It lthe BL] has been a sotid monumental presence for me as I have moved fromAustratia, to Canada, to the US with tong periods in the UK. Over the years I

have haunted the ol.d reading room in Great Russetl Street and used the newlibraries facitities at St Pancras.

First as a graduate student at the University of Pennsytvania, then as a visit-ing assistant professor at the University of Puget Sound in Washington State,and most recentty as an assistant and now associate professor of EngtishLiterature at the University of Toronto, I have spent at least two months at theBritish Library everyyear but one since 1995.

Social resources

It was evident from the messages of support that family relationships, con-sumer communities and commercial relationships played a significant partin the experiences of BL users. Customer-to-customer interactions, mostlymediated by modern information and communication technology, were acornerstone of the campaign, and not only via the BL website. Access toconsumer communities was indicated in several of the support letters:

I have just joined a facebook group detaiLing the government are proposing tocut the funding to the British Library.

As I am sure you know, the possibitity of Limited funds forcing you to begincharging for use of the [ibraries is everywhere on the lnternet.

Equally, there was evidence that work-related relationships contributed to theworldwide awareness of the potential cuts in funding. Some academic insti-tutions had multiple contributors to the BL website, indicating the existenceof networks within these locations. The quotes below demonstrate not onlythe importance of work-related/commercial relationships, but also the mannerin which these relationships contributed to the campaign momentum:

I am atso urging my academic colteagues to write to you on their own behatf.

ln case you are unaware of it, I draw your attention to the petition mentionedin the message betow ... which reached me this afternoon. lt came from anacademic friend who had cLearty added his name and sent it on to his entireaddress [ist.

As a member of UCU [University and CoLl.ege Union - the trade union for UKacademics] I have been asked to emaiI you to stress how important the BritishLibrary is to my research and to my writing.

110 Retationships from a Consumer Experience P:-s:::: ,e

Resource integration

The previous sections illustrate hon- custo::-:: ::-: .:::iLr\- their physical,cultural and social resources in support,:.: :: -r-='r -r-:rrrr in which theybelieve. These resources can be integriti:-', a: :.: -: :,'. -i ;:- ier-e1, almost sub-consciously. The following short quotar:c: ':: -,:---: e. has elements ofenergy and emotion (physical resources,. Sl;--.'--'-=: -c r-.r ledge and history(cultural resources), and family (social res. -::-

I am a 27-year-otd doctoraI student from lr=.arc, ^a ': reen to more tibrariesthan most peopte myage. Big ones Like the 3c:.e a^ ^ Sxiord orthe LibraryofCongress, Washington D.C., and littte ones i <: :ie Ra.oh Vaughn Wil.l"iams

Library in Cecit Sharp House, London. 0f aLl ri .::rar, experiences, the BritishLibrarystands out. I have ftown to London egce: a..' cn a number of occasionsto visit it. There, I coutd access material that r,'as irel: 'rci'rhere etse. ln particu-[ar, the National Sound Archive was a revelai o^.

"'as able to listen to the

recorded voice of my dead grandfather, who passei a ";av

Long before l was born.

The individual customer operant resour.e: ::e c-earlr- rntegrated collec-tively, as well as individually, as er-idencee :\ ::.e lo-r.rme of support for theBL and the speed with which it u-as ma.jies:e; :lrough membership ofsocial and professional networks, n'hich ?re .ta:lSid€red m more detail inChapters 9 and 10.

Util,ization of organizationaI resources

As Arnould et al. (2006) state in their original discussion of the model whichwas used for analysis of these messages of support, the firm itself can beviewed as a resource that customers can dran- on in achieving their life pro-jects and performing their life ro1es. This is certairLlv the case in the contextof the BL, with many messages of support highlighting the facilities and ser-vices offered by the BL as integral to this process. Thus, the BL"s collections,the service provided by its staff in facilitating use of these collections, andthe fact that all of this was accessible and freelv ar-ailable to ail were aspectsemphasized by users as being instrumental in the achievement of their liferoles/projects. The following quotes relating to these aspects are typical ofmany messages of support:

I write as the director of ... an internationaI research project, whoseresearchers have re(fed heavity on the co((ections of the Erftrsh L[brary formany years. The project coutd not f unction without the resources and facilitiesof what is, for my fietd, the greatest research tibrary in the wortd.

I have spent hours, nay days, in the 0l0C Reading Room and simpLy coutd nothave achieved as much without the wonderful freedom of access to thearchives and the invatuable hetp of the 0l0C Reading Room staff.

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Consumer Resources: Use and lntegration '111

There are other Copyright [ibraries in the UK, but there is nowhere etse that isso accessibte and which has such an enormous hotding of printed and othermateriats.

This has significant implications for how users regarded the BL and, indeed,how they perceived their relationship with the institution, the strength ofwhich being demonstrated, of course, by their willingness to expend theirresources on its behalf when threatened by potential cutbacks, which wereregarded by many users as a direct threat to their own values and objectives.The positive associations users felt with the BL in terms of its contribution tointellectual life, not only on a national, but also a global basis, arising fromthe BL s global 'reach', were evident in many messages of support:

It is one of the great cutturaI institutions in Europe, and a model of the freedissemination of learning, history and cutturaI perspective to a[[.

The British Library is not merety a UK national resource but a wortd resourceof inestimabte vatue to the pursuit of knowLedge internationat[y.

The internationalism of the BLs hol.dings has been fundamentaI and it must bethe case that the onty reaI competitors among wortd [ibraries are the Libraryof Congress and the Bibtiothdque Nationate. From that standpoint, the BL atsoperforms a service to the world.

Indeed, for many users the BL also had an important symbolic role whichwas obviously a major factor in the strength of their perceived affiliationwith the institution:

The BL is without doubt the Leading flagship institution for British schoLarship,and perhaps the most significant factor in the worLdwide reputation of BritishintettectuaI tife and culturaI history for foreign scho[ars.

The Library is a vitaI part of our nationaI cutture heritage, uphotding the tra-dition of free access to knowtedge for at[. People are rightl.y proud of such a

fantastic institution and to reduce its cotlections or charge for entry woutdhamper individuaLs in their research, work against meritocracy in academiaand reduce British schotarty prestige.

As noted above, the potential cuts to the BL were regarded by many users asa threat to their fundamental value systems, and as such, resonated withsymbolic meaning for users:

Its very presence and Imore significantty) the respect it is accorded by those inpower demonstrate that I tive in a civitised country that reatises that knowl.edge,and access to knowtedge, is vitat to successfuI human existence.

The research that is conducted in the BL is essential. both for the private interestof individuaLs and the construction of a coherent understanding of our nationaIhistory and cutture. The successfuI and responsibLe maintenance of nationalarchives is emblematic of a government's resolve to learn from history, ratherthan dismissing it as the concern of an interested minority.

112 Retationships from a Consumer Experie-:: r:-:r::: ,e

Conclusionsr implications for organizations

so.what are the possible implicaticr.-o ::.:-.:-.- -:= =xperience of the BLindicates the extent to which cor-.,;::-.:: :-. ::-i:riize their operantresources if sufficiently motivated. li. ::: : ::,------ :: --r*anization, iis con-sumers are willing to expend operaii ari - :=- , - - ."...',r."s on its behalithen developing relationships to faci-i:::= ---- j : iri-i11r a r.ery importanttask, and organizations should consrie: -:-i =

.-=... ,.. ir-hich ihev^can beproactive in this. The extent and speei .:-*-t: :-::;n_ie to the puthcationof news as to

-th," potential threat to BL -:. ,:i-. .1 :: r,ediated by IC! and

was facilitated by the BL via the esra:-:s:..:-.:.: ,:- a specific supporters,Forum on the organizational website :j:t.-*:: ,,.":::.;:-.

=rlrrug", oi supportwere channelled and put into the pub'i:c j.:'.',:-, :: r-dicate t"he strength ofuser protest about the potential cuts. ar:i :rtr:r:: ior the organization. Inother words, the BL tried to hamess a':l::s:..!-:s reaction to the news ofpotential cuts which would obviouslr ,-"-.. i.e:air.-eir- on the consumer,sexperience of the organization and, as \\-e .:.-;€ ;ele::. :cr'many users directlyundermine their fundamental beliefs ani -,-:-i:. >r,'stems n.ith regard to frelaccess to educational and personal deve,o:::e:-.: :ossibilities livnich theyregarded the BL as facilitating).

Indeed, when the BL's financial seftle:ne:.: as a result of the CSR wasannounced in November 2007, the proposei cuis did not materialize, andthe BL's 'grant-in-aid' from the Gor emmer.i i".-as increased in line withinflation (at 2.7 per cent per annum) unrir rr. i i 1i . It rr-as felt that the userresponse to the news of possible cuts ot'r-iou-<ir had an effect, althoughquantifying this is impossible. so n'hiie \\-e .an tni.'l oi this particular ini-tiative as successful in achieving its short-term ob'jectil e of influencing theoutcome of the csR process in 2007, it does raise some more general issuesfor organizations in terms of how thev mar- de'elop meanirigful relation-ships with their consumers, building'upon their positive exleriences of,a1d wi]h, the organization. one issue ielates to io', organLations maysolicit the views of their consumers as a means of buiidirig such relation_ships. All this information about hon, users perceived the BL and theresources they used in conjunction rt'ith the organization to co,createvalue arose from one question posted on the Supp6rters' Forum section ofthe organization's website. Thii raises some it-rteiesting points relating tothe development of new forms of marketing research i6.hoiq.r"r, particu-larly those mediated by information technoL gy, and. in partic'ular web 2.0and social networks, which can turn market research into- a more collabora-tive activity and facilitate the building of relationships between researcherand respondent (see cogke and Buckley, 200g). This approach gave BL man-agement the ability to gain rich data in the user,s oum ,.roi.", aboui their feelingstowards the organization and provided many new insights. we will returnto this issue later.

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Admittedly, BL users could be regarded as more educated and articulate thanthose of many other organizations, but arguably *y consulner community,when asked for its perceptions of the brand/company (especially if under threatin some way, as was the case here), could be quite eloquent in articr.rlating theirfeelings. Indeed, understanding the terminology used by consurners in such cir-cumstances may be of benehtto orgarlzations in creating promotional and com-munications messages, so as to communicate in a corunon language. Inadditioru the content of the messages of support enabled a fuller understandingof the values the users associated with the BL, which again could be used infuture marketing communications activity to optimize its effectiveness.

Hopefully in this case we have shown how an understanding of the differ-ent types of resources that consumers bring to bear in their relationshipswith organizations can be used for the benefit of all. The ability of organiza-tions to understand the nature of their customers' resource utilization, andcapitalize on this in the process of value co-creation will arguably be a majorchallenge - and indeed, opportunity - in the future.

Think of an organization with which you regularly engage in some formof exchange situation. What types of operand and operant resources doyou deptoy in your retationship with the organization?Thinking about the resources identified in the previous discussionquestion, how are they integrated?For your organization [or the last organization you worked forJ, whatoperand and operant resources are used to try to devetop retationshipswith consumers?

1.11 Retationships from a Consumer Experience pe-spect ,,,e

References

Arnould, E.J., Price, L.L. and Malshe, A. ili'-: l:,..,,:: :. Cui:ural Resource-basedTheory of the customer', in R.F. Lusch a.lc s T -" =::. ejs r, r/re seraice-DominantLogicof Marketing:Dialog,DebateandDire:::-.".; :-:=::_. \l:\I.E. Sharpe; gl0_gg3.

British Llbrary (2005) Redefining the Libr',tr:;: l::: .-:,:::-. - .:.-.;.-t. Strategy 2005_200g.Available from www.bl.uk,/about / strateg\'...::_

British Library (2006) British Libraty Anrttt-;.. R:1'---: --,-,---:,.'.:; 100546. Available fromwww.bl. uk / ab out / annual / Z00Sto200 6 ir:ro.j u ::_ : :.. :-.:::

British Library (n/d) Measuring Our Vnltte: R:.:,.:: ;.-. ":..-. .,'.Lqtg11dent Economic ImpactStudy Commissioned by the British Llbrnnt :: 1.1,.:.::,-. ::.: , i':rtn1,s Direct and IndirectValue to the LtK Economy. London: Brih>h Li::::-

Constantin, j.A. and Lusch, R.F. (199.{) LIr..i.:,;:.;..:.;.,.: -i.-i;,r.e Manngement. Oxford,OH: The Planning Forum.

Cooke, M. and Buckley, N. (2008) 'web 2.0, Soci a-. \e:-,r ..:ks and the Future of MarketResearch', International lournal of Mnrket R:::.;.,:::. j;,) : 267-292.

Muir, H. (2007) 'Cuts Threaten Sert'ices at Britr:i-. L:b:an ' , Gtnrclian,2g lanuary:7.Prahalad, C.K. and Ramaswamy, V (200-li Cc-C:eabon Experiences: The Next

Practice in Value Creation', lournal of lntert:::--: 1.,--;.,.;1;11ar,1gi3): 5-14.Teodorczuk, T. (2007)'Labour cuts "\{Iill set Ar: Gaileries Back a Decade,,, , London

Eaening Standard,23 lanuary: 16.vargo, s.L. and Lusch, R.F. (2004) 'Er.o1r'ing to a \err- Dorninant Logic of Marketing,,

l ournal of Marketing, 68(l anuary): 7-77 .

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A focus on consumer experience

This chapter explores relationship marketing from the perspective of theconsumer experience. There are academic, practical and pedagogical reasonsfor focusing on consumer experiences. From an academic perspective, theservice-dominant (S-D) logic of marketing, in FP10 (see Chapter 4), main-tains that'value is always uniquely and phenomenologically determined bythe beneficiary' (Vargo and Lusch 2008). As Vargo and Lusch observe, thisacknowledges the role of customer experience in value (co)-creation. Beyondthe S-D logic, there is increased academic interest in consumer/customerexperiences, especially those that are deemed to be memorably good or bad(see Lindgreen et aI. 2009).

In practice, 'experience' and 'experiential' are two of the most-used wordsfor describing products and services. For example, Holbrook (2009) cata-logues over 180 examples of such usage to describe a whole range of prod-ucts and services, within categories such as drinks, food, consumer durables,tourism, events, education, retailing and financial services. Also, theDepartment of Trade and Industry in the UK has published guidelines onmanaging customer experiences (Voss and Zomerdijk 2007), and another


government department, the Department of lnnovatlon, Unir.ersities andSkills, is producing Customer Inteliigence Packs for each of its major cus-tomer groups using customer experience methods i,\:rr-ood 2009).

Regarding pedagoglt, we argue that a iocu: rrn ionillfir€r experiencesprovides new opportunities for students/reader. tr'r engage in co-creatingvalue in the learning process. As Palmer and Koenis-Lenis observe,'customerexperience can be very difficult to measure', and that 'relationship market-ing has not adequately explored emotional antecedents and outcomes of arelationship' (2009:91). We agree, and therefore present a process that canoffer greater scope for learning about the thoughts, feelings and meaningsbehind consumer interactions, and the relatior*:hips that they spawn.

lntroducing Consumer Experience Modetting

The main purpose of this chapter is to introduce and explain a process forcollecting, coding and interpreting consurrLer 'r-oice' data relating to anexperience domain. The process has been labelled 'Consumer ExperienceModelling' or CEM. CEM will be explained here u-lth reference to a particu-lar experience domain - the gnp-year trscel ex,:erietrce. CEM is facilitated bythe ability to use a qualitative data analr-sis sofhr-are package.

To provide the context for the explanation-s in this chapter, a briefoverview of the gap-year travel experience domain is provided.

The gap-year travel experience

In the UK,'gap year' is common parlance for a r-ear's gap between schooland university (usually at 18 years of age), or belireen university and full-time employment (usually at 27 or 22 years of age). ln either or both of thegap years it is becoming increasingiy common for sludents to travel to othercountries, often working overseas for part of the r-ear. It is encouraged by anatay of travel publications and student lravel agencies that support back-packing activities (Huxley 2005). Despite har-ing the possibility to earnmoney during their overseas travels, manv gap-\-ear students rely on theirparents for some of the funding of the experience.

It was a growing marketplace in 2006 n-hen the data below were col-lected. According to Jones (2004), the number of UK people taking gapyears increased by 30 per cent over the period 1999-2003, with almost300,000 people (mostly between the ages of 18 and 25) taking a gap year outto travel in 2003. Bowes (2005) estimated that aror.ind 29,000 students woulddefer a university place in September 2005 and thousands more eligible can-didates would decide not to apply for universitv places. It is still a growing

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marketplace at the time of writing, with gap-year travel increasingly beingundertaken by non-students; 30-50-year-olds (Spero 2009). People, commit-ting themselves to gap-yeffi travel, have a common understanding of theactivities that comprise the gap-year travelling experience, and so it repre-sents a clear experience domain. It is very normal for student gap-year trav-ellers to 'share' their experiences with parents and friends via email andtelephone correspondence.

Consumer Experience Model,ting ICEMfl

Lr very general terms, CEM follows a qualitative research process (Figure 7.1).

Qualitative data from consumers are collected, coded and retrieved, andthen themes are identified from the retrieved data. \Atrhat is specific to CEM,and relationship marketing, is the method of coding (and, therefore, retrieving)and of theme identification.

Figure 7.1 Qualitative research process

Data collection

Having chosen an experience domain, it is necessary here to collect data, inthe words of the consumers themseloes, on their experiences within the domain.There are several possibilities for obtaining consumer voice data, including:

o personaL interviewsr focus groups. consumer diaries. bLogs (webtogs).

PersonaI interviews

Perhaps the most familiar device for obtaining qualitative data from respon-dents is the one-to-one (in-depth) personal interview, where a researcherinterviews a respondent about the topic of interest; in this case, the chosenexperience domain. Two initial decisions need to be made when using per-sonal interviews - the characteristics of the respondents and the structure ofthe interviews.


In the case of the gap-year travel experience, inten-ierrs n'ere carried out,by second-year undergraduate students, with people rr-ho had been on agap-year, and with some of the parents of the gap-r'ear travellers. Althoughthe parents are not, strictly speaking, consumers of the gap-vear travel expe-rience, it was recognized that they normally plav a large part in funding (andgenerally supporting) the venture and gain vicarious pleasure/anxiety fromtheir offspring's experiences. Also, in this case, the inten-iews were designedto be semi-structured. TWo considerations 1ed to this decision. First, highlystructured interviews that produce short ans\rers from respondents wereruled out as they were unlikely to generate the rich lnsights that are beingsought about the interactions that make up the consumer experience.Second, although totally unstructured inten-iervs, for example just askingthe respondent to tell the interviewer about their gap-vear, were considered,such a method requires experienced and conlident inten'iewers. The majorityof the student interviewers were 'first-timers'.

Bryman and Bell provide a succinct and helpful explanation of thesemi-structured interview:

The researcher has a Iist of questions on fairty specific topics to be covered,often referred to as an interview guide, but the interviewee has a great deaL ofleeway in how to repLy.0uestions may not fo[Low on exactty in the way out-tined in the schedute. Questions that are not inctuded in the guide may beasked as the interviewer picks up on things said by the interviewees. But, byand large, atl. the questions wil.l. be asked, and a simi[ar wording wiil. beused f rom interviewee to interviewee. [2003: 343]

To apply CEM, it is essential that permission is obtained to audio-record the inter-views, and also that 'word-for-word' transcripts are produced subsequently(for example in Microsoft Word).

Focus groups

The idea of focus groups is to get together a group of people so that they candiscuss a focal topic of common interest and, in so doing, express their atti-tudes, beliefs and behaviours on the topic. Idea111; they take the form ofloosely structured 'steered conversations' (Easterbr.-smith et al. 2002). withCEM, there will always be a focal topic of common interest - the experiencedomain - and so focus groups will always be an option for collecting con-sumer voice data. The person(s) who runs a focus group is / are known as themoderator(s). The moderator's role is probably even more difficult than thatof the interviewer in personal interviewers, as not onlr' does he/she need toprovide the loose structure to the steered conr.'ersations, but also must managethe dynamics within the focus group, so that all members of the group getthe opportunity to contribute, and there are ample opportr-rnities for memberJtorespond to the ideas of others.

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For the gap-year travel experience, focus groups, of fellow students whowere interested in, or had experienced gap-yer travel, were undertaken bythe second-year undergraduate students. Because none of them had acted as

a focus group moderator prior to the gap-year project, extensive practice wasprovided in tutorials. Again, it was stressed that it was essential that the focusgroup sessions were audio-recorded. Some groups were also video-recordedin order to capture facial expressions and other body language that aided anunderstanding of the group dynamics.

Consumer diaries

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, a diary is a 'daily record ofevents, journal'. Consumer diary research has often, in the past, been associ-ated with the collection of panel data, where consumers are asked to keepdiaries that detail their spending over a period of time, normally a month. Inthis sense, the consumer has been required to provide no more than a reli-able record of daily shopping/spending events. In CEM, however, whenusing consumer diaries to collect consumer voice data, it is necessary toencourage consumers to go beyond the daily record of events to the creationof a journal that not only records events relating to the experience domain,but also contains the consumer's feelings and thoughts about the events.Such a journal provides a much richer picture of interactions and relationshipswithin the experience domain.

Compare, for example, the two forms of diary entries written by a UKfemale gap-yeil traveller who is in Mexico:

[1] Spent 4 nights in Mexico City. Have visited an anthropology museum, had a

waLking tour of the Centro Historico, the Guadatope Shrine, and visited theTeotiuhacan Pyramids.

[2] Spent 4 nights in Mexico City, which isn't as scary as we thought it wouldbe. We didn't feet unsafe at aLt. The locats att seem very nice, atthough theylove to stare at us at[ the time. Are we being a bit paranoid? We are havingdifficutty in finding things to eat as it atl seems to be hot dogs and tacothings with a fitting that we are not sure if it's meat or not. We have beeneating at the hostel though for breakfast and dinner and that seems to beveggie stuff and it's free. Have visited an anthropotogy museum, had a

waLking tour of the Centro Historico, the GuadaLope Shrine, and visited theTeotiuhacan Pyramids. Thought we'd get aLL the cutturaI stuff out of the wayearty on !

The first account provides basic factual information. The second accountgives a better feel for both the person herself, and some of the issues that areimportant to her as part of the overall experience. Food (she is vegetarian),safety and money are clearly of paramount importance, and visiting placesof historical interest is portrayed as being more of a duty than a pleasure.

120 Retationships from a Consumer Experience Perspec:'ve

Clearly, the challenge is to find consumers rr-ith-b.':-:, re abr-ljfi-and motivationto provide diary entries of the second tvpe.

Btogs

Ablog (short for weblog) is a shared onhne i.-u:la, irhere people, knownas bloggers, post entries about their persur:.ra. erperiences, interests andhobbies. Entries often contain comments iha: :e=';-li in online discussionsand may also contain photographs and oth.e: irr.ages, and links to otherwebsites.

The variety of blogs that exist is quite stasgenng. A visit to the websitelntlpt//wv'/w.livejournal.com shows that the ra:lie of the popular consumerinterests covered by blogs covers almost nine pagesi The most popular inter-ests of consumers include music, movies, com:'uiers and art, but the first page

also covers interests such as Harry Potter, ca'-< ar..i piercrngs. The last page -and remember these are still popular interests - hcludes diverse topics such as

monkeys, |imi Hendrix, pixies and biseruaLit\-. It'. probably fair to claim thatblogs exist for any experience domain that is rr-orthr- of study.

The website http://www.travelblog.org. for erample, contains blogsabout gap-year travel. An excerpt of a blog dian'lrom this website is shownbe1ow.

Monday 3rd of Aprit 2006.

Yesterday, we finatl.y arrived at the trekking mecca of El. ChaLten after 14

hours spent on the bus. The argentinian side of the mountains is very scenic... for the first hour or two. After that it becomes quite boring. We thought fora white that our bus drivers were being rea[[y nice with us, stopping oftento let us take some pictures or stretch our legs. But the truth is that they areinstructed to bring their passengers to Et ChaLten as late as possibte. So that wewon't have the time or the energy to shop around for a place to stay and woutdcotlapse in the closest hotet to the bus stoP... which Isurprise!) is owned by

the same bus company! The usuaI gringo-miLking trick you see everywhere.But that's ok because we switched to a great B&B today. Can't wait to get outon those traits but the weather isn't that good. Maybe tomorrow...

Tuesday 4th of Aprit 2006.

A great night steep at our B&8. Feeting very rested and eager to go hiking.Some ctouds in the sky and a bit of wind. lt might be wiser to wait for theweather to clear up. Probabty this afternoon. The town has a rea[ 'frontier'feeting with its unpaved roads. Lots of hoteLs though. And some nice restau-rants too. The argentinian cuisine tastes great after three weeks spent inChite. Looks tike this area was a sacred place for the TehueLche indiansbefore they were crushed by the mighty white invaders (and the viruses theybrought with them from Europel. According to our hosts, the land on whichthis hoteL was buitt was some sort of speciaI buriaI ptace. Strange. lt atl looksso peaceful now ...

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lntroducing Consumer Experience Modetting 121

On the website, there are photographs to accompany the journal account,and a space for comments from readers of the blog.

In some ways, blogs capture elements of both consumer diary writing andfocus groups, and so they are potentially extremely valuable sources of con-sumer data. Also, there is no problem with motivating consumers totaik/write about their experiences, as they are self-motivated. However,with blogs, the researcher loses some control of the research process. Thereis, as yet, little advice on the efficient and effective use of blogs for marketingresearch purposes, and so it is probably prudent not to use blogs as the onlyor dominant method of collecting consumer voice data.

Overall, the data-collection stage of the CEM process should be guided bythe need to encourage consumers, in their own words, not only to describetheir experiences but also to convey their feelings and opinions about theirexperiences. It is also bound to be guided by practicalities, such as availabil-ity of suitable respondents/data. Although individuals can undertake thedata collection stage, it is one which can normally be better and more quicklyachieved by groups of students or other researchers. Combinations of thefour methods - personal interviews, focus groups, consumer diaries, blogs -should be considered. For the gap-year travel experience, both personalinterviews and focus groups were used, resulting in transcripts of 24 per-sonal interviews and 11 focus groups. It is not unusual to have 50-100 ormore pages of text at this stage, and the process of analysis of the qualitativedata is a considerable challenge.

We move now to the data-coding stage. Here the process of data analysisis facilitated by:

. the appLication of the framework iLtustrated in Figure 5.2o the use of a qualitative daia anaLysis software package, such as NVivo.

The key word is 'facilitated'. The framework in Figure 5.2 and the NVivosoftware make a difficult task more manageable and understandable, butlarge doses of critical thinking are essential at this stage. This is another rea-son why it is advisable to undertake CEM in groups, as members of thegroup can bounce ideas off each other and, through shared learning, arriveat a robust set of codes or classifications.

Data coding

The transcripts of the 24 personal interviews and 11 focus groups associatedwith the gap-year travel experience are the 35 documenfs that wereanalysed with the help of NVivo. The data coding consists of assigning sub-sections (phrases, sentences, or paragraphs) of each document to appropriateclassification categories. The choice of classification categories in any


qualitative-analysis process is difficult and often entails mdn1. 1s-.lursificationsas documents are successively scrutinised.

A starting point: a focus on first-order interactions

With CEM, a very helpful start to the coding process is provided by the frame-work presented in Figure 5.2. It is recommended that the fust-order interactionsof Figure 5.2, i.e. the interactions that consumers have n-ith other consumersand with experience enablers, provide the basis for the initial iabelling of thecategories. More specifically, top-level categories should be labelled as:

o consumer-to-consumeT interactions w ih a::-' -t:.1 t:f eT consumeTs, or C2CAo consumer-to-consumer interactions wrth unacc-: .::c ciher consumers, or C2CU. consumer interactions with exper!ence enao:er-s c: CZE1.

Deating with experience enablers

Prior to the analysis, the number of different experience enablers is unknown,and so a second level of the category C2EE would itemrze the C2EE interactionsaccording to the specific experience enablers, as representedby Figure 7.2.

Figwe 7 .2 The breakdown of C2EE interactions

From the gap-yeil travel data, a total of n = 77 C2EE interactions wereultimately identified, relating to the following experience enablers (in alpha-betical order): accommodation, airline, bank/money,bus, destination, email,events organizer, insurance, internet, jobs before travel, jobs in gap yeaLmedical, rail/train, school, telephone/mobile phone, tour company, travelagent and university.

Consumer-to-consumer interactions with acquaintedother consumers lC2CA!

These are interactions with people that the consurner has known for a longtime (parents, siblings, children, friends, etc.) that take place in the experi-ence domain. For example, in the gap-yeil travel experience domain, they

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include interactions with parents over the fLrnding arrangements, or interactionswith the friend(s) with whom the consumer has decided to travel.

Consumer-to-consumer interactions with unacquaintedother consumers (C2CUl

Unacquainted other consumers are the previously unknown people that theconsumer interacts with as a result of undertaking the experience. In the gap-year travel experience, for example, C}CIJ would include interactions withother gap-year travellers or backpackers who stayed in the same hostels orundertook the same activities, such as bungee jumping or paragliding.

Consumer interactions with experience enabters (C2EEl

In Chapter 5, experience enablers were defined as inanimate entities thatprovide the consumers with adequate power, means or opportunity to carryout the activities that contribute to their experiences, for example organiza-tions, facilities, technology, special events finance. Identifying and labellingexperience enablers are, undeniably, difficult aspects of applying CEM. The17 experience enablers for the gap-yer travel experience, listed above, werearrived at through iteration and constant refinement, and, of course, they arenot definitive. Another group of researchers, faced with exactly the samedocuments, would produce a different list of experience enablers. While thisaspect may be disconcerting, it should be remembered that CEM is a processfor examining interactions from a consumer experience perspective, antd,

whatever the categorization of experience enablers, will provoke insightsand discussions that complement those following from the study of rela-tionships from the focal firm/organization perspective.

Deating with negative aspects of experience

In each of C2CA, C2CU and C2EE, there will be elements of the data thatrefer to constraints on the experience; for example, incompatibility withtravel companion, lack of money, unavailability of internet facilities. These'negatives' will still be coded as first-order interactions, although, in the caseof C2EE, they could be seen as the opposite of enablers. Difficulties withobtaining a job during the gap-year, for example, would still be coded in thesecond-level C2EE tree node of Jobs during gap-year'.

An example is given now of how a document (an extract of a transcript ofa personal interview with a gap-yer traveller) is coded according to theCEM categories of C2CA, C2CIJ and the sub-categories of C2EE.

Example of data coding within CEM

\Mhat follows is an example of an interview with a former gap-year traveller.The respondent's responses are numbered and relate to the discussion oncoding that follows.

lnterviewer:Respondent:

lnterviewer:Respondent:

lnterviewer: Hi, my name's S. and I'd tike to thank you for agreeing toparticipate in this interview. lwouLd just tike to ask you afew questions regarding your experiences of gap-year traveIand your attitudes towards it, in an attempt to understand yourmotivations and conctusions as to the benefits and disadvan-tages of this experience.

Respondent: No problem.lnterviewer: Where did you go on your gap year?Respondent: lwent to SeviLl.e, which is in Spain. [1J

lnterviewer: What did you do there?Respondent: I worked over there as a nanny for 7 months. [2]lnterviewer: ln a nursery?Respondent: No, it was with a Spanish famiLy Looking after their chiLd. I Looked

after the chitd whil.e the mother went to work, but I stayed withthe famiLy at their house. [3]What were your reasons for going on a gap year?I went because I thought it wou[d heLp me to [earn the [anguageas part of my [anguages degree course. PLus lfel.t tike I neededa break from proper education before starting a uni course. [41

How did you go about organizing it?Wel.[ my university was the first port of catl.. They advised onthe paths to take in order to organize the year out. lt wasmostty a matter of finding a family witling to hire a non-Spanish nanny, which turned out to be less of a probtem than I

first anticipated. The whote process was less hassLe than I firstthought it woutd be. My parenis were very hetpfut too, theyheLped me in contacting the various peopte. [5J

lnterviewerr What inf [uenced your decision on where to go on your gap year?Respondent: lt was suggested by the university. But I had friends that

were going on a gap year for the same purposes as me andwe'd decided to go to the same ptace because we fett we'd beable to support each other and hel.p one another settte moreeasity. [6J

lnterviewer: What sources hetped you with your decision? Which didn't?Respondent: As I mentioned eartier my university heLped me with sugges-

tions of destinations and were exceltent at offering adviceabout what the ptace was [ike etc. [7]

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12t, Retationships from a Consumer Experience Perspective

The numbered responses can be coded as follows:

1 Sentence coded in C2EE Idestination]2 Sentence coded in C2EE [1ob in gap-year)3 Sentence coded in C2CU4 Sentence coded in C2EE Iuniversity)

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Some practical issues with data coding

Even a relatively straightforward document such as the interview aboveraises a number of practical issues with the data coding:

In reaL-time coding, not all of the C2EE sub-categories wiLl have been identifiedand LabeLLed. ldentifying and labeLLing the C2EE sub-categories is an ongoingprocess. This means that with the early documents, much time is spent on deter-mining the appropriate sub-categories. As refinements to the sub-categories aremade, the early documents need to be re-visited and the coding adapted. This canbe time-consuming.0nce the sub-categories are agreed and specifred, coding ofthe Later documents becomes progressively quicker.As can be seen above, the paragraphs or sentences, uttered by the consumersIrespondents], sometimes invoLve eLements that reLate to two or more categories(as with 5 and 6 abov-"J.

FoLlowing on from the poini above, the unit of anaLysis may be variabLe - some-times a phrase, sometimes a sentence, sometimes a paragraph. lf possibLe theunit of anaLysis shouLd be as smaL[ as possible as long as it can stand on its ownas a meaningful iLlustration of an eLement of the consumer experience.There may be responses that do not seem to fit any of the agreed caiegories orsub-categories at the time of the document scrutiny. To accommodate these, itmay be usefuLto create other categories which are neither C2C or C2EE. However,it is recommended that this is done sparingLy.

Overall, the data-coding process requires patience, thoroughness, ingenuityand critical thinking. It can be very rewarding, especially when undertakenby groups of students working together on the coding categories and refine-ments. But, of course, there need to be useful outputs from the process. Sowe move on to the next stage - data retrieval.

Data retrieval

By now, phrases, sentences and paragraphs from all the documents havebeen assigned to one or more of the categories C2CA, CZCU, C2EE'C2EE2, ... C2EE,. It is time to examine the totality of what is contained ineach of the categories. This is referred to as data retrieval. This is where theuse of NVivo or similar software is especially helpful.

From the gap-year travel data, we give an extract below (from NVivo) ofwhat has been assigned to the category C2EE (university); a category thatcontains all references from the gap-year travel documents to consumers'interactions with universities.

125


Document 'Focus Group 1 1', 7 passages, 31 86 characters.

Section 0, Paragraph 23, 240 characters.

D: IpensiveLyl Yeah, wet[ I knew I wanted to go to uni but I guess ljust wanteda break as we[t, I mean ljusi thought that I had, um, spent a long time ineducation and I think I atmost deserved io have some time off to my setfas wett.

Section 0, Paragraph 31, 155 characters.

D: Wett I didn't realty know what course lwanted to do, just that lwanted togo to uni and travet, taking a gap yearwas the best option for me lthink.

Section 0, Paragraphs 41-4?, 746 characters.

B: lthought that going to uni was more important at the time to me.

[C nods in agreement, D shakes her head]

D: Iin a questioning tone but humorous tone] 5o if you had a 9ap year, did you

think you woutdn't go to uni or something?B: (taughingl Wett, for me ljust thought that if lwent on one I might never

come back! Seeing al[ those other cultures and stuff'C: Yeah, that was comptetety the same for me. I thought that once I stopped

learning then I woutd never want to learn again they woutd have had tohave dragged me back kicking and screaming in to education...l Atso as

wel.t I think that I woul.dn't have appreciated it at atL. I didn't wanna go and

be ignorant about the things I'd see because that'd just be a comptetewaste ...

Document'interview 1', 1 passages, 453 characters.

Section 0, Paragraph 14,453 characters.

A = I'm less apprehensive about trying new things. When you travet, you

meet so many peopte and experience so many new things. I'm abte toembrace new chattenges now, for exampte, at university I had that setf confi-dence to reassure myself everything wou[d be ok and thai l'd make friendsquickty. I've approached my education differentty too. Education used to feeL

Like a huge burden of stress that dragged whiLe l'm now more positive withmy learning.

Document'lnterview 1 1', 1 passages, 270 characters.

Section 0, Paragraphs ?9-101,270 characters.

lnterviewer: Ctaims are made that gap year interrupts the rhythm of yourstudies, to what extent woutd you agree or disagree?

Respondent: Yeah, it did kind of make me have doubts about going to university,but that was probabLy just the shock of coming back home too.

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Document'lnterview 13', 4 passages, 1394 characters.

Section 0, Paragraphs 23-25, 262 characters.

lnterviewer: What were your reasons for going on a gap year?Respondent: I went because I thought it wouLd hetp me to learn the [anguage

as part of my [anguages degree course. PLus I fel.t tike I neededa break from proper education before starting a uni course.


lnterviewer: How did you go about organizing it?Respondent: Wett my university was the first port of cal.t. They advised on

the paths to take in order to organize the year out. lt wasmostty a matter of finding a famiLy wiLting to hire a non-Spanishnanny, which turned out to be less of a probtem than I firstanticipated. The whote process was less hasste than I firstthought it woul.d be. My parents were very hetpfut too, theyhetped me in contacting the various peopte.

Section 0, Paragraphs 31-33,334 characters.

lnterviewer: What inf luenced your decision on where to go on your gap year?Respondent: lt was suggested by the university. But I had friends that were

going on a gap year for the same purposes as me and we'ddecided to go to the same place because we felt we'd be abte tosupport each other and hel.p one and other settte more easily.


lnterviewer: Did it prepare you for university/futl time emptoyment?Respondent: lt hetped with university course due to the fact it gave me a

hands on experience in Spanish cutture and [anguage. lthetped me to reatize more independence away from my par-ents and hetped my confidence in approaching and meetingnew peopte.

land much more ...'l

The above example contains extracts from both the focus groups andpersonal interviews (including the one used as an example of data coding),and, as yet, is very fragmented. A similar alignment of chunks of text fromvarious sources will have been collated at each of the other categories.Despite the potentially bewildering amount of text for many of the cate-gories, it is at this stage that an understanding of interactions and relation-ships within the experience domain from the consumer perspectiae begins toemerge, in the form of a collectiae consumer gaze.


Although it cannot be regarded as scientific, it is possible to obtain a'feel'for the acuity of the various interactions by simply exarnining the number ofseparate consumer mentions in each of the categories.

What, then, might be regarded as the core interactions and relationshipsexperienced by gap-year travellers? And what might be at the inner andouter peripheries of the collective consumer gaze? The core interactions(by the criteria of most mentions in a category) are represented in bold typein Table 7.1. Those in the inner periphery are represented in italics, and in theouter periphery in normal type.

TableT.L Collective customer gaze

(Sub)-categoryNnmber of mentions

in the (sub)-category

The

ASeaclas)thertho:n'itlthalabilther

lStLN

(\Ia.

anrh"\r-ah\-elthetherthe

Cor

Tabimpa-lth

(o(

t

C2CAC2EE (university)C2EE (destination)C2EE (jobs in gap-year)C2CUC2EE (jobs before travel)C2EE (internet)C2EE (tour companies)

C2EE (internet)

C2EE (email)

C2EE (school)

C2EE (banks/money)

C2EE (accommodation)

C2EE (travel agent)C2EE (insurance)C2EE (events organizers)C2EE (telephones/mobile phones)C2EE (bus/train travel)C2EE (medical)

88

49

4b

31

30

29

26

23

21

16

16

15

10

9

7

7

6

5

3

Even allowing for the potential lack of precision in selecting categoriesthat fall into the core and inner and outer peripheries of the collective con-sumer gaze, it is instructive for organizations, such as banks, insurancecompanies and travel agents (all of whom see one-to-one relationshipswith gap-year travellers/backpackers as potentially lucrative) to recognizetheir'place'in consumers'perspectives of experience enablers in the expe-rience domain. Armed with this richer picture of the collective consumergaze, such organizations can consider how to match more clearly theirproducts/services to consumer values (see Chapter 8 for an elaboration).First, however, it is necessary to make sense of the fragmented chunks oftext that are contained in each category. We move on now to the theme-identification stage of CEM.

oIo!


Theme identification

As the extract above, from the C2EE (university) category, demonstrates,

each category contains relevant material from all the documents. However,

as yet, there is no pattern or structure to the data. What are the underlyingthemes that can be drawn out of the data that provide helpful directions to

those who want to gain a greater understanding of consumers'interactionswithin the experienie domain? Identification of the themes is not something

that comes eaiy. It wiil require serious thinking, initiative, ingenuity and the

ability at timei to 'think outside the box'. As with the data-coding stage,

themb identification is aided by discussions within a (student) grouP.

we believe that theme identification within CEM should be related to con-

sumer value. This is consistent with a service-dominant logic of marketing

(vargo and Lusch 2004), and a focus on consumer experiences. Therefore, as

u ,r,Jurs of ultimately identifying the themes emerging from the data, it ishelpful to examine the data in all the categories for evidence- of consumer

value enhancers and consumel value inhibitors. This not only provides a

very useful and focused start to theme identification, but also ensures that

the perspective of the consumer experience is being maintained, and that

there is not a premature temptation to seek for 'managerial implications' for

the organizations involved in the experience domain'

Consumer vatue enhancers and inhibitors

Table 7.2 shows the consumer value enhancers and inhibitors that were

implied by the d.ata in the c2EE (university) node. It should be noted that,

alti'Lough ihe value enhancers and inhibitors have emerged from the material

Table 7.2 Consumer value enhancers and inhibitors - c2EE (university)

Value enhancers Vnlue inhibitors

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

Opportunity to get information about 'gap-year experiences e.g. university guild 'Universities consider that gap-year students 'have enhanced social skills, maturity and greater 'level of commitment to university course

Meet new people who become life-long friends 'Builds confidence and interpersonai skillsVariety of 'life-changing' experiences/adventuresDoing work enhances employabilityWork that links to future career and universitycourse is valuedGives a clearer idea of future plan. Time tothink and focusA'window of opportunity' which might notcome along as part of normal career routeFinancial and practical suPPort from parents

Saving money for trip is a good discipline

Takes you out of the'leaming cYcle'

Takes you off the career pathCan lead to financial hardshiPTop universities do not offerdeferred entryParental concerns/ e.g. negativeimpact on career


that relates to university as an experience enabler, not ail of them referdirectly to the university. For example, neither the value-enhancing idea thatgap-year travel 'builds confidence and interpersonal skills' nor the value-inhibiting idea that gap-year travel involves 'parental concerns e.g. negativeimpact on career'is uniquely associated with universitr'. But they have arisenout of discussions about gap-year travel and r.rnir-ersitu Indeed the same twoideas also emerged from the identification of consumer value enhancers andinhibitors associated with the C2CA categon; but many other ideas alsoemerged (see Table 7.3). It is not necessarv to \\.orry about duplication -indeed the duplicate ideas may ultimatelv determine the stronger themes;ones that cut across many of the interactions/relahonships.

Table 7.3 Consumer value enhancers and inhibitors - C2CA

Value enhancers Vnlte iitliibitors

o Variety of '1ife-changing'experiences / adventures

. Builds confidence and interpersonal ski11s

. tavelling with friends reduces arxietvo Financial and practical support from parents. Opportunity to emulate siblings' success

and experiencesr Escape from parental controlr Escape from general problems, e.g.

exam stress, mundane life

a

Parental concems, e.g. negativeimpact on career, safetyIravelling n'ith friends makesexperience too easyLack of financial supportIakes r-ou out of the 'learning cycle'Peer pressure to overspendHomesicknessDlriculties keeping in touch with parentsPeer pressure to go

For the gap-yeat travel experience domain, there are a total of 19 suchtables; C}CA, C2CU arrd 77 C2EEs. The contents of each table will be theresult of reading, re-reading and discussing the material. As well as giving acomprehensive picture of consumer qualitv-of-Life ingredients in the experi-ence domain, they unearth contradictions and conflicts, for example'escapefrom parental control' versus 'difficulties in keeping in touch with parents',or 'travelling with friends reduces an-xiety' \'ersus 'fravelling with friendsmakes experience too easy'. Any implied paradoxes should not be regardedas a problem, but as a stimulus to 'dig deeper' and find out more.

Conctusion

This chapter has described the CEM process, using the lgap-year travel expe-rience' domain as an example. The process ensures a r.r'ealth of informationon consumer interactions within the domain, provided through a consumer'gaze' orr interactions, and the identification of consumer value enhancersand inhibitors. But how might such information be used? How can it pro-vide additional insights for all players within the experience domain? Thesequestions are addressed in the next chapter.

I

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3


Learning propositions

fiOnt-0,rne.i,,,eX,pe,ilenees,, ale , beSt , u:nrd:erstood',,thifough' rilit"eipietlryq

'Voice' of consumers is best obtained through quatitative researchtechniques.

,i:;,:.f@*.ei;,,eipbrriaait.,,{ai*oik,s ontaln,,iontu,riie,fr inietaiiibns wi!h

r The cons{,lmer experience modetLing ICEMI process facil'itates theidentification of important consumer interactions in an experience

r Consumer vatue enhancers and inhibitors can be inferred from theconsumer experience data.

;''',.'.W€aie,,a'[tr,i.snrst:r1et€,,aad,so.ca'n1,id€ntily-' 11poa..,close!y,with,io,,nsumervoice,

1 To practise the process of CEM in the gap-year travel domain:

ta) Log in to an appropriate gap year trave[ website (e.g. www.traveLbl.og,com).

{bl Choose three reasonabty tengthy btogs about 9ap-year activities.lcl Code the accounts of the btogs into the categories C2CA, C2CU and

C2EE. List your C2EE categories.(dl Retrieve atl entries according to C2CA, C2CU and att the C2EE

sub-categories.lel ldentify and list consumer vatue enhancers and inhibitors f or each

category and sub-category.

2 To gather data in a different experience domain, try one of the fotlowing:

. earty parents' experience domain - interview I or more parentswho have had their f irst chitd within the tast two years.

o retired persons experience domain - interview 8 or more peoptewho have retired from work.

o grandparents' experience domain - interview 8 or more grandparents.

ln each case the data cottection is achievabte by groups of 3-5 students.The interviews shoutd be recorded and transcribed into Microsoft Word.They shoutd provide a reasonabty sized data set for the apptication of CEM.

3 Learn how to use the latest version of NVivo suff icientty wet[ to carryout the code and retrieve stages of CEM.


References

Atwood, R. (2009) 'DIUS Promises to Ditch the Jargon but Defends its Use of"Customer"', Times Higher Educntiort,9 April: 6-7.

Bowes, G. (2005) 'The Gap Year that Crerr'', Obserter:14 August.Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2003) Bttsiness Resenrclt Methods, Oxford: Oxford Universitv

Press.

Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Lou-e, A. (2002) Management Research: Artlntroduction, London: Sage Publications.

Holbrook, M.B. (2009) 'Manufacturing Memorable Consumption Experiences fromIvy to Ivory: The Business Model, Customer Orientation, and Distortion ofAcademic Values in the Post-Millennial Unir-ersitv', in A. Lindgreen, J. Vanhammeand M.B. Beveriand (eds), Memorable Customer Experiences: A Research Anthology,Gower Publishing/Ashgate.

Huxley, L. (2005)'Western Backpackers arrd the Clobal Experience: An Exploration ofYotrng People's Interaction with Local Cullures', Tourism, Culture and Communication,5(1):3744.

]ones, A. (2004) 'Make or Break Time', Gunrdinn:27 July.Lindgreen, A., Vanhamme, J. and Ber.erland, M.B. (2009) Memorable Customer

Experiences: AResearch Anthology, Aldershot, UK: Cower Publishing/Ashgate.Palmer, A. and Koenig-Lewis, N. (2009) 'An Extended, Community Focused,

Experientiai Framework for Relationship Marketing', lournal of CustomerBehaaiour, 8(1): 85-96.

Spero, R. (2009) 'Recession Funds Gap Year Boom for Redundant Workers', DailyMail, L8 March.

Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F. (2004) 'Evolving to a New Dominant Logic of Marketing',I ournal of Marketing, 68(January): 1-17.

Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F. (2008) 'Service-Dominant Logic: Continuing theEvolution', lournal of the Academy of Mnrketing Science,36: 1-10.

Voss, C. and Zomerdijk,L. (2007) 'Innovation in Experiential Services -An EmpiricalView', in DTI (ed.), Innoaation in Seraices, London: DTI; 97-134.

Note

1. This section draws heavily on Baron,Consumer Perspectives on Experiences'

S. and Harris, K. (2010) 'Toward an Understanding o1

I ournal of Seraices Marketing, 24(7).

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Learning objectives

t.,t:,,,',r.,':,,to.',iuEiilili.:iA,*iamAilqu;iilt:;i.iiier,isiu,es in an experience uomalnr.tiomlists of consumer vatue enhancers and inhibitors.

. To pose key questions rel.ating to consumer quatity of tife within anexperience domain.

. To demonstrate the potentiat for generating retationship-buitding

,,:':.,,:.,..,ir..',ppt.isl!g.rf0i,organii.at!o,,ns,,that'.ron1ii!:u!e.,!o.,an',,expoilgnie,d,gmain,. To .briefty compare quatity of tife from macro-marketing and CEMperspectives.

lntroduction

In Chapter 7, a process for exploring interactions and relationships from aconsumer experience perspective (CEM) was introduced and explained. Theprocess generates sets of consumer value enhancers and value inhibitorsoriginating from the consumers' accounts of first-order interactions - thosewith acquainted and unacquainted other consumers, and those with therange of experience enablers. In the context of the gap-year travel experiencedomain, 17 experience enablers were identified and so there were 1,9 sets ofconsumer value enhancers and inhibitors. So, although, through CEM,the 'raw' consumer voice data has been systematically transformed intoconsumer-value enhancers and inhibitors, there is still work to do with the 19

documents in order to address the implications of the findings to consumerssnd to the many contributors to the experience domain.

Examination of Higher-tables of level consun:e'consumer quality ol

-value - lile issues

enhancers and and keyinhibitors questions

Second-order

^ interactions:::"3::::- -=. strateoic.t alliances::-:':-:ars\ Third-order

nteractions:::-:'Lnternal

marketing

'131, Retationships f rom a Consumer Expe' :-:=

Figure 8.1 From enhancers and inl.-:

The latter point is verv imptrr:::'.: --,'-- -. l :i-: :ra!15 is on interactionsand relationships from a constlli.:: i,t:r :t- -= :=:s:=::,r e, the outcomes canprovide organizations that con::::-.:= -.. -., = - :i-::'.er experiences withstrategic relationship-building o::: -- -.

lmptications for consumers and contributors to theexperience domain

Through Figure 8.1, we suggesi..:::::s: ::.:: a:l= the progression fromtables of consumer enhancers ar,j -r--.-:--:.:. :: :he identification of higher-level consumer issues to the poter.:r:- :;: .::::e:-c resPonses from contribu-tors to the experience domailr, -\qal- :.- ::.:-'.'ea: favel experience domaindata will be used to demonstrate ihe ::J-.!s.

Underlying this process is that tr.e -;-:-.:-:-cLilurn oi clrLsulrler implications(in the form of higher-1er,'el conslln",e: ;--r:-::r' ..: iife issues) precedes any dis-cussion of managerial implicntioiis 1rn :..e 'tr::r'. oi ii'Le development of strategicresponses from contributors to the er.pe::e:'Lce riomarn).

Examination of tables of consumer value enhancersand inhibitors

Tables 7 .2 and 7 .3 were used as examples in Chapter 7 . If we add three moretables of value enhancers and inhibitors, der-eloped from the gap-year traveldata set (Tables 8.1-8.3), \ve can begin to appreciate the task of derivinghigher-level consumer qualitv of life issues and key questions. Clearly, thetask would be more difficuit if faced n'ith a1l the (19) tables, but the fivetables provide enough material to illustrate the process.

Consumer Experience Mode[[ing: Value Enhancers and lnhibitors 135

Table 8.1 Consumer value enhancers and inhibitors - C2E (email)

Value enhancers Value inhibitors

a

a

a

a

a

Way of reducing parental anxietyCheaper than phone callEnables continuous communicationHelps relieve homesicknessMade possible by internet cafes

Enables you to convey excitement of theexperienceSupplements telephone callCan communicate visual experiencesEnables planned communicationEnables communication across timedifferencesGives control to the sender

Lack of email access points in remotelocationsRaises parents' expectations about contactoptions and frequency

a

o

a

a

Table 8.2 Consumer value enhancers and inhibitors - C2E (jobs during gap year)


a

a

a

a

a

Having a jobprior to leaving reduces anxietyWork is easy to findHaving to find job when on year out is consideredpart of the leaning experienceUnpaid work is satisfying and enhances exposureto other culturesWork gives insights into future career possibilitiesA1l work exposes you to cultural experiencesHaving a variety of jobs enhances exposure to a

range of experiencesWork has a focus, i.e. pays for aspects of the triptherefore enhances commitmentTemporary work gives flexibility to changeitinerary, and freedom to control work hours

Diversity of jobs can be toostressfulWork compulsory to fundgap-year experience

Table 8.3 Consumer value enhancers and inhibitors - C2E (banks/money)


a

a

a

Financial support from parentsOpportunity for financial independence fromparentsOverdraft support from banksWorking before travel gives financeFinancial planning by parents and studentbefore trip can make things a iot easierGovernment loans provide support

No money to take a gap yearFear of 'rurming out of money'. Nothaving enough to get homeFear of bank problems, e.g. excessiveoverdraft or bank chargesSorting bank problems in a foreigncountryFacing overwhelming debt on retum

a

a

135 Retationships f rom a Consumer Ex:: -

Tables 7.2and7.3,andTables S --:to get 'beneath the skin' of the pr.-: *::and offered to gap-year travellers. -:.quality of life and well-being is.*=.different forms) within the table= -:that challenge contributors to :: =

their resources in ways that har-: : -:consumers concerned.

-. -: : : r:-:-t i-r--d re-read in orderr- ,: : 1* : , ,::: aurlently aVailable. . - : ':. ::.a more fundamental

:-:r'rce to re-integrate'- iinplications for the

Higher-tevel consumer quality of Lif e ,iss;es ail key questions

The individual bullet points in T:: =' - -- ,: : - : -:: j Tables 8.1-8.3 are use-

ful in their own right when cor.: -:t: I . - - :-- : , -i.' l'e given by many agen-

cies on the benefits and drarvt'ais - rl- - , : -:: :.:-, =--rng. For example, fromTables 7.2 and 7.3, the poinis r.t= -l': j: -' ::= :-1.-illmers, that gap-year

travel'buildsconfidenceandi:-:--=r:.r:::--,:::.iolters'avarietyoflife-changing experiences and a.i-"..:.:--:== ---:::-:-za:ions involved in the

adventure travel industrr-, sttc: i: :r.--,= - - -::err-e that gap-years can

build soft skills, language skiilr :-:-. j. : -=:-'= -: -:::-er-ement, while DurhamCounty Council in North East E:.:-:: : - : :i- =::

-, -e'rsite for parents of gap-

year travellers, advises tha: . a-.; "-:-: ,",'e" spent will hone yourson/daughter's commulicahc:- =-'-. -=:--t :-=:lt hor'r'to stick to a tightbudget, and broaden their socl:- ::-: -:.-=,,.:,;.,' i'orizons'. Here, observa-tionsmadeby consumers, on I'a-ue-=:-:::.: :: =-=::--ents of gap-year travelling,provide confirmation oi some .-: ::.= :=:=--:s .-- gap-\'ear travel that have

been identified by organizaliois ::.:.: :..:. :::,--. 111 enabling the experience'Likewise, compare the concer:r €\lr::j=- :-, ::e consumers/ that a gap year'takes you out of the learning;r:-= T':-=. l.l and 7.3) with the advice

offered on the'universitvoptior-: -',';::,:. .:ial not all (university) courses

are keen for their prospectir-e si:ie:.:. :-- j-sa:leat for ayeat'.F{owever, the purpose of adcl:;: e :o.s-:Irler experience perspective to

interactions and relationships is :c s.er ,:srghts about the experience thatare not necessariiy uncor-ered tfuc--l::, a cciventional focal firm perspective.Some consumer value enhancers ano .rLhibitors feature in several tables.

Some are clearly articulaied iriih :lrength of feeling. They are often thestarting point for the search for hgher-lel-el consumer issues.

Higher-level consumer quatity of life issues

A detailed study of the tables of consumer r-alue enhancers and inhibitors forthe gap-year travel experience domain, for example, revealed four, interde-pendent issues that appear to be central to the experience:

r parentaL/famiLy reLationshipsr Life pLanning

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Consumer Experience Modetting: Vatue Enhancers and lnhibitors 137

. communicaiion/keeping in ioucho financialmanagement.

Conventionally, the parental effect rs recognized through the provision of facts

and information about gap years (as, for example, given by Durham CountyCouncil, above). The tables above, however, suggest that there are

subtleties in the parental/family relationships that are not necessarilybeing addressed. For instance, relationships with the parents of gap-yeartravellers, as seen from Tables 7.2 and7.3, and Tables 8.1-8'3, can be bothvalue enhancing (e.g. financial and practical support from parents) andvalue inhibiting (dealing with parental concerns such as negative impact oncareer, safety). They can be apparently contradictory (escaping from parentalcontrol versus difficulties in keeping in touch with parents, and homesick-ness). And what about the sibling rivalries that occur, when one's brother orsister have taken a gap yeaL supported financially by the parents? Thecomplexities and subtleties cut across the four issues above.

If life plannirzg is taken as a starting point, it can be seen that this encom-passes a range of short-, medium- and long-term issues. It was revealinghow many consumers looked beyond the perceived immediate benefits anddrawbacks of the gap year itself (as mentioned in the first paragraph of thissection). The jobs taken before and during the gap year are seen not only as

essential financial support, but as the beginning of plans to enhance futureemployability and gain insight into future career possibilities, and as a goodlearning experience with job markets. Especially with voluntary, unpaidwork, there is an expectation of exposure to other cultures. The period of thegap year is not only to gain a variety of life-changing experiences/adventures,but is, importantly, a period for contemplating the future, having timeto think and focus, and an escape from continual examination-relatedroutines and stress. The value-enhancing opportunity to meet new peoplewho can become lifelong friends is clearly weighed against the value-inhibitingdrawback of facing overwhelming debt on return.

One of the tables (Table 8.1) contains consumer value and enhancers andinhibitors relating to email as an experience enabler. This is but one of thetables that highlights the significance of communication/keeping in touch issuesof gap-year travellers (the others being internet, telephones/mobile phonesand destination). Telephoning home from different countries has longbeen recognized as something that can vary enormously, both in terms ofpracticability and cost. For example, the gapyear-newzealand website offersguidance to UK gap-yeff visitors about how to use their mobile (cell) phonesin New ZeaIand. However, the whole communication experience of gap-year travellers goes beyond one mode of communication. In most countriesthat they visit, they have a choice of communication modes - telephone,email, text messaging, MSN (at the time of writing). They can choose to com-municate to individuals, or to mailing lists of friends/relatives. They cansend visual images via email, phone or webcams. They can control the form

138 Rel.ationships from a Consumer E^:=-

and time of communication. Irr S-::-: - :: : '--:: lestinations, they are

restricted in their communicatio:-. =: .; --- -.- - =': ,echnology advances

widen the scope of communicar::--. : - -- - -.-:..- -:-s in turn, presents thetravellerswithmore decision-ma-'-.= :: -, :', :...::. and whyto commu-nicate with friends/relatives 1n th.e ,: .:. j rrith the people theymeet on their travels. They lr-ish :.' :..'-: ,. -- :

people in their home countrt-, rr::--': r::: :- -raising too much the parental e\:=:.,-: .

absence of which may inadr-erte:-.:-- : ::Finoncial management aspects c: ::-.=

many ways and so occur not or.-many ways and so occur not oI'-,:' -- -

other, in most of the 19 tables, jl., *,.- :borrowing and spending mone\ :s:'=- =:year travellers, and the financir-rs :: ":=siblings of the traveller. Althor-rel-. .:-=:= -.

travel experience domain? Here are :--:t-- :..:.:cussion in this section. Ther- are L'r :..- ::'.=.:,that they can be answered.

o How can the concerns abcui.-::-==- - :---assuag ed ?

o How can it be ensured ihat sL-c::away the imp[icit challenge an: -:':

o What can be done to reduce pa-=-.:. --without sacrific ng the controi e!.3-:::l

r--r - ...elr communication tor :i=-: rdependence and not: :=:-,--:-: communiCatiOn (the

,-.:-:ntal anxiety)..: =,.:t:,enCe afe expresSed in: - : -:: a1.o, in some form or

=: - I -.-1, S.1 and 8.2. Earning,

:' -::- ,:^.- consciousness of gap--::: =::.:ifects the parents andt =,': :.:-:eal of being financially

:::se from the tables and dis-:rraustir-e. Nor is it certain

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'-, - :.-:r,ts/fr ends do not take'- - ^: rap-year traveLLer?

- . -- ;'ages of the exper'e-c.::-..:- t:avelLer?

independent and responsible, t}-rere :.:: i::; :-: : --:-:.:lli about overspendingand accumulating debt.

Key questions

\\lhat, then, are some of the ker qr,ies:---::' ,:-..: :-',..; :e addressed in order toimprove the quality of life and rre-.---=,:: --:::: plar-ers in the gap-year

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To address the higher level consumer issues, represented by ihe three ques-tions above, it may require strategic responses from contributors to the expe-rience domain. The potential for strategic responses can be developed in thecontext of the second- and third-order interactions rt ithin the experiencedomain that were identified in Figure 5.2. As a reminder, second-order inter-actions are those that take place between the experience enablers, and third-order interactions are interactions that exist n'ithin the experience enablersinsofar as they impact on the consumer experience. Where experience enablersare organizations (such as universities, schools, banks, travel agents, insurance

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Consumer Experience Mode[[ing: Vatue Enhancers and lnhibitors 139

companies, in the gap-year kavel experience domain), second-order interactionsmay become strategic alliances between enablers, and third-order inter-actions represent internal marketing/communications within the variousenablers.

In this section the potential for strategic responses from contributors to theexperience domain is discussed, through addressing the three questions.

How can the concerns about the break in education through gap-year travel beassuaged?

Maybe this is a question that should be addressed seriously by uK universi-ties. while some universities offer advice to students proposing to take agap year prior to starting their university course, and some programmes(for example, foreign language and international business degrees) rcgard,ayear abroad' as an essential part of the programme, normally the incorpora-tion of gap-year activities means a disruption to the established universitysystems. There is an opportunity for a university to actively embrace gap-yeartravellers, encourage them to apply, and build in course activities that draw onthe experiences and capabilities that the consumers have attained. such astrategic move would involve serious revision, through internal marketingand communication, of attitudes and actions throughout the whole university,in order that it would not be seen simply as a cynical recruitment activity.

But it need not stop there. strategic alliances could be developed with, say,employers and travel companies, and internal marketing could embrace thecurrent student body. The university could engage itself in the entire gap-year experience as evidence of its commitment to the student. It couldbecome involved with the 'job before travel' element - something that mostgap-year students must undertake - through the university careers service.Perhaps there are alternatives to the obvious and convenient work in barsand fast-food outlets, even ones that are beneficial to the proposed coursethat has been selected? Most universities have student travel service organi-zations on their premises that can aid the year out, and have both under-graduate and postgraduate students from many of the destinations chosenby gap-year travellers. They could put the gap-year student applicants intouch with appropriate contacts.

some of these ideas may appear fanciful, but they should illustrate thatimagination and creativity can (should?) be employed to address a funda-mental question, relating to an experience domain, that encourages a strate-gic response. In this case, the issue is how to help incorporate the gap yearinto the learning cycle and career path, rather than it being perceived slmplyas a 'break'in education, in order to diffuse parental anxieties and contributlto the life-planning of the gap year traveller.

How can it be ensured that support mechanisms from parents/friends do nottake away the implicit challenge and make it too easy for the gap year traveller?

140 Retationships from a Consumer Ex:e- r: rs pect ive

One of the conflicts in ihe gap-r €:: =''.::r-,::.:= ::.-,'clr-es tvhether or not to dothe travelling with friends. Gr the .:.- ..': l ::-,'e:l-r,g n'ith friends is seen toreduce anxietyboth for the trave.'-:s -:-::,s=--,'.-. and their relatives. On theother hand, it can be perceir-ed a. ::'.a,i::: -:.= .''.:erience too easy. Travellerscan spend much of the time mee:-:.: ,::.: ::-1i.S rtith other UK gap-yeartravellers and following tourist tta'': -:-. =:;. :=s:::.aiion that is visited. Whilstthis behaviour may create lasting Lei'.::.i:: :t :-;-,nenticity aspect of learningabout new cultures first-hand car-r :e sa,-:--:-..tr :-' r an'ing extents.

Support from parents takes ma.ir, :t:::-.,i ::1, l: :nost recognized throughthe financial support, wfuch, for a ::.: -:'.:.. | :1e gaP-year travellers isessential to have as a supplemeni to :-.--:i ' ::-:, :.ar-e saved from taking jobsbefore the gap year, and mone\- ther- -,"-:" -.r-. --iio.ish taking jobs during thegap year. For the parents themse-r--= .f-i-.'ir-f il1-tit to not only financingthe gap-year traveller, but also \-o'!i..ie: s::-.:.:= in the spirit of fairness. The

penalties of running out of monev a:.i :a<-:.a :r. ercessitte debt are well rec-

ognized by the travellers. Financiai :j":::-.. 'rr- rarents and student beforethe trip can make things a 1ot eas:e: .'-: ti.an\- travellers see financialindependence from their parents as ar. i::'.:lr:a-:tt part of the experience.

There maybe an opporfunitr., thror.ls: s:la:e=; al[ances between experienceenablers such as travel agents, tout o.era:l:s a-:.j ior-rist departments of pop-ular destinations, fot some frrther segrne:.:a:ro:'r oi the gap-year travel market-place that guarantees authentic erperier,ces ror *oups of two or more friends.There may be opportr-rnities for banks to ier-rse loan products that meet theparental needs to finance more than one o:isrnng on gap-year travel, whileallowing and encouraging the offspring theinselr es to manage their financesindependently in a responsible r,r-ar'. Could bank< even use their resources tooffer potential employment in some of the rr,ore popular visitor destinations?

The conflict between support and independence is a very real and funda-mental issue for many of the consumers, and r-et not easy to resolve.Imagination and creativity are agarn required to pror-ide strategic insightsfor contributors to the experience domain.

What can be done to reduce parentaL anxiety at various stages of the experiencewithout sacrificing the control exercised by the gap-year traveller?

Parents, being parents, worry about their sons/daughters undertaking a gapyear from the moment the idea is first mooted, er.en though they are nor-mally supportive of the venture and can see the potential benefits. Gap-yeartravellers, mostly aged78-24years, acknowledge the parental anxieties and,yet, being 78-24 years of age, they wish to har.e and demonstrate control ofthe gap-year experience.

At the outset, parents seek as much in-formation as they can about gapyears. They can be overwhelmed by the quantity of information available inbook form and electronically. Contributors to the gap-year experiencedomain, such as travel agents, tour operators, banks and insurance com-panies, colleciively or individually, could seek to provide opportunities for

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Consumer Experience Modetling: Vatue Enhancers and lnhibitors 111

providing personalized advice services to parents - parent meetings, roadshows, tailored responses.

It is perhaps during the time that their offspring are travelling that parentsare most anxious. Has s/he arrived OK at the latest destination? Is theaccommodation OK? Is s/he well? \Mhat about the food? Is s/he OK formoney? What is the weather like? Is it safe? Is it a good idea to be partyinguntil the early hours of the morning? Of course, most of these concerns canbe answered through various modes of communication. Yet, after initial fullaccounts of each day's events, the gap-year travellers can find it progres-sively more tedious to write or talk about the accommodation, food andweather, and do not really want their parents to know all about the partyingactivities. These stories are communicated to selected friends at home viagroup emails. And it takes time and money. The gap-year students acknowl-edge the parental concerns and will try to allay them, but they seek to con-trol, to a large extent, who receives various communications and when theyreceive them. There is a danger that parental expectations may be raisedthrough agreed regular email/telephone slots, given that not all locationshave accessible internet caf6s or good enough mobile (cell) phone signals.Parental anxiety is increased if the expected communication does not happenfor whatever reason.

Information and communication technology is evolving all the time, andthe technology will offer more and more sophisticated ways to address thequestion of how to reduce parental anxiety at various stages of the experi-ence without sacrificing the control exercised by the gap-year traveller. Atthe time of writing, for example, GPS (Global Positioning System) technol-ogy is moving into the European mass markets through incorporation intomobile (cell) phones. This opens up the possibility that parents at home willbe able to 'track' where their offspring is - but will the offspring want this?Also, peer-to-peer internet telephony network systems such as Skype areoffering the opportunity for'free' telephoning across the world. By the timeyou read this, there will be further technological advances. However, it isunlikely that parental anxiety will disappear, or that the gap-year travellerswill wish to relinquish control of the communications. So whatever the levelof technological development, strategic alliances between information andcommunication technology players will need to address these fundamentalissues in order to contribute to consumer quality of life and well-being in theexperience domain (and, most likely, other experience domains).

Consumer quatity of Life and we[[-being: comparisonwith macromarketing

The notions of consumer quality of life and consumer well-being have beenintroduced within the explanations in this chapter. In the final section, we

1l*2 Retationships from a Consumer Experience Perspective

make clear the context of these concepG in comparison with their more normaiuse in the macromarketing fieid.

Macromarketing, as represented br- ariicles in the lotLrnal of Macromarketing,'examines social issues, horv ther- are affected by marketing, and horrsociety influences the conduct of marketing'. It includes 'the marketing ofproducts, services or programs to enhance the quality of life for con-sumers/ households, communities, countries and regions' (taken from thedescription of the lournal of Macronnrktirtg, accessed via www.sagepub.com).Consumer quality of life issues are central to macromarketing, and con-sumer well-being is also seen as being rr-orthv of enhancement (Sirgy andLee 2006). Consumer quality-of-1ife and rve11-being are clearly not theexclusive property of marketers, and comprehensive and complementan-research is published in other literatures, for example the medical jour-nals. The purpose, here, howevet is to contrast the approach to consumerquality of life and well-being that has been adopted in this chapter withthe macromarketing approach.

The approach adopted in this chapter to consumer quality of life and well-being is different, yet complementan'to that addressed in the macromarketingIiterature.

The macromarketing approach, as exemplified by Lee et. al. (2002) andSirgy and Lee (2006), has a focus on macro measures of consumer quality oflife and well-being in local geographical areas or communities that providediagnostics that aid public policy making. It includes both consumer assess-ments of marketplace experiences and the assessment of experts chargedwith evaluating the costs and benefits of the 1oca1 area marketplace experi-ences. The measures are derived bv quantitative surveys of local areaconsumers, based on the premise that consumer well-being consists oibeing satisfied with all experiences inr-olr-ed \'\'ith 'the acquisition, prepa-ration, consumption, ownership, maintenance, and disposal of a variety ofconsumer goods and services' (Sirgr. and Lee 2006: 32; the survey instru-ment can be seen in full in Sirgv and Lee 2006: 33-34). The survey instru-ment is completed by appropriate members of households in the local areaunder study.

This type of approach does not take a relationship marketing perspective,as the survey instrument is designed around the acquisition, preparation,consumption, ownership, maintenance and disposal of categories of goodsand services that are likelv to be offered in a local geographicalarea,/community. The starting point of the research is what is available tocreate experiences in the area, rather than n'hat the consumers do (and sai'they do) to create experiences. The CE\t approach, in addition to being a

contrasting methodology (qualitatir-e rather than quantitative), and havinga different territory (experience domain rather than geographical area),addresses consumer experience relntionships nnd interactions; elements thatare not explicitly measured through the conventional macromarketing

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approach. CEM acknowledges more overtly that consumers co-create valueof goods and services.

ArguabIy, the Sirgy/Lee questionnaire survey approach should guaranteesome measures that aid public policymakers responsible for the quality oflife of residents in their geographical regions. We would argue strongly,however, that approaches such as CEM, that incorporate a genuinely con-sumer perspective on their own experiences, especially through gaininginsights to the first-order interactions that consumers have, provide thepotential to attain a greater understanding of what are real quality of lifeissues for consumers.

Conctusion

Figure 8.1 outlines a process for moving from the derivation, through CEM, oftables of consumer value enhancers and inhibitors to consideration of implica-tions for consumers, and finally to a discussion of the potential strategicresponses by contributing organizations to the experience domain. In the laststage, the second- and third-order interactions of Table 5.2 are recognizedthrough the possibility of strategic alliances and internal marketing reorganiza-tions. Fundamental to this progression is the identification of high-order con-sumer issues and key questions relating to them. How the contributors to theexperience domain respond to them can require creativity and imagination. Atthe very least, this process, coupled with the awareness created by the collectiveconsumer gaze (TabIe 7.1), provides a different perspective on relationships, onethat organizations do not necessarily appreciate.

For students of relationship marketing, there are definite advantages infacilitating their active involvement in CEM.

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* :Aelivity

Undertake a project on consumer interactions associated with theretirement experience. The details are given below. lt is best undertakenby groups of 4 or 5 students.

Background

Every year, thousands of peopte experience retirement for the first time.Most wiLt admit that it is a tife-changing experience, and are capable andwitting to give voice to the experience. This project is aimed at capturingthe 'voice' of the retirement experience, identifying the interactions thatare integraI to the experience, and providing 'experience enabters' withstrategic options for fostering retationships with consumers who are partof the retirement marketptace.

For the project, you witt need to cotlect/capture reaI consumer voicedata on the retirement experience and anatyse the data by apptyingconsumer experience modetting ICEM) as presented in Chapter 7.

Project

1 Gather quatitative data from retired peopte to obtain, in some detait,accounts of their day-to-day activities relating to their retirement expe-riences, and also their thoughts/feetings associated with the activities.Each account shoutd be saved as a text document. lt is important togather accounts from retired peopte themselves and not from secondarysources, such as retirement guidebooks.

2 lt is recommended that you enter your text documents into a quatitativedata anatysis software package such as NVivo, and use the code/retrieve facitities provided.

3 Appty the CEM process to identify themes, and formulate key questions.4 Finatty, provide some creative ideas of how one or more of the experi-

ence enablers can improve retired persons'quatity of tife and therebygain strategic advantages within the experience domain.

There are various means of obtaining reat'voice'data from appropriateconsumers, for exampte:

I by personaI interviewll by asking retired people to keep a diary over a periodlll combination of I and ll abovelV by accessing weblogs Ibtogs) of peopte describing their retirement

experiences.

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Consumer Experience Modetting: Vatue Enhancers and lnhibitors 115

ln the cases of I and ll above, take care that retired peopte can find thetime to futfit the tasks you require of them. lt is recommended that youobtain at teast eight documents [transcriptsl from I to lll, suppl.emented,if necessary, with documents from lV.

N.B. The activity above cou[d be compteted with other experience domainsof your choice. Good alternatives to the retirement experience are newparents' experience and dog owners' experience.

References

Lee, D.-J., Sirgy, M.J., Larsen, V. and Wright, N.D. (2002) 'Developing a SubjectiveMeasure of Consumer Well-Being', lournal of Macromarketing,Z2(2): 158-1,69.

Sirgy, M.J. and Lee, D.-J. (2006) 'Macro Measures of Consumer Weil-Being (CWB):A Critical Analysis and Research Agenda', lournal of Macromarketing,26(I):27-44.

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Learning objectives

r To understand the concept of 'community' in a customer experiencecontext, introducing the concept of 'experientiaI networks'.

. To identify different types of communities, using the distinctionbetween territoriaI and non*territoriat experience networks.

lntroduction: the importance of networks

In Part II so far, we have considered consumers primarily as individuals.However, we have alluded on various occasions to the social and othernetworks that these individual consumers may be members of, and as a.

consequence, consumers may act collectively wiih others that they fee_some affinity with, in order to co-create value and/or experience in somtway. For example, in Chapter 6 we looked at the use and integration o,various operant resources by rndi.,'idual consumers, using the examp\eof the users of the British Library and their messages of support on behal:of the organization when faced with potential cutbacks to its fundingHere, socinl resources - arising from individual's relationships and men-'-berships of various types of communities - were identified as importan:not oniy in terms of disseminaiing the news about the possible cuts to theLlbrary, but also in coordinating a response to this news through variou-professional/cultural associations, and work-related, social and famil..networks.

As mentioned previouslv the academic framework of consumer resource:we used to analyse these user messages was originally developed bArnould et al. (2006), and this model identified three types of operar-:resources that could be used bv consumers - physical, cultural and soctaThese social resources are defined in terms of 'networks of relationship.with others' (2006:93), and can be further sub-divided as follows:

CommunitiesWithin'ExperientiaI Networks' 1l*l

Demographic groupings - Arnou[d et al. describe these as more'traditiona['groupings. They couLd include, for exampLe, famiLies, ethnic groups and sociaLcLass, and, indeed, many of the marketing textbooks wouLd regard these as typicaLcriteria for market segmentation.Consumer communities - this type of social resource is described by ArnouLdet aL. as'emergent', and couLd incLude'brand communities Ii.e. reLating to reLa-tionships with brands, such as user groups, fan cLubs, etc.l, 'consumer tribes andsubcuLtures'(e.g. re[ating to psychographic and LifestyLe attribuies, such as ethi-caLLy motivated/conscious consumers, skateboarders, surfers, punks, goths and othermusic genre followers].CommerciaLrelationships - ihese reLate to groups of individuals that interact withcommercraLentities For exampLe, Iike many other cuLturaLinstitutions, the BritishLibrary has a 'Friends of the British Library scheme, which individuaLs can joinand in return for an annual subscriptron receive a ranqe of financiaI benefits (such

as concessionary prices for pubLic talks, etc.] as weLL as a special programme ofvisits, Lectures and other events. There is aLso a Supporters' Forum with its owndedicated website at www.bL.uk/supportus/index.htmL which encourages onLineinteraction. lndeed, the messages of support anaLysed in Chapter 6 were soLicitedvia a question posted on this website, which current[y asks users to respond to thequestion 'How has the British Library heLped you?', in an attempt by the organiza-tion 'to understand more about the vaLue thai we add to your research or work'.

All of this has a lot of resonance with Gummesson/s (2006) concept of 'many-to-many marketing'. Gummesson emphasizes the importance and ubiquityof a wide range of relationships - private, professional and commercial - andargues that when relationships encompass more than two people or organi-zations, then networks will emerge, which he views in terms of complex pat-terns and contextual dimensions. He argues that 'networks are the basis oflife, society and organisations, and consequently also of management andmarketing' (2006: 346). Thus, networks are identified by Gummesson as amore generic, 'core variable'of marketing, with relationships and interactionpostulated as two 'subcore variables' that could be incorporated within theconcept of a network.

In a specific marketing context, Iacobucci defines a network as describing'a collection of actors (persons, departments, firms, countries and so on) andtheir structural connections (familial, social, communicative, financial,strategic, business alliances and so on)' (1996: xiii).

Building on the network concept, Gummesson uses the expression'many-to-many marketing' to describe, analyse and utilize the network propertiesof marketing. He contrasts this with 'one-to-one marketing', which hedescribes as largely representing mainstream relationship marketing andcustomer relationship management, where the target is a single supplier anda single customer relationship. Trying to capture this complexity in terms ofFigure 5.2 at the beginning of Part II of the book, which considers interac-tions from the consumer perspective, we can perhaps re-draw the diagramto better highlight the network properties - as shown in Figure 9.1.


1 = first-order interaction, 2 = second-order interaction, 3 = third-order interaction

Figure 9.1 The experience network

in this re-drawn diagram, the plethora of boxes representing individua-consumers (cons) and their interaction, both with each other, and with expe-rience enablers, is an attempt to emphasize the 'many-to-many'properties ir.the particular context of consumer communities. Of course, the second- ancthird-order interactions between and within the experience enablers (identi-fied by the numbers 2 and 3) should also be regarded as an element of thl.'many-to-many/ concept as experience enablers may also collectively interac:and develop relationships in order to enhance the experiential aspect of thenetwork as a whole (which we will see later in the chapter in relation to themarketing of places). Indeed, we could consider Figure 9.1 as constituting a::experience network, and the remainder of this chapter focuses on the variou*.elements of the experience network and how they may collectively act to cc-create and enhance the value inherent in an experience. In doing this, we rri-look at the communal aspects of various experience networks drawn from :number of contexts within which the authors have researched in the past.

CommunitiesWithin'ExperientiaI Networks' 11,9

The concept of 'community'

Before looking at some examples of communities within experience networks,it is perhaps worthwhile to consider what we mean when we talk about'com-munities', be they consumers or experience enablers. Azarya (1996) states thatthe term community can relate to a variety of phenomena and also has numer-ous diverse associations, and goes on to suggest that this ambiguity arisesfrom the con{usion between community as a type of collectiaity (or social unit),and community as a type of socinl relationship (or sentiment). In the first case,community as a type of collectivity'usually refers to a group sharing a definedphysical space or geographical area such as a neighbourhood, city, village orhamlet' - this could be termed a territorial approach to communig. Th" secondcase, community considered as a type of social relationship, could be thoughtof as a non-territorial approach. Here, community canbe thought of as'a groupsharing common traits, a sense of belonging and/or maintaining social tiesand interactions which shape it into a distinctive social entity, such as an ethnic,religious, academic or professional community' (Azarya 1996: 774).

These two approaches are not mutually exclusive, but can perhaps be bestthought of as constituting different emphases. Azarya argues that thosewho think of communities primarily in territorial terms, while not dismissingtotally the element of common ties, think of these ties as not sufficient in them-selves to constitute a community. on the other hand, the non-territorialapproaches emphasize the social ties, regarding territory as not being totallynecessary for community to exist. Thus, these social ties (arising for example,from common values, interests, kinship relations, etc.) may exist between peoplewho may be geographically dispersed, as none of them presuppose peopleliving together. Earlier in this book, we have emphasized the mediating effectof information technology in terms of connectivity between individuals whomay be widely dispersed geographically * for example the messages of sup-port for the British Library mentioned in Chapter 6 came from all over theworld. This point is emphasizedby Azarya (1996) who states that, as a conse-quence, the non-territorial approach to thinking about community has gainedforce as a result of modern advances in communication which have reducedthe importance of territorial proximity as a basis for human association.

This territorial/non-territorial distinction in how we think about communitiescan provide a usefr.rl framework for thinking about the 'many-to-many, market-ing properties of networks from a consumer experience perspective. The restof this chapter will consider various contexts within which we can think aboutthese issues. We start with an obvious manifestation of a territorial approach tothinking about community and networks - the marketing of places, at d here wewill focus particularly on the second- and third-order interactions (i.e. betweenand within experience enablers - namely those responsible for the manage-ment and marketing of, particularly urban, places). we will then consider howcommunity may be defined lrom a consurner experience perspective via non-territorial approaches which emphasize to social ties between individuals, in


terms of, what we might term communities of practice, communities definedby value systems and issue-based communities.

TerritoriaI experience networks: marketing places

The most obvious manifestation of communities defined in territorial termsare, of course, places. The more overt management and marketing of places -particularly urban places such as towns and cities - has become much morewidespread, and professionalized, over the past 30 years (see Ashworth andVoogd 1990a;Ward 1998; Kotler et al. 1999). This in turn, has led to the sub-ject of place marketing becoming a growing focus for researchers, not onlyfrom the management discipline, but also from disciplines such as geographyand urban studies (given the explicit spatial aspect), and also public adminis-tration (given the fact that much place-marketing activity is implemented bylocal authorities/administrations, often in conjunction with the private sectorthrough the mechanism of public-private partnership bodies).

Various authors researching the subject of place marketing have identifiedtwo key factors which distinguish this particular context from more 'main-stream' marketing. These are the complex and kaleidoscopic nature of theplace product, and also the complexity of the organizational mechanisms forits marketing. It is this second factor that we will consider first, because ofthe obvious implications for the management and marketing of the place'experience'. However, it must be recognized that these product and'process' factors are interlinked, a factor we will return to later, when n'econsider the implications of all of this.

Turok describes cities as'complex adaptive systems comprising multitudes ofactors, firms and other organisations forming diverse relationships and evoh-ing together' to develop place-based competitive advantage (2009: 1.4), and a-.

noted above, one of the specific characteristics of place marketing is the com-plexity of organtzattonal mechanisms and the plethora of stakeholders (oftenwith competing agendas) that are involved in marketing activity. This is high-lighted by Short and Kim (1999), who identify what they term a 'political econ-omy' perspective on place marketing, which emphasizes recent transformation-.in urban govemance through the involvement of business coalitions in local economic development. The most obvious manifestation of this can be seen in theproliferation of partnership agencies (comprising stakeholders from public, pri-vate and voluntary sectors) responsible for urban-place marketing, urban regen-eration and economic development. Recognizing this potential complexity, va::den Berg and Braun introduce the concept of the 'strategic network' in terms o:locating responsibility for the place-marketing/branding effort, comprising a

cooperative approach between all place-marketing actors, with interdependencof actors forming 'the backbone of the network' (7999:995-996).

The result of all of this is the need for a consensual and inclusive approachto place-marketing strategy-making. Van den Berg and Braun stress the

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CommunitiesWithin'ExperientiatNetworks' 151

importance of what they call 'organizing capacity', defined as 'the ability toenlist all actors involved and, with their help, to generate new ideas and todevelop and implement a policy designed to respond to fundamental devel-opments and create conditions for sustainable development' (1999: 995).

F{owever, this plurality of actors and perspectives can often cause strains inplace-management/marketing processes in some locations. Indeed, the result-ing potential for conflict is very real - Kotler et al. describe communities as

potentiaily 'chronic battlegrounds where interest groups battle for power andpush their competing agendas and strategies' (1999:106), and there can be areal danger of certain groups dominating the management and marketingagenda, and the consequent marginalization of others (with obvious subse-quent potential for tension and conflict). Acknowledging such issues, Corsicointroduces the metaphor of city as mnrket, reflecting the fact that an urbanplace is 'the milieu in which a system of trade, a network of relationships isvalid' (1993: 79). The urban place and its institutions, therefore, become theforum in which the various urban stakeholders can communicate and (hope-fuIly) reach some consensus as to its future development. This has obviousresonance with Gummesson's (2006) concept of 'many-to-many' marketing,which explicitly utilizes these network properties of marketing.

Thinking about this in the specific context of the'experience network'frame-work, shown in Figure 9.1, we can think of all these interactions between thevarious actors in the 'strategic network' of a particular place as second- andthird-order interactions (i.e. befween and within experience enablers). One ofthe authors has researched these networks in detail (see Warnaby et aL.2002,2004,2005a) and has identified different tlpes of interaction between networkmembers in order to develop and implement marketing activities, as follows:

o formaL [or structuraL] interaction - which couLd occur through membership ofpartnership agencies and steering groups etc.

o informaL interaction - through participation rn locaL networks and through infor-mation sharing with other agencies

r initiative-specific interaction - where agencies came together to deveLop andimplement a particular place-marketing initiative and then disbanded (Warnaby

et al ,2002,2004).

This complexity of organizational mechanisms for place marketing is linkedto the other factor characterizing place marketing - the complexity of theplace'product'itself. Ashworth and Voogd (1990a,1990b) highlight the com-plex, multi-layered nature of the urban-place product, suggesting that it con-sists of a 'holistic' product, which in turn comprises various attributes andattractions which, following Sleipen (1988), they term 'contributory ele-ments'. This is developed further by van den Berg and Braun (1999) whoidentify three levels of (urban) place marketing:

1 individuat urban goods and servrces, where marketing is concerned with the mar-keLing of one locaL on, seTvice, attract 01, eLc.

2 cLusters of retated servrces, such as urban tourism or port faciLities


3 the urban aggLomeration as awhole, which IunLike the prevrous categories) may notin itseLf be a weLL-defined product and is, as a consequence, open to various inter-pretations, as different combinattons of indiv duaL urban goods/seTvices and cLus-ters may be promoted to distinct market segments (Ashworth and Voogd 1990bJ.

This complexity and possible ambiguity can create problems. Ashworth(1993) argues that the complicated nature of the urban-place product createsdifficulty in identifying specific responsibility for its marketing, and suggeststhree possible producers of the urban-place product:

1 the assembLer of the various eLements in the pLace product package'[as is thecase in ihe tourism industry)

2 governments and their agencies, who conceTn ihemseLves with coordinating,stimuLating, subsidising and occasionaL[y even operating various faciLities as weLlas engaging in much generaLized place promotion (1993: 645r

3 the consumers themseLves, who create their own unique pLace product from thevariety of services, amenities and other place eLements avaiLabLe to them, with thepLace producer having LittLe direct control over this process.

In considering the relative importance of these place-product producers,Ashworth implies the primacy of the consumer, as follows: 'Each consump-tion is an individual experience ... Thus in many logical respects the pro-ducer of the place-product is the consumer who produces an individualproduct by the process of assembly for consumptron' (7993: 645).

This notion of the consumer as producer of his or her own unique urbar.'experience' echoes one of the key foundational premises of the service-dominant logic that was discussed in Chapter 4, namely, that value i-q

uniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary (Vargo ancLusch 2008). Referring to Figure 9.1, this brings us back to the first-orde:interactions between place users and urban-experience enablers, and indeecbetween the place users themselves.

We can consider these first-order interactions (and the growing impor-tance of more overtly experiential aspects thereof) with specific reference t:the subject of town centre management (TCM), again one of the mai:focuses of research for one of the authors (see Warnaby et aL 7998; Forsber:et aI. 7999, 2005b; Stubbs et al. 2002). Synthesizing various definitionsWarnaby et al. define town centre management as:

the search for competitive advantage through the maintenance and/or strategicdevetopment of both pubt"ic and private areas and interests within town centres,initiated and undertaken by stakeholders drawn from a combination of thepubLic, private and voluntary sectors. (1998: 17-181

One of the key motivations behind the setting up of TCM schemes \,\ras ,response to threats to traditional urban retail areas as a consequence of ti.=development of retail activity in 'off-centre' Iocations (on the edge-of-tor..:

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and out-of-town), and in the 20 years or so that TCM schemes have been inoperation, the objectives and activity scope of many initiatives developedunder their aegis have arguably moved much more overtly towards theexperiential (Warnaby, 2009).

In their early stages, the prime concerns of many TCM schemes were essen-tidly janitorial (i.e. coordinating the basic service infrastructure provision suchas street cleaning, refuse collection, etc.). As TCM schemes have matured, theiractivity scope has become more strategically-oriented in terms of trying toinfluence the future development of the towry in terms of focusing on manag-ing the occupier mix within the town centre, and also promotional and mar-keting activities. However, whilst these janitorial and strategic aspects remainessential preconditions for success, Warnaby (2009) argues that if towns andcities are to maintain and enhance their position in an ever more competitiveand hostile environment, town centres have to focus more explicitly on theexperiential. Such views are also articulated in a recent report, Future of RetailProperty, the British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC), which states that,'customer "experience" is the new battleground. Shopping must not be blandand uneventful, but rather an efficient, exiting and emotionally engagingepisode' (BCSC 2007:10-72).In seeking to achieve this, shopping places must fol-low the example of the retailers within them, and engage in the're-enchantmentof retailing'. This encompasses a set of practices 'that activate non-functionalsources of value' during a visit to a store (Badot and Filser 2007:167), immersingthe consumer in a memorable experience.

In thinking about these experiential issues in relation to places, someframeworks from the services marketing literature have some use. of partic-ular applicability is the servuction model, developed by Langeard et al.(1981). This model highlights the experiential aspects of the purchases ofgoods or services by the consumet emphasizing that all products deliver a'bundle of benefits' to the consumer. According to this model, the organiza-tion providing the service comprises two elements - visible and invisible. Theaisible element constitutes both the inanimate environment within which theservice experience occurs, and the contact personnel within the organizationwho interact with consumers during the service experience. supporting thisis the inuisible element - namely, the support infrastructure that enablei thevisible part to function. The model is completed by the introduction of otherconsumers with whom the original customer may interact within the system.

warnaby and Davies (1997) and warnaby (2009) have adapted the originalservuction model to the context of towns and cities. In this context, the aisibteelement comprises:

c IhephysicaLsettrng- i.e.theretaiLvenuesthemseLves,andaLsovenuesreLatingtoother Land uses {e.g. cuLturaLor leisure activitiesl, as weLL as the generaLambienceof both the retaiLactivities and the desiinatlon as a whole

o thesocial miheu- i.e.contactpersonnelwithinaLL theabovevenues,asweLl asthewider socio-cuLturalfactors of the city (e.g. f riendLiness of the popuLation and locaL


customsl, which will provide a context for the behaviour of the contact personnelin the retaiLand other venues (Warnaby 2009).

This visible element is underpinned by the management of a range of sup-port services and logistical operations. Some services could be regarded as

hygiene factors in that they alone would not motivate consumers to visit a

location, but their absence would cause dissatisfaction (e.g. toilets, car park-ing, street cleaning). Other services could be thought of more in terms ofmotiaating possible visits (e.g. catering facilities and leisure facilities such as

crbches and children's play areas). In addition, Iogistical services wouldinclude a basic transport infrastructure (both within the locale and betweenthe locale and its catchment area), and also the logistics provision for specificvenues within the physical setting (e.g. deliveries for retailers).

Thus, thinking about towns and cities as experiential networks both visi-ble and invisible elements of the servuction model are incorporated, as wellas seeking to influence the interactions between all users of a location - inother words, a management focus on the totality of the system. This high-lights the importance of first-, second- and third-order interactions high-lighted in Figure 9.1 if places are to be managed and marketed as holisticentities, thus ensuring the user experience is fully taken into account by theplace-marketing actors responsible for individual urban places.

Non-territorial experience networks: commu n itiesof practice, value and issues

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, there is another type of communitywhere social ties and interactions, rather than location, form the primarvbasis for community (although as was stated earlier, the two approachesshould not be thought of as necessarily mutually exclusive, but in terms ofdifferences in emphasis). From a customer experience perspective, we haveclassified these types of non-territorial communities as communities of prac-tice, communities linked by ualue systems and communities arising fromspecific issues. We will consider each type in more detail below.

Communities of practice

In simple terms, we can perhaps think of communities of practice as net-works linked by their behaviour. This might be particularly relevant whenthinking about groups linked by n ork and/ or professional ties. To give anexample of this, we will return again to the British Lrbrary, but this time tcfocus on another, more specific BL user group - those supported by theorganization's Business and Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) (for furthe:details see Baron and Warnabl'2008).

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According to the 2007/08 Annual Report and Accounts, the BLs firststrategic priority is to'enrich the user's experience' (BL 2008: 16). In respectof the BIPC, the BL offers 'inspiration and support to inventors, innovatorsand entrepreneurs' (BL 2008: 14). The BIPC, which opened in 2006 withfinancial backing from the London Development Agency, was designed 'tosupport SMEs and entrepreneurs from that first iputi. of inspirition tosuccessfully launching a business'; in this, it offers:

a unique combination of business and lP information, incl.uding free accessto more than 30 high-val"ue subscription databases, hundreds of marketresearch reports, and the vast resources of the UK lntetlectuaI PropertyOffice, incl.uding searchabte databases on patents, trademarks and registereddesigns. {8L200722l'

The aims of the centre are for its customers to be inspired, have the oppor-tunity to network with like-minded people, get personal advice from expe-rienced people, develop their skills and knowledge, and make good use oftheir time. A number of initiatives had been set in place to meet the aims, andthe demand for the BIPC services had far exceeded its forecast targets sinceopening (detailed in BL 2007).

The profile of BIPC individual customers is different from that of the aca-demic faculty who made up the majority of the message writers to the BL"ssupport forum, which was mentioned in Chapter 6. Thinking back to theoperant resources mentioned in this chapter - namely physical, cultural andsocial - then the resources available to many BIPC users differs from themore stereotypical BL user. For example, unlike academics whose culturalresources reflect regular contact with library services, many BIPC customersare unfamiliar with library usage, and require help with getting the best outof the BL facilities. Also, in contrast to the access to peers taken for grantedby academics, many BIPC customers work in relative isolation, and can suf-fer from lack of social resources. So as to maximize the'user experience'of thisgroup it can be argued that the BL uses a network-oriented, many-to-manymarketing type approach to increase the level of user resources so that theycan better co-create value in conjunction with the BL.

Thus, the cultural operant resources of BIPC customers, such as special-ized knowledge and skills (Arnould et al. 2006), are facilitated by both BLand partner (e.g. London Development Agency) resources, including:

o workshops [e.g. 'lntroduction to lnteLlectuaL Property', 'How to Search'workshopson patents, trademarks, registered designs and copyright, 'How to Find' work-shops on using business information to assess markets, produce pLans and pin-point customers)

r advice sessions with the'lnventor in Residence and other experts, offering freeoespoke'consuLLa"cy

r a fTee e-course on inteLLectuaL propertyr website information.


Social resources (highlighting relationships and communities) are facilitatedby, for example:

. 'lnspiring Entrepreneurs'networking events and taLks by famous entrepreneurs(which are aLso avaiLable on YouTube)

. a Facebook group

. blogs

. a monthLy e-newsletter

. coaching, mentoring and'ldeas into Action workshops {BL 2007,20081.

Many of the above activities could also facilitate the development of physi-cal operant resources such as energy, emotion and strength (Arnould et al.2006) among BIPC customers, for example by the use of successful exem-plars, which could provide motivation and encouragement to individualsto persevere with what may be at times difficult and complex situations inwhich they find themselves as they seek to exploit their intellectual prop-erty and/or establish businesses. Indeed, the BL encourages its users tocommunicate their positive experiences of the BL:

Are You a Business & lP Centre success story? Has the Business and lPCentre hetped you get your idea off the ground or made a real difference to yourexisting business? lf so, we woul.d Like to hear from you.

We are Looking for successfut entrepreneurs and inventors to be part of ourcase study programme. lf you quatify to be part of the programme, your storycoutd be featured on our website, in our press coverage and in promotionalmaterial in the Centre. To appty to be a Business & lP Centre success story,visit www.bl.uk/bipc/success.htm[. IPromotionaI postcard distributed tousers of the Business and lntetlectuaI Property Centrel

This use of user case studies has been a central tenet of the BL s communi-cations activities for some time, with much promotional literature and theinstitution's Annual Report and Accounts in recent years incorporating usercase studies, emphasizing how user resources have been enhanced by BLfacilities and services - in other words, how value has been co-createdthrough interaction.

Va Iu es- based co m m u n iti e s

A key criterion for the definition of non-territorial-based communities iscommon values,/interests etc., and in the context of consumers, we carlidentify patterns of consumption that may be defined in this way. A tern'.that has been used to describe such specialized communities of consumers ='neo-tribes' - 'where members share values, lifestyles or self-image=rather than demographic traits' (Weatherell et al. 2003: 234). An obviou-.example of this can occur with regard to the food we eat, and the tern

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'conscious consumer' has been used to describe those that demonstratehigher levels of concern about industrialized forms of food provisioning andgreater knowledge of the socio-economic benefits of buying food that hasbeen grown or reared locally. In recent years this 'neo-tribe' of 'consciousconsumers'has become more important, and one, more overtly, experientialaspect of this has been the development and growth of farmers' markets.

Farmers' markets have been defined in various ways. However, there is aconsensus as to their common characteristics:

rnvoLving d rect seL[ing to the consumer by the person who grew, reared or pro-duced the foodsin a common facilrty where the above activity is practised by numerous farmerswho seLI local produce, usuaL[y defined as constituting foodstuffs originatingfrom a defined area, usuaL[y withln a 30 50-mi[e radius of the market Location

IMcEachern et aL. 2010]

The number of farmers'markets has grown substantially in the last decade.La Trobe (2001) states that there were two farmers' markets in 7997 , this fig-ure increasing to 120 by 1999. Bentley et al. (2003) state that 250 were in exis-tence by 2000 and FARMA (2006) estimate that there are currently over 500such markets in the UK. Despite the potential benefits that farmers'marketscan provide for the local community and economy within which they arelocated, the farmers themselves, and the consumers who patronize them(outlined in more detail by McEachern et al. 2010), shopping within themremains a minority activity and experience/ even among those 'consciousconsumers' mosi likely to espouse those values relating to issues relating tosustainable and ethical consumption inherent in farmers' markets. Such per-ceptions were investigated in a research project with which one of theauthors was involved (for more details see McEachern et al. 2010).

This research identified a key task for those responsible for the manage,ment of farmers' markets as being to move consumers'perceptions of shop-ping at such events from being an occasional 'leisure' pursuit to a regular,ongoing shopping pattern. One means by which this could perhaps beachieved may be through better communications of the benefits of farmers'markets, but equally through the management of the farmers' market /expe-

rience'. Indeed, farmers' markets have been thought of by McGrath et al.(1993) in terms of the servicescape, which has been defined as the built envi-ronment surrounding the service (Bitner \992), incorporating ambience,function and design (Bitner 2000). Other research (Baker et aL. 7992,1994) hasadded a social dimension, in which people can shape and influence thephysical space of the built environment and its impact. Indeed, the servuctionsystem mentioned in the previous section of this chapter could be of use interms of thinking about how an experience context could be created inwhich those conscious consumers (and others) could demonstrate theirchosen consumption patterns.


Thus, as was mentioned above, it can be seen that the territorial andnon-territorial approaches to community are not mutually exclusive. Indeed,given the fact that, by definition, they are grounded in a locale (as high-lighted above) and are manifestations of 'short' food supply chains(Marsden et al. 2000), then McEachern et aL (2010) argue that farmers'mar-kets have an obvious opportunity to capitalize upon conscious consumers'concerns relating to sustainability, and also perceptions relating to theimportance of locality and community for some customers (Szmigin et al.2003). Therefore, any marketing communications activity that farmers' mar-kets may develop to emphasize their inherent attraction could highlighttheir benefits in terms of their contribution to the local economy, and interms of fostering a sense of community within a particular locale. Indeed,given the ubiquity of multiple retailers and subsequent concerns relating tothe 'cloning' of Britain's high streets (see New Economics Foundation 2004),then the potential of farmers' markets as a means to differentiate retail pro-vision within an urban location (linking to the previous section) should notbe ignored.

This focus on'place' and community (i.e. stressing the first- and second-order connections identified in Figure 9.1) may be the most appropriateavenue for farmers'markets to try to differentiate their offering, particularlyas performance on issues relating to 'ethical' consumption are increasinglyhighlighted by their supermarket rivals in an attempt to appeal to ,con-

scious' and, indeed/ more general consumers/ to create consumer goodwilland obtain competitive advantage. Often supermarkets focus on issues suchas organic produce and Fair Tiade, which may not necessarily benefit localproducers - by emphasizing their inherent locality and their experientialaspects more overtly, farmers' markets may be able to secure an effectivemarket positioning in to the future.

I ssue- based com mu niti es

Another criterion which we could use to classify non-territorial communitiesmay relate to specific issues that bind people together into communities(if only temporarily). Thus, in the context of place marketing (described ear-lier in this chapter) warnaby et al. (2002,2004) identified initiative-specificinteraction, with different combinations of actors responsible for the mar-keting of a locality coming together for a finite period to develop specificmarketing activities. This introduces an overtly temporal dimension to theconcept of communities within experiential networks, where individualsand groups may collaborate to achieve a particular objective, which, onceachieved may be followed by the dissolution of the community network.

A good example of this kind of community was investigated by oneof the authors in relation to the campaign to save a local independent

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CommunitiesWithin'ExperientialNetworks' 159

cinema in a particular district in Liverpool (for further details, see Baronand Harris 2008).

woolton Picture House opened in 1927, and surviving downturns in cin-ema-going in the 7970s and 1980s, that caused the closure of many similarcinemas, the woolton cinema began to flourish again in the 1990s. It wasmade famous as being the cinema frequented by lohn Lennon and his con-temporaries in the 1960s. The lines 'I saw a film today, oh boylThe Englisharmy had just won the war' from Lennon and McCa.tr-rey', igeT ADa'y inthe Life' was written after Lennon had seen a film at the woolton cinema.However, the owner's death in June 2006 led to the cinema being put up forsale, and in September 2006 the final curtain fell on the cinema.

This led to a consumer campaign led by some residents in woolton villageto save 'their cinema', which began with a conversation between thoiepeople who ultimately became the campaign leaders in a pub in wooltonv_ illage. The campaign started with an emotional plea to save the cinema tothe

.audience rluring the interval of the final periormance, of pirates of the

Caribbean, on 3 September 2006. Following leaflet distribution, notices in thevillage and a mention on Radio Merseyside, a first public meeting was heldin september 2006 in the upper room of a local p.tb. Mot" than three timesas many people (over 150) turned up than expected to support the campaignto save the cinema. There followed a number of initiatives and actlvitles:public meetings, leafleting, local newsp apers (Liaer,tool Echo and LioerpoolPosf) and radio (Radio Merseyside), the website, continuous local awarenesscreation through 'leg work' (at the woolton Farmers'Market, for example),and fundraising efforts,, such as 'gigs' (featuring well,known Liverpoolmusicians) and 'table sales', which were also the locations for campaign-related merchandise sales (such as 'save woolton Cinema, T-shirts, bad[esand key rings).

It became clear, at a very early stage, that the campaign would not raisethemoney needed (€500,000) to purchase the cinema, an'-d place the cinemain the hands of the local community, which had been an Larly aspiration.Also, it was decided that it was not really feasible to prepare a fundingapplication to forward to bodies such as the Arts council tt subsidize thecinema' The eventual purchase of the cinema, on 20 February 2007,by aconsortium of south Liverpool businessmen, dedicated to get'ting the cin-ema business back up-and-running, represented the culminltion Jf myriadconsumer and co-consumer efforts to prevent the site and building frombeing purchased for non-cinema-based:property development. Baron andHarris (2008), in their reporting of the detal of the campaign, emphasizethe use of consumer capabilities and resource integratio""rry a networkof individuals, collectively motivated by the desire" of the &ganizers ofthe campaign to continue what they considered to be the authentic cine-matic experience, and which was 'bought into'by many within the localcommunity.


Conctusion

This chapter has looked at the concept of 'community'in relation to the consumerexperience, recognizing that because of the social resources (Arnould et al. 2006)available to consumers, they can * and do - act collectively within what we havetermed 'experiential networks'. We have looked at different ways in which tothink about communities in this context, using the distinction between territorialand non-territorial approaches to conceptualizing; community (Azarya,7996) andhave identified a number of different examples of how communities might beclassified from a consumer experience perspective, using case studies drawnfrom research projects with which the authors have been involved. A key ques-tion that we need to consider is how such communities are created and main-tained (especially those classified in terms of non-territorial bases, wheremembers of the communities may be wideiy dispersed). One dimension of this,which has been alluded to in this and earlier chapters, is the role of informationtechnology, and the next chapter considers this in more detail.


Consumers are often 'sociat'creatures and exist (and act, individuail.yor coltectivety) within various patterns of rel.ationships, which can betermed'experiential networks'.

" These experiential networks can be claEsified according to torritorial.and non-territorial criteria.

]. Non-territoriat experience networks can be fur:ther subdivided intocommunities of practice, values-based communities and issue-basedcommunities. I

Aitivities and disaussion quegtions

ln relation to your own consumption behaviour, can you identify any'experience networks' of which you are a member?How is your coRsumption behaviour affected by these 'experiencenetworks'?***-

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lntroduction

In Chapters 7 and 8, through the application of consumer experiencemodelling (cEM), we have advocated an increased focus on C2C interac-tions as part of relationship networks. As Gummesson observes, 'C2C inter-action and the customers' role in both the value proposition and valueactualisation is a growing area for research and practical applications ' (2007: 11).Physical, face-to-face C2C interactions have been researched (see, for example,Nicholls (2005)), but have not had as much attention from services and rela-tionship marketing management, as have interactions between customersand service employees, or between customers and the physical service set-tings ,(servicescapes). To quote Gummesson again, 'unfortunately, theproviders may not see the contribution of [C2C] involvement and fail to snp-port it' (2007: 16). However, the widespread adoption of mobile technologyand the internet by consumers has meant that ICT-mediated C2C interai-tions complement, and add to the face-to-face C2C interactions, and, as withthe British Library example in chapter 6, can have important network effectsand implications for organizations.

16t, Retationships from a Consumer Experience Perspective

In particular, the social network website is a twenty-first century phenomenonwhich has changed the interactions, relationships and networks landscapes,tfuough the increased opportunities for C2C interactions. For example,according to eMarketer (www.emarketer.com), 15.4 million (39 per cent) of UKintemet users interacted by using a social network once a month in2009, andit is estimated that the figure will rise to 21..9 million (50 per cent) by 2013. Ona global scale, the CNET News social networks rankings in February 2009

showed that the three most popular sites had monthly visits as follows:Facebook, almost 1.2 billion; MySpace, over 800 million; Twitter, over 50 mil-lion. YouTube statistics show that 78.3 million videos were uploaded in March2008. The use of social networks is widely believed to be driven by youngerpeople. It has been said that Generation Y (people bom between the early1980s and late 1990s) 'has always had the computer in their lives. They knownothing of life before Google and conduct their social lives differently to anyother generation thanks to MySpace and Facebook' (Anonymous 2009).

Of course, the sheer numbers involved with social networks, and its growth,has not gone umoticed by organizations that see commercial possibilities andopportunities (]ones 2007;Foster 2008). For example, Brottlund (2009) identi-fies many companies, including Absolut Vodka, Adidas, American Express,Boeing, Coca-Cola, Dell, Motorola, Pizza Hut, Southwest Airlines andStarbucks, that use social networking as a means of boosting sales. It has alsospawned a crop of business 'how-to' books: e.g. Facebook Marketing (Holzner2009) ('Leveraging social media to grow your business'); YouTube for Business

(Miller 2009) ('All types of businesses are getting into the YouTube scene: localbusinesses, major national marketers, ad agencies, real estate agencies, consul-tants . ..'); Truitter Power (Comm 2009) ('The goal of using TWitter is to buildrelationships - especially relationships that can benefit your company').

In this chapter, therefore, we explore the reasons for the growth of socialnetworks, how they are used and managed by consumers, and the potentialfor organizations to address this phenomenon in their relationship market-ing activities and strategies. First, however, we define and look briefly at thehistory and development of social network websites.

Definition and history of sociat network sites

A useful definition of social network sites is offered by boyd and Ellison(2007:2).

They are web-based services that allow individuals to:

1 construci a pubLic or semi-public profiLe within a bounded system2 articuLate a List of other users with whom they share a connection3 view and traverse their List of connections and those made by others within thE

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They also point out strongly that social network sites are not normally usedby individuals for the purpose of meeting strangers, but are used mainly tocommunicate with people who are already part of an extended sotialnetwork.

The first social network site was created rn r9gz, but the most popularthree sites at the time of writing were created later; MySpace in 2003,F199book (for everyone to use) in 2006 and TWitter in2006 (boyd and Ellison2007). As is seen above, these three sites have, between them, over 2billionvisits per month. The features of the sites vary. In this chapter we focusmainly on Facebook, the most popular social network website at the time ofwriting.

Facebook began as an electronic version of a college-student yearbook atHarvard University. College-student yearbooks were usually created so thatfreshmen (first-year students) could know something aboui the fellow stu-dents in their year: their backgrounds, hobbies, skiils, likes, dislikes, etc.,accompaniedby a photograph. Many colleges and universities handed outhard-copy yearbooks after the first week of attendance, once the studentshad-provided the appropriate information. An electronic version of the year-book, howeve4 came with additional facilities for the students to chat, andswap emails, and so a social network was created through the website.Initially, it was available only to Harvard University students. Then it wasexpanded to other colleges, high schools (in 2005), and ultimately to anyoneaged 13 or over, in 2006. Even before it became available to eveiyone, com-mentators were appreciating its importance. Raskin, for example, observedthat'stories abound about how everyone from marketers, to jbb recruiters,to college admissions counsellors, to teachers and even law enforcement areusing Facebook to see what students are doing' (2006: b7). with wider par-ticipation since 2006, organizations are looking at building applications intoFacebook that can be spread by viral networking (oouet-e et al. 2007;Ferguson 2008; Foster 2008).

Consumer experiences with Facebook

Lr keeping with this book's focus on consumer experiences, we now presentlwo accounts, written by Facebook users. Through the accounts, we can seehow the features of Facebook mav be used.

The first account is written uy rtrit, who is 31 years of age, and works asan_irformation provider for financial advisers. Fie has a Bichelor,s Degreein Politics and a postgraduate qualification in journalism. He lives in thenorthwest of England. The second account is written by pooja, aged 25, whos from India, but is currently working as a freelance marketing r6searcher in-ngland. she successfully completed her MBA in the UK 1g rionths ago.


Phil's Account

I f irst became aware of Facebook about two years ago when I started to receiveemai[ 'invitations' to join it, mostty from former cotteagues and universityfriends. I had never been one for embracing new internet fads but in this caseI decided to give it a go, mainty because it was recommended to me by peoptewho woutd normatly be equaLty scepticaI of such websites.

0nce I'd bitten the buLLet my initiaI reaction was a mixture of being stighttydisconcerted and feeling ftattered;within Literal.ty a few hours of signing up I

received several 'friend' requests from peopte I had Lost touch with severa[years before. A large number of these were peopte who I was f riendty with butwho I had not necessarity sociatized with in the past, and therefore had neverswapped mobite numbers and email addresses. I suppose the word I'm [ook-ing for is 'acquaintance', rather than 'friend' but I found Facebook to be an

invatuabte means of breaking down social barriers to estabtish contact with a

wider sociaI circte lon the basis that you need a ptausibte reason to ask forsomeone's mobite phone number, whereas you can send a casua[ message on

Facebook because 'Facebook is not a big deat and everyone uses it'|.ln terms of the severaI apptications that can be used on Facebook, I pretty

much disregard aLL of them and just use it primarity for communication pur-poses and occasionatty to share my thoughts with the wor[d via what I (opti-

misticattyl think to be amusing status updates. Every time I tog-in, someone I

barely know f rom school or a previous job has sent me lwett, me and everyoneetse in their friend tistl a 'chal.tenge' about my movie knowtedge, or knowt-edge of 80s TV shows. At[ are ignored, as are various chitdish and pointtessvampi re/werewo[f attacks.

I think it's fair to say that I have a love-hate retationship with Facebookthese days. Part of me hates the exhibitionism of it a[t, and the fact that somepeopte feel equa[l.y as comfortabte sharing with the world the contents of thesandwich they have just eaten as they do their latest retationship break-up. I

am atso wary of pictures of me in a 'tired and emotiona[ state' appearing on

there and being seen by peopte who, pre-Facebook, would never have beenprivy to such snapshots into my tife.

A friend got it right by not signing up, and instead retying on his girtfriendto keep him informed of our sociaI circte via her own account; so he basicattygot atL the benefits, without having to put up with att the irritation. But, assurety as night foLLows day, he gave in and, as of this weekend, became friendnumber 223 ...

Pooja's Account

The most important feature of Facebook IFBl is that it offers me privacy. I canhave comptete contro[ of my account in terms of adding friends, and sharingphotos with the peopte on my friends List. Also if I want to send any informa-tion which I don't want others to read, instead of writing on the watt, I can ctickand send messages.

It atso gives me a ptatform to interact with my old schoot/col.l.ege/universityfriends. lt is where I can be in touch with them aLt the time. For example, whenwe write our latest updates [on the 'What is on your mind' featurel, friends

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Sociat Networks: C2C Exchanges and Retationships 167

respond, which makes it very interactive, and gives me a ctue about their latestevents in tife. lt is fun and entertaining to have an account because there maybe some event/party/get-together in town coming up, and an invitation is sentout to friends through FB.

Sometimes I may not reatty check any sort of news, or current updates, butmy friends might update news related status messages, and hence I may findout about the news much quicker then I woutd have, and can fottow up later.

I also use FB for buitding up new contacts which might be hetpfut for pro-fessionaI and personaI reasons. I think it is good that you can have your ownpage where you woutd want to create your own community or promote anycompany, TV show, idea, etc., and ask peopte to join as fans. FB is amazing touse because I do not need to remember individuat emaiI addresses. lt is reattyaddictive. 0nce you have an account you woutdn't dare to detetel

I access FB at teast 2-3 times in a day. Usual.l.y, when logged on, I am on FB fora minimum of 10-15 minutes each time. The facil.ities luse are photo albumuptoad, and tabs to leave messages on any sorts of updates, birthday apptications,personatity quiz apptications, or news updates. I choose friends when the invita-tion is sent out by a person to accept me as a friend. Atso there is a tab on thehomepage which states peopte you may know, and common friends are listed, soI can send an invite. Finatty, on top there is a search tab and you can enter nameof the person you are Looking for and add as a friend lfriend finder tootl.

I have the fol.Lowing companies as friends: GIEU IUniversity of Liverpootl; TheUniversity of Liverpool. - Atumni Relations; Jai Hind Cottege; Hindu StudentForum - Liverpool. I am a 'fan' of Rani Mukherjee lActress), the Simpsons,Bombay, Ek cutting chai Ilndian Teal, Susan BoyLe {Britain's Got Talentl, and TheAti Khan Brothers IMusiciansl.

Some reatly interesting recent news was on 'Earth Hour' - spreading themessage to save energy. PeopLe updated their status on FB to inform othersthat they woutd participate in such an event. Hence, people who were origi-natly unaware of such an event did read about it in detaiL, and it was interest-ing to find out that the participation leveI of the peopte who turned off theirtights after 8.30-9.30 was rea[[y massive.

I atso use other sociaI sites: Orkut and Linkedln.

Nature of the C2C exchanges

Survey research, undertaken by Ellison et al. (2007) and ]oinson (2008) hasfocused on Facebook user practices, benefits and motivations.

Ellison et al. (2007), in a survey of 286 Michigan State University under-graduates (of which 94 per cent were Facebook users), found that the usersrvould spend between a mean of 10-30 minutes per day on Facebook, withthe most frequently cited number of 'friends' as being between 150-200.There was a significantly higher Facebook usage involving friends that theyalready knew offline than those involving meeting new people. Ellison et al.affirm that'Our participants overwhelmingly used Facebook to keep in touch


with old friends and to maintain or intensify relationships characterised bysome form of offline cornection ...' (2007: 1.8).

Joinson (2008), in two surveys of general Facebook users (not juststudents), confirmed these findings, drawing a distinction between the morefrequent'social searching' usage of Facebook (finding out information aboutexisting offline contacts) and less frequent 'social browsing' usage ofFacebook (developing new connections with the possibility of subsequentoffline interaction). He also identified two forms of activities related to'keeping in touch'. The first is surveillance; keeping a check on what oldcontacts are currently doing, how they are behaving and what they look like.The second is social capital building gratification associated with being able

to '... build, invest in and maintain ties with distant friends and contacts'.The personal accounts by Phil and Pooja tend to support the findings of

these surveys, and acknowledge the addictive nature of Facebook. TWo

immediate problems arise when organizations or companies contemplateentering the Facebook interactions. They may not be considered as offline'friends' and their contributions, if considered irritating by the majority ofFacebook users, may result in a great amount of negative word-of-mouth.Let us look now at the possibilities for organizations to provide messages

that encourage positive C2C interactions between Facebook users.

C2C interactions and relationships

The following quotation from Professor Glenn Reynolds of the University ofTennessee, in Cook and Hopkins, demonstrates the importance of C2C inter-actions for relationship building in the twenty-first century.

The lnternet is a powerfuI toot. But most attention seems to focus on its use

as a means of vertica[ communications: from one to many.

... But as important as this is - and it's very important indeed - it's probabty

dwarfed by the much more numerous horizontaI communications that thelnternet, and retated technotogies Like ceLt phones, text message and the [ikepermit. They aLtow a kind of horizontaI knowLedge that is often less obvious,but in manyways at teast as powerfut, as the verticaI kind.

Horizontal knowtedge is communication amongst individuats, who may ormay not know each other, but who are loosety coordinated by their involve-ment with something, or someone, of mutuaI interest. And it's extremetypowerful., because it makes peopte much smarter. [2008: iiil

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restricted list of 'friends', including ex- and present students at theUniversity of Liverpool.

My cotteague, Steve Baron, is writing a chapter on sociaI network sites in abook on Retationship Marketing. lf you know ol any organizations or compa-nles [incl.uding the one you work forl that have a Facebook or My5pace page,can you let me know, and I'tt forward to Steve. Ptease pass on this message toanyone e[se you know who may be abl.e to hetp.

Of course, this is not the same as communicating with people via a Facebookpage, but it acts as a pointer to the reach of a social network. The responsewas interesting. On the positive side, within five hours, there had been twovery interesting leads, and one enquiry for clarification. The leads related toa small firm in Northern Ireland, 'Suki Tea', which had used Facebook to wina contract in China, and to an agency that uses Facebook to find people forlast-minute jobs and to publish photos of big events. Also, an email to Steve'scolleague, as a follow-up to the Facebook message, provided a web address,www.insidefacebook.com, that lists companies that have a Facebook page.

On following up on Suki Tea, it transpired that the contract that was wonwas in ]apan. According to Siliconrepublic.com, Ireland's technology newsservice, 6 May 2009, 'BeIfast start-up Suki Tea Company has won a majorcontract to supply gourmet teas to a leading tea house in Tokyo, after a rec-ommendation was posted via Facebook ... it has created a unique and highlysuccessful website, which it is using very cleverly and effectively to build anappealing personality for the business in this era of social networkingonline'. Suki Tea Facebook was launched on 9 October,2008.

It is fair to say that we, as authors, may have become 'smarter' as a resultof this exposure to Facebook possibilities. However, on the negative side, themessage impact was both short-lived - no responses beyond the first fivehours - and seemingly uninspiring, in that it generated only three responsesfrom over 70 recipients.

What can and should organizations do?

According to Li, 'Most marketers salivate at the tremendous reach of socialnetworking sites like MySpace and Facebook' (2007:2). While this might notbe a pretty image, it reflects the view that there are rich pickings to be hadfor those organizations that embrace appropriately the C2C phenomenonthat is supported by social network sites. The key word is 'appropriately'because costly mistakes can be made through organizations unthinkinglyinvading what consumers regard as their own space. The name'MySpace'isnot only a brand name, but also a clear signal. So how can, and should, privateand public organizations reap benefits from the social network happenings?


We look at some published accounts of organizational involvementwith social network sites, and examine what appear to be the lessons to belearnt.

Unilever and the co-creation experience

Needham (2008) provides an example of how Unilever engaged with thesocial network site Headbox, used mainly by 16-25-year-olds, to co-createvalue with young people and also generate positive word-of-mouth.

Applying the mantra of marketinguith young people, rather than market-ing /o them (a feature of the S-D logic of marketing), Unilever identified'youth advocates'through Headbox. They are the ones who regularly writeblogs and have brands as friends on their profile pages. They are acknowl-edged as creative with a high social standing amongst friends. The idea is toco-create value with these consumers, through involving them with thedesign and launching of new Unilever products. A trial of these ideasinvolved taking 18 Headbox youth advocates to Alicante in Spain for threedays to talk through their own product ideas and designs, as well as sugges-tions as how they might be marketed to their peers. This was followed upwith presentations in London to senior Unilever executives.

According to Needham: 'After the Aiicante project our 18 Headboxersenthused for days on their Facebook pages about how brilliant theirUnilever experience had been. The combined number of friends who wouldhave read or engaged with these exchanges was over 10,000.

Libraries and their users

We have seen, through the British Library context in Chapter 6, that librarvusers have social networks. Recognition of this has stimulated library man-agers to consider engaging with sociai network sites. Alcock (2009) haschronicled the findings of a pilot study of the experience of the University ofWolverhampton in ihe UK of using Facebook to reach the library users.Recognizing that many of their students use Facebook to communicate withtheir fellow students and to organize group working r,r.ithin their variouscourses, and that academic staff were beginning to use Facebook as a forumfor social interaction with students, the library staff at the University ofWolverhampton piloted a project aimed at creating a Facebook page for itsLearning Centres.

They had two main concerns with engaging with Facebook. First, they didnot want to be seen to be invading the students'private and personal space.By setting up a Facebook page, rather than a profile, they ensured that thei-wouid communicate oniy with students who designated themselves as'fans' of the page, and that students could control who sees their profiles.

SociaI Networks: C2C Exchanges and ReLationships 171

second, they were worried that Facebook would be used primarily to feedback moans and groans about the library service, and that there may besome inappropriate comments by students for all to see. In the event, thisconcern proved not to be a problem. The pilot was generally successful withLearning Centre updates being gratefully received by over 200 fans, andfeedback largely positive.

on a national scale, the British Library has been piloting the use of socialnetwork sites to create greater awareness of its Business and IntellectualProperty Centre (BIPC) which offers services to inventors, entrepreneurs andsmall business owners (Infield 2009). The BIPC team chose Facebook as itspreferred site, knowing that it is populated by large numbers of graduatesand professionals. The British Library Entrepreneur and SME network pageon Facebook quickly attracted fans,/members, and the BIPC team decidedthat, once the membership reached 1,000 (which they achieved within sixmonths), they would invite the members to a'real' face-to-face networkingevent at the British Library. They were very pleased that over 70 peopleturned up. The event was videoed, and, together with successful entrepre-neur stories, was placed on YouTube on a BiPC-dedicated YouTube channel.The channel captured just below 8,500 views in three months. The BIpC isnow experimenting with rwitter, the fastest growing social network site atthe time of writing.

Ernst and young employee hiring

Ernst and Young (EY) has a page on Facebook dealing exclusively withcareers. EY hires over 5,000 us college students each year for internships andentry-level career opportunities. On the page, EY has acquired over 28,000fans, at the time of writing, who contribute information and frequent thediscussion board. The move to create and maintain the page incurs costs: feeto Facebook, staff costs to maintain the page and respond quickly to studentsrvho contact them via the page, and potential intangible costs of negativeviews attracting a wide audience.

Nevertheless, it has been viewed as a success, creating contacts betweenstudents, graduates, EY staff and campus recruiters across North America. Ithas also attracted other business people who are seeking advice on how toset up Facebook pages of a similar kind.

Non-profit organizations and Facebook

\vaters et al. (2009) carried out a study of the use of Facebook by not-:or-profit (NFP) organizations in sectors such as arts, education, healih and:e1igion, in order to examine how the NFP organizations 'can engage theirstakeholders and foster relationship growth' (waters et al. 2009: 1oi). They

172 Retationships from a consumer Experience Perspective

looked at a sample of over 200 such organizations and categorized their

Facebook usage according to three criteria:

. organizationaL discLosure: leveL of description, history' listed administrators' etc'

inc[uded on the Page. information dissemination: news Links, posted photographs, discussion waLL, press

reLeases, etc.. involvement: facilities for interaction, e.g,emaiL addresses/phone numbers,

calendar of events, voLunteer opportunities

The study concluded that most pages scored reasonably highly on organiza-

tional disclosure, but failed to take advantage of involvement in terms of the

interactive nature of social networking. tn the language of the s-D logic of

Inurk",irrg, facilities for co-creation of value with members was missing from

the pagesl'The authors of the study pointed out opportunities, currently not

U"irig |ff"t"d, for videos and photographs from volunteers to be encouraged

"rp"".iully if the NFP orglnization lacks resources and equipment.

niaitiot,utty, volunteerr *uy be able to ensure that daily maintenance is

given to the page, as it appears, from -the

sample survey, that most NFPs,lack the resources and time to provide constant attention to a Facebook

pa}e' , and 'creating a profile and abandoning it " ' could turn off potential

irriporte., if they iult.,"tt inactivity on the site' (Waters et al' 2009: L05)'

Tapping in on customer creativity

In May 200g,wD-40 started its own social network - The Money-saving

Tool community. Most of us may be able to recall squirting the car lubricant

wD-40 onto wet car-battery leads or onto squeaky wheels, and being

encouraged to try wD-40 to cure many car ailments as a first-try.

The s6cial neiwork site has the tigline 'join The Money Saving Tool

community and share your money-saving stories, photos and videos'' The

first 40 submissions received a WD-40 value pack as a prize. According to

the website BrandFreak.com, 'At this budding Peyton Place of cyberspace,

members are encouraged to share money-saving tips and tricks - through

stories, photos, videoi, what have you - to show the creative ways they

protect ih"i, it rr"rtments and avoid paying for expensive repairs or

replacement goods'.'By mid-Ma! 2009 there were over 2,000 different uses of WD-40 offered by

crlriorne.s, many of which cannot be repeated here'

Bringing it att together

Interactions and relationships between and amongst individuals, or indi-

vidual consumers, have been relatively under-explored in traditional

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relationship marketing discourse, despite the greater recognition of theimportance of C2C interactions as emphasized in this book.

Social network websites are a twenty-first century phenomenon. They areextremely popular as shown by the usage statistics on Facebook, MySpace,Twitter and YouTube quoted earlier. Their popularity and potential hasattracted many organizations and companies to create Facebook pages orprofiles. According to InsideFacebook.com, by May 2009, there were 27,655companies on Facebook. The previous section gave a snapshot of Facebookactivities of a very small minority of these organizations. Additional insightscan be gleaned from Exhibit 10.1 which shows the benefits that Brazen PR, apublic relations company in Manchester, see from using Facebook andTWitter (see http : // www.br azen-world. com / ).

Exhibit L0.1 Brazen PR's use of social network sites, according tothe owneq, Nina Webb

Why create a Facebook page?

As one of the country's top PR consultancies, it is paramount that we demon-strate our communication abilities: it's the bread and butter of what we do.With today's modern marketer tuned into the advantages and importance ofsocial networking, what example are we setting to perspective clients if we, as

a business, have no online presence? At Brazen we use a number of social net-works but chose Facebook because of its mass audience and interaction capa-bilities. We see our profile as a passport into our world, where people canexperience our environment and interact directly with our Brazen citizens(employees). Brazen is more than just a PR consultancy, it is a living organization,and we really wanted to bring our unique culture alive.

What is your experience? Good or bad?

The Brazen Facebook profile has been of benefit to the overall Brazen brand.We don't have thousands upon thousands of friends, but that is because wehave a niche appeal: only those who want to know us more personally willbefriend us and it's more about quality than quantity. ln essence, our Facebookprofile serves its purpose well. It's a domain where we can quickly and easilyupload a snapshot of our world or share a news broadcast, and Facebookallows us to do just that.

How important is it to you?

As the communication experts that we are, it is vital that we illustrate our pro-fessional skills and qualities. The Marketing and PR industry is no longer justabout print, broadcast and word of mouth, but also digital which is revolution-izing the way we work. As a relatively new medium, we are all pioneers shapingthe way that business is conducted within the future and to be blunt, if

(Cont'd)

171+ Retationships from a Consumer Experience Perspective

you're not already beating the online drum, you're going to get left behind.This is what clients expect as a standard service and if we're not seen to beinvolved within social networks, it really doesn't instill confidence of our ownabilities. For that kudos alone, our Facebook profile is not important, butimperative.

Who are your friends?

Our friends vary, but each has a vested interest within Brazen and what we do.Along with a1l our citizens, we have a mixture of people from ex-citizens whowant to keep tabs on what's happening in Brazen world, journalists and edi-tors who are on the hunt for a story, and even suppliers such as photographerswho are scouting for business. We encourage clients to join, as we see them as

much a part of Brazen World as our citizens.

How do you maintain/update the page?

Status updates are linked directly via our other social medium, TWitter.Essentially this kills two birds with one stone, and we aim to update our statusat least three times a day. To keep it fresh, we also encourage all of our citizens tosuggest status updates. This could be amazing coverage, interesting articlesrelating to our industry, or even generic banter. The profile really does updatenaturally and that's because it's fun - our world is fun and we want everyoneelse to join in.

How does it complement other forms of networking?

The secret is don't just choose one social network, but don't choose them al1

either. Research what is available and select which formats most comple-ment your business or aim. For example, we were originally planning tocreate a Brazen MySpace page but chose not to due to it being primarilyused by creative individuals such as musicians and artists. Social network-ing takes a lot of time and effort, so only use what is essential and, if youare going to do it, make sure you stick at it! In terms of what complementsFacebook the best, we also utilise Twitter and find it's the perfect match.Summarizing, both are very similar in terms of method and establishingnetworks but, at the same time, operate from opposite ends of the tablewhich actually plays to our advantage. The best way to describe this;Facebook is for people you used to know, while Twitter is for those youwant to know. In reference to business, it keeps your friends close, and yourfuture clients closer.

Our message throughout the book has been to examine interactions from a

consumer experience perspective to gain insights into the interactions, rela-tionships and networks that contribute to well-being and quality-of{ife.Research into online social networking affords great opportunities to leammore of these aspects. The published research into Facebook usage, supported

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by some short, introspective personal accounts, suggests strongly thatindividuals use Facebook to communicate with people with whom theyhave, or have had an offline relationship. Online communication withstrangers, whether they are individuals or organizations, is engaged in farless frequently. Topics of the conversations appear to be gossip-related andrecent news-related, possibly coupled with topical-knowledge quizzes, pho-tographs, details of upcoming events, or video links. More 'heavy-weight'topics, such as Steve's attempt to gain links to social networking usage bycompanies, are likely to gain very few responses, and may be of interest onlyover a very short time-span. A picture emerges of a 'typical individual'spending up to 30 minutes per day on Facebook, communicating with anyof about 200 'friends'. It is predicted that half of UK internet users will logon to online social network sites by 2073. Taking a wider view of social net-works, it is highly probable that, by 2013, almost all UK citizens will knowpersonally someone (friend, family member) who participates an onlinesocial network site, even if they, themselves, do not.

Despite the closeness of the individual relationships on Facebook, someorganizations and companies do seem to have developed effective pages,and created devoted fans. In these cases, working with an aim of valueco-creation with customers is proving to be a successful strategy. How? Twotentative suggestions are offered.

First, it appears that successful company Facebook pages facilitate activi-ties in which consumers are already engaged, rather than making overt salespropositions. For example, the Ernst and Young careers/internship pagemakes it easier for prospective employees/interns to contact the company,other people in the same position and college recruiters, and the Universityof Wolverhampton Resource Centre website makes information gatheringand communication for group working more efficient. 'Suki Tea' communicatewith, and provide information for, consumers seeking fair-trade products.However, such uses of Facebook pages require constant maintenance by thesponsoring organizatiory because once the facilitation, through updates andresponses, falters, the customers can easily lose interest as seems to be thecase with some of the not-for-profit organizations.

Second, where the organizational page actively encourages users to beactive and/or creative, there is likely to be a greater response, as with theUnilever example. The WD-40 social network site is also a good example.Community members have sent in stories of novel uses of WD-40, oftenaccompanied by short videos, which, in turn, has encouraged more mem-bers to be more inventive, with better videos, etc. Such are the features ofthe more effective viral marketing and consumer campaigns (such as savingenergy). What is not known is the lifetime of such initiatives, the mainte-nance costs and the possibility of the tarnishing of a brand image if themembers go 'over the top' with their ,"rporrr"s.1ndeed, it has been notedthat some large companies, including Vodafone, First Direct and AA, haveremoved pages from online social network sites because of their brand


being juxtaposed with material from extreme political organizations(Anonymous 2008).

Finally, we should note that there may be some serious ethical issues asso-

ciated with social networks, especially related to the potentially addictive

behaviours that are resulting. According to Kunz and Liu (2009), the social

network sites could lead to harmful outcomes for addictive customers: those

who invest a great deal of time on social networks, Possess motives to rein-

force their behaviour and experience withdrawal symptoms should they

ever be prevented access. Their preliminary findings suggest that the maininfluences on addiction are arousal (a consumption emotion), entertainment(a consumption motivation) and extraversion (a consumer personality trait).

Kunz and Liu plea for more research aimed at preventing 'harmful experi-

ences from exiessive usage of [social network] sites', and suggest that 'itwould be interesting to compare different online business models regarding

their addictive potential for the consumer' (2009:6).

There is, in our view, an opportunity for some very interesting furtherresearch into the whole domain of social network sites - research that

explores the life-world of consumers. This may involve the development of

mirketing research ideas and methods that follow from the premises of the

S-D logic of marketing. In Chapter 11, we explore the possibilities'

Leai:ningipropositions.

. Social network, sites are, rnainly:used to mainlain relationships. wilhexisti ng {off linel, f iiends,

, rr social,netwbrk,sites demonslrate extensive networkg that individuater '' pOgSeSs:

'., Orginizitions have'mixed success when engaging with social network,

' Sites: t'hey may tearp benefits by either facititating activitiei with which

' consumers are atr:eady ,eng,aged;, andlor: by encoufagfng active' participationr:on behatf of network users. i

., C?C interactions, through sociat netWOrk sites witt {al incr€aie and lb'll:ihcreasainimportancefororganizations.

r Potiticians' sociat network usage:

It was generaLly agreed that Barack 0bama's use of sociaI networksites, such as YouTube, had been successful as part of his presidentiat

campaign lsee case study, Chapter 1J. Conversety, Gordon Brown's

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Sociat Networks: C2C Exchanges and Rel.ationships 177

attempt at using YouTube was not wetl received [see, for exampte, IheIirnes report of 6 May 2009, 'Gordon Brown's YouTube fightback', and

subsequent news reports on the same topicl, How would you exptainthe apparent differences in the outcomes of YouTube engagementbetween Barack Obama and Gordon Brown?

Your own sociat network:

Cal.cutate the size of your own persona[ network as fo[[ows: Start withyour number of friends on Facebook or MySpace (say, 2001. Assumethat hatf of the friends of each of their friends are your friends atso

Iteaving, say, 100 new friends eachJ. Then your'friends of friends' net-work consists of 200 x 100 = 20,000 peopte. Repeat this for six degreesof separation. How many peopte are in this network?

Possibitities for your own organization:

lnvestigate how your organization is, or coutd be part of a socialnetwork site.

References

Alcock, I. (2009) llsing Facebook Pages to Reach Users: the Experience of Unioetsity ofWolaerhampton, http: / /www.wlv.ac.uk/liblfacebook (accessed 19 May 2009).

Anonymous (2008) 'MySpace or Yours?', Strategic Direction,24(8): 15-18.

Anonymous (2009) 'lonny-No-Stars is no More?', Book Review in Deoelopment and

Learning in Organizations, 23(1): 27-29.boyd, d.m. and Ellison, N.B. (2007) 'social Network Sites: Definition, History and

Scholarship', lournal of Computer-Mediated Communication,l3(1), article 11.

Brottlund, B. (2009) 'Companies Using Social Networking to Boost Sales',Res o ur c enat ion. com, t9 February.

Comm, I. (2009) Twitter Power,Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.Cook, T. and Hopkins, L. (2008) Social Media White Paper (3rd edn). http://trevorcook.

typepad.com,/weblog (accessed 24 November 2009).

Dobele, A., Lindgreen, A., Beverland, M., Vanhamme, J. and van Wijk, R. (2007)

'\A/hy Pass on Viral Messages? Because They Connect Emotionally', Business Horizons,

50 291.104.Ellison, N.B., Steinfield, C. and Lampe, C. (2007)'The Benefits of Facebook Friends:

Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social NetworkSites',lournal ofComputer-Mediated Communication, 12(4): 1.-24

Ferguson, R. (2008) 'Word of Mouth and Viral Marketing: Taking the Temperature ofthe Hottest Trends in Marketing' ,lournal of Consumer Marketing,25(3):179-L82.

Foster, K. (2008) 'JBS Interviews Three Business Leaders', lournal of Business Strategy,

29(4):51-56.Gummesson, E. (2007)'Exit Services Marketing - Enter Service Marketing', /ournal of

Customer B ehaoiour, 6(2): 113-141.Holzner, S. (2009) Facebook Marketing,Indianapolis, IN: Que Publishing.

178 ReLationships from a Consumer Experience Perspective

Infield, N. (2009) 'Engaging with social Media in the Business & Intellectual Property

Centre (BIPC) at ihe British Llbrary' , Business Information Reaiew,26(I):57-58'

Joinson, A. (2008) "'Looking at", "Looking up" $ "Keeping up with" People?

Motives and Uses of Facebook', CHI, Florence, italy, 5-10 April'

|ones, G. (2007) 'Facebook's Big SelI', Marketing, October 17: 15'

kunz, W.H. and Liu, R. (2009) 'Why Do Consumers Get Addicted to Online

Communities? Toward an Understanding of the underlying Influencing Factors"

in J.-P. Helper and |.-L. Nicolas (eds), Marketing and the Core Disciplines. 38th EMAC

Conference Proceedings: Nantes' p. 156.

Li, C. (2007) Marketing on Social Network Slfes, Forrester Research, 5 July'

Miller, M. (2009) YouTube for Business,Indianapolis, IN: Pearson Education.

Needham, A. (2008) 'word of Mouth, Youth and their Brands" Young Consumers,

9(1):60-62.Nicholls, R. (2005) Interaction betzueen seraice Customers, Poznan, Poland: Poznan

Un iversity of Economics.Raskin, R. (i006) 'Facebook Faces its Future', Young Consumers, Quarter 1: 56-58.

Waters, R.D., Burnett, E., Lamm, A. and Lucas, J. (2009) 'Engaging Stakeholders

through Social Networking: How Nonprofit Organizations are using Facebook',

Public Relations Reaieru, 35(2): 702-1'06.

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Conclusion

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The conclusions are structured in three sections. In Section L, we provide abrief overview of the material presented in Parts I and IL Section 2 isdevoted to a discussion of the potential to innovate with marketingresearch in line with the foundational premises of the service-dominantlogic of marketing and approaches that take a consumer experience per-spective on relationships. In Section 3, pedagogical features that arise fromthe approach adopted in Part II, particularly in respect of the CEM process,are considered.

0verview of the book

Relationship marketing has had a 30-year history prior to the publication ofthis book. As a sub-discipline of marketing, it has matured and developed anumber of sub-themes, as portrayed in Chapters 2 and 3. Greater under-standing of the sub-themes is being continually developed to the benefit ofacademics and practitioners.

In this book, however, in Part II, we have advocated a change of perspec-tive on interactions and relationships in order to increase the likelihood ofthe relevance of relationship marketing to a changing world in which therole of the consumer has changed (largely as a result of widespread accessi-bility to information and communication technology), and in which the 'con-sumer experience' is becoming increasingly central to marketing strategiesand decisions. Some of the constructs emanating from, but not exclusive to,the extremely important debate on the service-dominant logic of marketing -co-creation of value, use and integration of resources by both organizationsand consumers, the notion that value is idiosyncratic, experiential, contex-tual and meaning-laden - have provided a rationale for the approach takenin the book. We recognize that, compared to many other books on relation-ship marketing, we have not covered B2B relationships in any depth.However, a companion book in this series, Brennan et al. (2008), covers thisarea far more adequately than we could hope to, and we are left with space

Faxtu r8

1=

"i.82 Conctusion

to develop ideas on a consumer experience perspective on relationshipmarketing.

It has to be acknowledged that the ideas presented in Part II are by nomeans exhaustive in taking a consumer experience perspective on relation-ship marketing. However, they have been tested out with third-year under-graduate classes in the UK and have generated extremely positive feedback.Indeed, the book has been structured in such away as to fit a 10-12-weeksemester-based course on relationship marketing; one in which students canadopt a researcher role and contribute to the emerging knowledge. Byadopting the approaches in Part II, students become involved in the life-world complexities and practices of segments of consumers. This can constitutean unforgettable learning experience.

The consumer experience perspective brings with it an increased empha-sis on C2C interactions. We are not alone in emphasizing these interactions.As Chapter 10 illustrates, social networks and social communities areincreasingly important, but relatively under-researched, despite the currentinflux of academic conference papers on the subject, and the large numbersof companies rising to the challenges of becoming 'a friend'. It also makesmore specific the goal of consumer well-being: perhaps we should regularlyconsider'consumer implications' before attempting to address'managerialimplications' of marketing innovations and initiatives.

Many of the citations in Parts I and II refer to articles, papers and practicesin the years 2006-09, and so the ideas are relatively new and, of course, thismeans there is still plenty more to do to verify, adapt and develop them.Nevertheless, we strongly believe that they can form a platform for excitingnew developments in relationship marketing. While, we have involved com-panies with our ideas (for example, the British Library), and the notion offocusing on the overall consumer experience has been applauded by com-pany representatives (as one CEO put it 'we prefer "jungIe" research, to"zoo" research'), we are striving to work with more organizations to explorehow useful the ideas are to them.

2: Researching relationship marketing

In Chapter 10, it was suggested that research into relationship marketing,especially research which takes a consumer experience perspective, mayrequire innovative approaches. In this chapter, we offer some approachesthat are taken from non-marketing disciplines, and others that specificallytake account of the resources that consumers use and integrate. Flowever, itis recognized that the foundations of the material presented in Chapters 2and 3 were laid with respect to research carried out through conventional model-building and hypothesis testing. Therefore, we start this section with examples

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lssues for the Future 183

Figure 11.1 Conceptual model of customer loyalty

Source: Adapted from Raimondo et al. (2008)

of important, conventional research approaches to topics of relationshipmarketing, before considering examples of some alternative approaches.

Conventional approaches to research into relationship marketing

Research into aspects of relationship marketing is currently dominated byquantitative methods. A (visual) conceptual model is usually proposed that

specifies the likely determinants of a dependent variable of interest (for exam-

p1e, customer loyalty or relationship strength), and data are collected to test

hypotheses regarding the identified determinants and the dependent variable.

Moa"rc may include mediating variables (demonstrating indirect relation-ships between the determinants and the dependent variable) or modelators(such as age and/or gender) that are likely to lead to differences in outcomes.

TWo examples from 2008/09 research are summarized below to illustratethe more conventional approaches to resealch on aspects of relationshipmarketing.

1 A conceptual model of customer toyatty

Raimondo et al. (2008: 144) proposed the conceptual model of customertoyalty shown in Figure 11.1. Customer satisfaction and trust are seen as

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181, ConcIusion

drivers of customer loyalty, which in turn is made up of attitudinal andbehavioural loyalty. None of that part of the model is new. There aremany studies that have explored statistical relationships between thesevariables. The focus of the study, and the contribution to the literature, isa measure of the effects of relational equity on attitudinal and behav-ioural loyalty, and the moderating role of relationship age on theseeffects. Relational equity is defined by the authors as 'the customer per-ception of the proportionality between her or his own benefit-cost ratioand the firm's benefit-cost ratio within a continuous customer-providerrelationship'. Relationship age is the length of time customers have beenwith the firm.

Using data collected on mobile phone users in ltaly, the followinghypotheses were formally tested.

H l: RelationaL equity has a positive inf Luence on (al attitudinaL LoyaLty and

Ib] behaviouraL loyaLty.

H2: The effects of relationaLequity on {aJ attitudinaL LoyaLty and Ib) behaviouraL Loy-

aLty increases along with reLationship age.H3: The effects of satisfaction on {al attitudinaL LoyaLty and IbJ behaviouraL LoyaLty

decreases aLong with reLationship age.H4: The effects of trust on Ia] atiitudinaL LoyaLty and Ib] behaviouraLLoyaLty increases

along with reLationship age

As the authors state:

Resutts ... show that, in highLy competitive and transparent contexts, rela-tionat equity is a retevant determinant of customer toyatty and that its effectincreases along with the age of the retationship. As we expected, the effect ofsatisfaction on behaviourat Loyal.ty decreases over time. However, we did notfind support for the same moderating effect in the attitudinaL LoyaLty modet.Contrary to our expectations, trust shows a time-independent effect on cus-tomer loyatty. These resutts proved to be robust to diverse statistica[ diagnos-tics. IRaimondo et at.2008:1551

The implications for managers of the research findings were mainh.-described in terms of advice on the design of customer loyalty programmes -usage of relationship to differentiate CRM practices and loyalty pro-grammes, avoiding 'incremental benefit to new customers that does not cor-respond to a proportional advantage for long-term customers' (Raimondo et al.

2008:757).

2 A conceptuaI modeI of the antecedents to customer-reportedrelationship strength

Dagger et al. (2009: 376) proposed the conceptual model of customer-reported relationship strength (CRRS) shown in Figure 11.2. Again, th.e

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familiar constructs of commitment' trust and satisfaction (relationship-

;;ily variables) are postulated as antecedents of CRRS' and CRRS is

believed to depend on',"t"it" type and customer demographics' but the

main focus and contribution of tire research is on the effects of relationship

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(duration and frequency) on CRRS (as shown in bold in

Figure 11.2).

Thedependentvariable,CRRS,isthecustomer-perceivedextent,degree,or magnitude of the association between a customer and service provider'

Frequencyofcontactisthenumberofinteractionsperperiod(oneyearinthis case) between trr"

"*nu"ge Paftners. The duration of the relationship is

the length of time a relationsliip between the exchange partners has existed

iri*1"i," relationship age in the previous example). Using data collected

iro* ,u-ptes of Au#atln customers of nine service types - travel agents,

huirdr"srerr, family doctors, photo-printing service' general banking' pest

control, cinemas, airlines and fast-food outlrets - the fonowing hypotheses

were formallY tested:

H1:Thegreaterthefrequencyofcontactinarelationship'thehigherwil'|bethecustomer- reported LeveL of reLationship stren gih'

H2: The Longerthe our.ti"n of a re[ationship, the higherwiL1. be the customer-reported

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186 Conctusion

H3, Relationship duration moderates the effect of contact frequency such that contactfrequency wiLL enhance CRRS more when relationship duration is Long.

Among relationships with the same number of totaL contacts, Longer relationshipduration wilL be associated wlth greater CRRS but higher contact f requency wiLL

not

As the authors state,'... our findings indicate that both contact frequencyand relationship duration have a positive effect on CRRS, and that durationmoderates the effect of frequency. Specifically, for shorter duration relation-ships, contact frequency enhances CRRS; but for longer duration relation-ships, contact frequency has little influence on CRRS', and '... by controllingfor number of contacts, our analysis reveals that duration has its own incre-mental effect on CRRS' (Dagger et al. 2009: 381-382). The analysis also revealedthat commitment, trust and satisfaction, as expected, all had statisticallysignificant effects on CRRS.

The implications for managers of service firms suggest that 'for a giveninvestment in total customer contacts, service providers can create strongerrelationships by working on maintaining and highlighting relationshipduration rather than on encouraging contact frequency' (Dagger et al. 2009:383). It is also emphasized that relationship development depends on theservice type: CRRS was stronger in the more customized services (travelagents, hairdressers, family doctors).

The pros and cons of the conventional approaches

The two examples above provide excellent exemplars of the predominantapproach to research into aspects of relationship marketing. The statisticalanalyses have not been emphasized here, but they have both been under-taken with great rigour and care, following the recommended processesfor assessing reliability and validity of the measures employed. They andother similar studies have added significantly to our understanding ofcustomer loyalty and relationship strength.

Our overall view, however, is that such approaches are necessary but notsufficient to fully understand interactions and relationships in the fwenty-first century. Our reasons for reaching this conclusion are summarizedbelow:

r ConventionaL approaches tend to treat the role of the respondents (customerslas LargeLy passive. Respondents are only required to fiLl in answers to predeter-mined questions. The S D logic of marketing celebrates customeTs as active par-ticipanis who co-create value through using and integrating their operaniTesources. ShouLd not research into reLationship marketing acknowledge thesecustomer characteristics?

. ConventionaL approaches seem to have a rather narrow firm-focus view of reLa-tionsh ps. C2C interact ons and networks, for exampLe, are hardLy ever formaLl,

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incLuded in the modeLs. Where they are, they are seen from a firm perspective, nota consumeT experience pe'spective.However weLL specified the modeL, and however strong the theory to support it,the regression anaLyses that are empLoyed often resuLt in R2 values less that 0.5,and rareLy more ihan 0.6, however many independent variabLes are lncLuded. Thatmeans that, 40 per cent or more of the variations in the dependent variabLes areunexpLained statisticaLLy, even assuming respondents are comfortabLe with, andcaref uL wiih using Likert scaLes of measurement. Conventional approaches aLone

are unLikeLy to unearth the added explanation that cou[d be cruciaL tostrategy-ma king.There is a tendency to concentrate on one-to-one relationships in conventionaLquantitative research, which can ignore the compLexity of networks of interactionsand relationships. As Gummesson puts it,'A more innovative use of researchapproaches is necessary'Quantitative marketing research in its application oftenrepresents a fundamentaList and naTTow view of science and the search for reaLity

11997: 27 1).

So what are the alternatives?Here we consider two potential avenues for innovative marketing research

into relationship marketing: exploring approaches adopted in other disciplinesand exploring the directions implied by the S-D logic of marketing.

Approaches adopted in other disciplines

In this section, we have identified two approaches that are relativelyunder-used in research into relationship marketing, certainly in terms ofwhat is published, but which are the backbones of research in otherdisciplines.

1 The ethnographic approach

Ethnographies are common in sociological and anthropological research andare adopted in consumer culture theory (Arnould and Thompson 2005), butare very rarely used to further understanding of relationship marketing.Yet, as seen in the following example (in educational research), there ispotential to use an ethnographic approach to explore how personal networkscontribute to consumer problem-solving.

Horvat et al. (2003) undertook ethnographic research with third- andfourth-grade American children and their families. The purpose was toexamine social class differences (i.e. betweert 'poor', 'working class' and'middle class') in the relationships between families and school. Data con-sisted of interviews with, and observations of children and their families inthree different schools. The observations consisted of '... both in-class andout-of-classroom activities. The classroom observations included routineclassroom activities and lessons. Researchers also observed parent-teacherconferences, PTA meetings and special events such as graduation, school

188 Conc[usion

fairs, book fairs, Back-to-School Night, and classroom celebrations ofHalloween and Valentine's day' (Horvat et al. 2003: 324-325). The pur-pose was to provide a detailed understanding of the experiences ofschool-children and their parents, especially with respect to how certainproblems were resolved.

We summarize here their findings related to two problem areas -responding to inappropriate teacher behaviour, and customizing children'sschool careers - especially regarding the networks empioyed by the differentsocial classes.

Responding to inappropriate teacher behoaiour: This relates to the few occasionsthat teachers lost their temper with pupils or even yelled or pushed them.How did parents react? The findings, supported by numerous aerbatimaccounts collected through the ethnography, suggest strongly that'Middle-class parents responded in a very different fashion ... than did working-classand poor parents. Middle-class parents mobilized resources to respond col-lectively. By contrast, in working-class and poor families, these incidentswere ... addressed at the individual level' (Horvat et al. 2003: 332).

Customizing children's school careers: This relates to the manner in which par-ents deal with special educational needs of their offspring at both ends of thescale; child with learning difficulties or 'gifted' child. Here it was found thatmiddle-class parents, in contrast to poor or working-class parents, weremore proactive, and were able to mobilize network members to garneradditional information relating to the educational need of their children.

From consideration of the aspects above, and other evidence derived fromthe ethnography, Horvet et al. (2003) drew the conclusion that (in this con-text), the characteristics of networks vary across the different social classes.In particular, they found much evidence that middle-class parents had manynetwork ties connecting them to other middle-class parents, whereas the net-works invoked by working-class and poor families were predominantlybased on kinship/family.

The above example is highly contextual, but there are opportunities for therelationship marketing researcher to adopt an ethnographical approach todetermine the properties and nature of networks employed by differentsegments - customers, employees, businesses.

2 Sociat network analysis

Social networks were the subject of Chapter 10. Their structures have beenanalysed, by researchers in computer-mediated communication, using socialnetwork analysis (SNA). SNA is often used to examine the positions of indi-viduals within online social networks, and the overall structure of commu-nication patterns within online communities (Pfeil and Zaphiris 2009). Such

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Figure 11.3 Classification of social message content

knowledge can contribute greatly to understanding of the interactionssummarized in Figure 9.1.

What is involved with SNA? The paper by Pfeil and Zaphiris (2009)

provides a good example of the application of SNA; in this case in a studyof the use of SeniorNet, an empathetic online community for older people.A preliminary qualitative study of the use of SeniorNet over a 1.5 yearperiod resulted in a classification of the content of the posted messages (see

Figure 11.3).One of the aims of the paper was to examine whether there is an associa-

tion between the communication content and the social network patternsexhibited by the structure of the communications. At the second level ofFigure 1L.3, they were able to examine whether the social network structuresdiffered according to whether the communication content was emotional orfactual. (Similar comparisons were made at the third level of Figure 11.3.

Interested readers are advised to consult the original paper.)To determine whether social network structures differed for emotional or

factual content, a SNA software package (Cryam Netminder II) was employedto calculate measures such as density, inclusiveness and closeness of the net-work, and to draw sociograms to visualize the network and its dyramics. Theauthors summarized their findings as follows:

emotionaI communication content is Linked to a dense social network, inwhich more members are inctuded in the message exchange, often as bothsender and receiver of messages. Additionatty, emotionaI communication isassociated with ctoseness between members of the community. ln contrast tothat, structures that were based on factual communication were found to beloose and only inctuded a few of the members. [Pfeit and Zaphiris 2009: 101

In other words, emotional communication scored higher than factual com-munication on the dimensions of density, inclusiveness and closeness of thenetwork. This led the authors to conclude that'... emotional communicationis an essential part of the discussion board and should not be underesti-mated. It is the emotional part of the conversation that is associated with astrong connection between people' (Pfeil and Zaphiris 2009: 15), and that

190 Conctusion

'This knowledge can help practitioners and scholars to design successful

empathetic online communities and better understand how relationshipsbetween members within empathetic online communities develop out ofconversations they engage in' (Pfeil and Zaphiris 2009: L6).

Notwithstanding the specific example above, there are gleat opPoltunitiesfor (relationship) marketers to gain a better understanding of the associa-

tions between communication content of conversations and interactions,and the network structures that result, through employing methodologiesand methods of analyses that are being used in the computer-mediatedcommunication domain.

Directions implied by the S-D logic of marketing

Foundational Premise 10 of the S-D logic of marketing - value is alwaysuniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary (Vargo

and Lusch 2008) - implies that a greater emphasis should be given to inter-pretivist approaches to marketing resealch. There is scope for the develop-ment of research approaches that accommodate the increasing willingnessfor consumers to express themselves and be active participants. That is,

innovation is required, both with collecting and interpreting qualitativedata that represents the voice of the consumer. It should also be recognizedthat consumer voice data is available in abundance on the internet (Web

2.0) through blogs, consumer discussion groups and social interactionsites. Availability of qualitative data is perhaps less of a problem than itsinterpretation.

We chronicle here five approaches (I to V) that have been used to obtain and

interpret data on consumer experiences, since the advent of the s-D logic.'

I and II specifically address the task of understanding the use and integra-tion of consumer operant resources. III, IV and V provide examples of howto harness the potential of consumer resources in the co-creation of the valueof marketing research. To our knowledge, each approach had original features

at the time of implementation.

Seeking an understanding of how customers/consumers emptoy

their operant resources in creating experiences

The experiential contexts of I and II were library usage and cinema going,respectively. More details are now given:

I: Library usage (see Chapter 6) In this approach, working with the orga-nization in question, the British Llbrary, user voice was generated on a userforum as a result of posing one question: 'If you want to support us, please

let us know why the British Library is important to you'. The question was

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posed because of potential government cuts in funding for the British Library.It generated almost a thousand responses. The first tranche (565 messages)was analysed according to a guiding framework offered by Arnould et aI.(2006) on the use and integration of consumer resources. In particular thedivision of consumer operant resources into cultural, social and physicalresources provided a starting point for further useful and contextual divi-sions. The analysis had resonance with senior executives of the BritishLibrary who were able to see their users through a different lens (see Baronand Warnaby 2008).

II: Cinema going (see Chapter 9) Here, while still adopting the Arnould etal. (2006) categories of consumer operant resources, the focus was on thedynamics of consumer resources integration. This was achieved throughanalysing the development (and ultimate success) of a consumer campaignto save a local cinema by tracing the use and integration of operant resourcesof the five trustees of the 'save the cinema' campaign over a three-monthperiod. Data were captured through personal interviews of the trustees andthe web-based and other news literature that underpinned the campaign.The findings emphasized how speedily consumers can enhance their indi-vidual and collective operant resources when stimulated by a cause aboutwhich they felt very strongly (see Baron and Harris 2008).

In both I and II, consumers had a strong urge to voice their opinions, and sodemonstrated the operant resources they have at their disposal. Example Ishows that a single question can generate a high volume of consumerresponses with associated managerial implications, while II emphasizes theimportance of gaining further understanding of the dynamics associatedwith consumer resource integration and use.

Acknowtedging the potentiaI of consumer resources in theco-creation of the value of marketing research

There is another side to the notion that consumers use and integrate theiroperant resources. Given the resources that consumers possess, there is con-siderable scope for stimulating them to use these same resources for the pur-poses of research. Consumers are often tabelled respondents in themarketing research process. The word 'respondent' connotes a reactive rolefor the consumer, whereas approaches IIi-v below (in the contexts of textmessaging, shopping and restaurant dining, respectively) demonstrate thatconsumers can contribute much more to the process than merely replying toresearcher questions.

III: Text messaging A total of 113 undergraduate students were asked tokeep diaries, for four weeks, of their text messaging activities, and to criticallyreflect on their experiences. The data consisted, therefore, of multiple consumer

192 Conctusion

diaries that not oniy demonstrated behaviour, ihrough the diary entries, butalso contained contextual meaning - and value-Iaden reflections made bythe diarists. The combined data were interpreted by the authors, using exist-ing technology acceptance model constructs (Venkatesh et. ai. 2003), todemonstrate the embeddedness of the technology (text messaging) in theeveryday lives of the users. The approach clearly identified the consumers'role in co-creation of value, something that was absent in the technologyacceptance models derived from survey research (see Baron et al. 2006).

IV Shopping A variation on the approach above involved 232 studentsbeing asked to write introspective accounts of their experiences on visiting a

department store. This resulted in a data set consisting of multiple personalintrospections that was interpreted by three independent researchets,unguided by existing constructs; a customer-involving procedure that is aworld away from the customer satisfaction surveys that still dominate theliterature. The accounts demonstrated overwhelmingly, from a consumerexperience perspective, that the store under consideration had inadequatevalue propositions, and they anticipated the subsequent closure of the store(see Patterson et al. 2008).

V f{estaurant dining In the theatre domain, performances are seen anddiscussed by critics. The critics consider the gestalt performance, and aresensitized as to what elements contribute to the overall intended effect of theperformance and, conversely, to what elements are inconsistent. Many ser-vices, such as those offered by restaurants, are likened to performances, andso, in an attempt to provide fresh insights on the restaurant-dining experi-ence, 'customer critic' research was undertaken. Flere, prior to dining in arestaurant in the north of England, a small sample of potential restaurantdiners was trained and sensitized as to how to critique a performance. Theythen undertook the dining experience. Finally, they engaged in a post-performance critical assessment of the experience. The customers, therefore,had been given a complete role in co-creating the research findings. The find-ings presented to the restaurant management highlighted numerous incon-sistencies in the overall performance, and provided strategic insights intothe nature of the overall intended effect of the dining experience (see Harriset al. 2007).

In III-V the consumer role is more of a research partner than of a conven-tional 'respondent'. Consumers can be encouraged (often with advice orspecialist training) to reflect, be introspective, or be constructively critical;skills normally taken to be the province of the researcher(s). In each of IIi-V,consumers were given greater freedom to contribute thoughts openly andspontaneously, and this has contributed to the richness and practical rele-vance of the findings. In such ways, S-D logic's FP6 can be explicitlyacknowledged in the context of marketing research.

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Example III clearly demonstrates that consumers go way beyond meretechnology acceptance, and embrace (mobile) technology as part of theirway of life. The following quote, from the study of text messaging behav-iour, could easily relate to use of social network sites such as Facebook orTWitter, and expresses eloquently the feelings involved in networking withpeers.

I was quite shocked at how many texts were incoming and outgoing in just one

week. You don't think about it untityou are recording each one and at[ the dif-ferent types of text you receive. Each one making some sort of impact on mytife Ihowever tittte it may bel makes me feel strangety comptete.

In IV and V the interactions are between consumers and a single organiza-tion. However, they both unearth the complexities involved with such inter-actions. It is not simply one single moment of truth that matters to theconsumers, more the holistic experience. As shoppers in study IV put it:

The atmosphere was dutt, the products were du[[ and even the few membersof staff tooked [ike they wanted to take their own lives in some sort of extremesuicide pact to hightight the overexposure of handicrafts to the human sou[.Enough was enough. lt was time to move on.

It's not necessarity true that Lewis's did something wrong, maybe it's just thatthey didn't do anything at at[. As aLL the other stores evotved around them,they just carried on as theywere. This is, lfeet, where their problem Lies. The

Lewis's store in Liverpool is a perfect exampte of this. ln one simpte wordthe store is dated! I certainty woutdn't go back there, and soon I think nobodyetse wit[ either!

Similarly, in study V:

A number of the critics fett that the staff did tittte to reinforce the 'qual.ity' foodimage. ln particutar, most critics were disappointed that the staff seemed tobe disinterested in the recipes and, in some cases, Lacked detail.ed apprecia-tion of the content of some of the more unusuaI combinations. Because the foodwas so good, one of the critics commented, 'you would have expected the staffto be both proud and knowledgeable and want to show off aboutif'. There wasa discussion about the intention of the restaurant to reflect the 'regionaVnorth

Lancashire' position. Critics agreed that the menu and recipes reftected this,but there was nothing e[se in the performance to reinforce it. 0ne critic com-mented on the fact that the accents of the waitresses were certainty notLancastrian! Another fett that the who[e environment with its harsh, ctinicaIfeel was incongruous with the image of Lancastrian food, i.e. 'hearty, whole-some dishes eaten in a cosy warm environment'. Atthough the food wasexcettent, many fett that they woutd not return.

In each case, the holistic consumer/customer experience is seen to affecttheir loyalty to the organization. We feel that imaginative, interpretivist

l

194 Conctusion

research methods, such as the ones above, are needed to capture more

clearly the reasons for customet \oyalty / disloyalty'

Researching consumer resources

Foundational Premise 9 of the S-D logic, which postulates thal all economic

actors are resource integrators, includes customers/consumers as resoulce

integrators. This has pt6rr"tr especially enlightening when considering the

potJrtiat of appropriate marketing research methods. There is a real need to

dir.orr". just ho'rr consumers e*ptoy and integrate their resources during

the course of their experiences a.rd lt the process of value co-creation as in,

for example, I and tI. tnis requires ,"seutcli processes that uncover everyday

"orrr.rln"^, practices and int6ractions, and the various networks of which

they are apart, and acknowledges that consumers, like organizations' can

ptuy ,ot"s as providers as well is beneficiaries' Simply asking questions of

io.rrrrn".r, u, i, don" in many surveys, is unlikely to reflect the richness and

dynamics of consumer explriencei, and to uncover the subtleties and

dynamics of consumer resource use and integration'

Preparing consumers to be partners

Treating consumers as partners, rather than simply respondents' does' how-

eve., iitroduce an additional, potentially controversial element to the

marketing research process. with the possible exception of blogging or

campaign"s (I and II), consumers do not naturally reflect on their actions and

feelings"or order their thoughts on the experiences in which they engage'

None"of us, unless prompt&, stop to ponder on our everyday' seemingly

routine interactions and ?eehngs. Therefore, consumers need 'training' on

how to be reflective, how to irticulate their introspections, and how to

analyse their feelings. In addition, consumers as paltners need to be made

u*ur" that their 'voice' is valued. The training was integral to the methods

empioyed in III-V. However, there is a subtle balance to be achieved between

drawing out consumer voice and 'stage-managing'. their contribution.

\yVhere consumer voice data is already available on the internet, our limited

experience suggests that data related to consumer campaigns (as in I) may

be more focused and articulate.The approaches I-v provide a range of contexts in which the s-D logic

might i.ior* marketeri regarding issues relating to consumerc' life-woilds

(Ar"nould, 2007). The data g"enerated ln the approaches were very large, and

phras"d in the .onrr-"r7, own voice, which requires interpretation by

.er"ar.herr. The processes by which the data are obtained - and particularly

analysed - can be very time-consuming and resource-intensive. However,

such practicalities ,r""h to be balanced against the obvious advantages of

g"rr"*ting new insights into consumers'life-worlds that may not have been

available elsewhere."Grasping the challenges of adapting marketing research

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methodologies to the contingencies of the S-D logic should provide a fruitfulresearch agenda into the future, for academics and practitioners alike.

Networking opportunities brought about by information and communi-cation technology have created exciting opportunities for academics andpractitioners involved with relationship marketing. We argue that the moreconventional, largely quantitative marketing research methods that haveserved us well in the past need to be supplemented by innovative methodsthat acknowledge the networks and interactions that play such an importantpart in the lives of customer and consumer experiences. Some ideas havebeen presented which have great potential to uncover new insights. They are byno means exhaustive, and we fully expect that the next few years will see a

burgeoning of new, and adapted, tesearch methods that can be applied torelationship marketing, and that are in keeping with the 9D logic of marketingand the inter-disciplinary requirements of service science (Spohrer 2009).

3: Pedagogicat features - learning by doing

It is reasonable to ask whether the CEM process (Chapters 7 and 8) can be

incorporated into student learning, and what might be the potential benefitsand drawbacks of so doing. In a paper presented to the UK Academy ofMarketing Conference in2006, and subsequently published in The MarketingReaiew (Baron and Harris 2006), we outlined, as a case study, our firstattempt to incorporate CEM into the curriculum of a Relationship Marketingcourse in the context of the service-dominant logic of marketing. In thisbook, after two more runs-through of CEM with final-year undergraduatestudents, we offer some brief thoughts based on both the teacher and stu-dent evaluations. Interested readers should refer to the paper above for a

more comprehensive account.

. Learning: 'This feeLs like we are doing some reseaTCh.,Am I right?'So asked oneof the students invoLved. lt refLected the sometimes bemused reactions of manyofthe students undertaking the activity. Having to use skiLls, such as qualitative data

interpretation, synthesis and creativity seemed strange, at first, but was vaLued by

the comp[etion of the project.. Being the consumer advocate: Most of the students' other Learning/teaching in

marketing had taken a focaL [l.arge) firm perspective. This often presents difficuL-ties when students have no reaLfeeL for the marketplace or the particular compe-tencies of the firm. li is even more difficult for students who are studying outsidetheirown countries. Being required to studyan experience domain from a consumerexperience perspective, and act as a consumer advocate by considering consumerimplications expLicitLy, is, once the surprise has worn off, a more comfortabLe andfami[iar position for the student to be in. Even if neither they nor their friends have

ever discussed the gap-year experience, the primary data-coLLection exercises{interviews, focus groups, consumer diaries, blogs) soon makes them accustomed

i

196 Conclusion

to the consumer experience domain. lt is not Long before they can speak with somedegree of authority and comfort about key issues faced by consumers in thedoma in.

Time/timing: The CEM process, if done properly, is time-consuming.Furthermore, the acknowledged benefits of using CEM are often not apparent untiL

towards the end of the process. lf the software package INVivo in this case] couLd

be taught priorio the CEM project, then thatwouLd reduce some of thetime spentwith data coding and retrievaL. Nevertheless, for students who have Little famiLiar-ity with quaLitative data analysis, the requirement for sysiematic and thoroughdata coLLection and analysis may stretch their patience in the initiaLstages.Working in groups: li is strongLy advised that students undertake such prolectsin groups Iof 4-5 peopLe). Apart from ihe obvious benefits of being abLe to shareout the data-coLLection requirements, the process described in this chapterappears to work wetL through the'brainstorming'of ideas between membersof the group, based on the many tables of consumer value enhancers andinhibitors that have been deveLoped. The stage of transtating consumer impLi-cations into potential strategic responses from contributors to the experiencedomain, whiLst probabl.y the most inteilectuaLly chaLl.enging component of theprocess, is often regarded by the students as the most rewarding component.From the tutor's perspective, the ideas presented by the students never fail to be

imaginative, and many are grounded not onLy in the findings from CEM, but aLso

in further, voLuntary research undertaken by the students to support the feasi-brLrty of their ideas.

Finally, although the focus is on active learning, it is advisable to offer a furtheropportunity, once the project has been completed, to discuss CEM in thewider context of dominant logics of marketing.

Final, thought

In Chapter 1, we acknowledged the substantial role of Philip Kotler inmarketing in the 1960s. Kotler is still writing, and it is interesting that, in aco-authored 2009 publication (written during a worldwide recession), hestates that, 'Marketers must further master resiliency if they are to engagethe marketplace forcefully, break through turbulence and chaos, and connectwith customers and consumers' (KotLer and Caslione 2009: 187; our emphasis).

Just how marketers connect with customers and consumers is a key ques-tion. We hope that this book provides some original ideas.

References

Arnould, E.J. (2007) 'Service-Dominant Logic and Consumer Culture Theory:Natural Allies in an Emerging Paradigm', Consumer Culture Theory Research inConsumer Behaz;ior, 11 57 -7 6.

1..::_:: i L-

_ l :, :--i_,-

:----- - r

:::-{ -::::,.-

Note


Arnould, E.J. and Thompson, c.J. (2005) 'Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): TWenty

Years of Research', Journal of Consumer Research,3l(March): 868-882'

Arnould, E.]., Price, L.L. and Malshe, A. (2006) 'Toward a Cultural Resource-Based

Theory of The Customer" in R.F. Lusch and s.L.vargo (eds), The seroice-Dominant

Logic of Marketing: Dialog, Debate and Directions, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe; 320-333.

Baro"n, S. and Hariis, K. 0006) 'A New Dominant Logic in Marketing: Pedagogical

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Baron, S., Patterson, A. and Harris, K. (2006) ',Beyond Technology Acceptance;

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Baron, 5. und Warnaby, G. (2008) 'Individual Customers' Use and Integration of

Resources: Empiricai Findings and Organizational Implications in the Context of

Value Co-Cre atton' , Otago Forum 2: Academic Papers, 61'-79'

Brennan, R., Canning, L. and McDowell, R. (2008) Business-to-Business Marketing,

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Gummesson, E. (1997) ',Relationship Marketing as a Paradigm shift: some Conclusions

from the 30R Approach', Management D ecision, 35(4): 267 -272'Harris, K., Harris, R., Elliott, D. and Baron, s. (2007)'A Theatrical Perspective on

Service Performance Evaluation: The Contribution of Critical Discourse and

Aesthetics,, 10th Quality in serztices symposium, orlando, Florida, 1,4-17 June.

Horvat, E.M., Weininger, E.B. and Lareau, A. (2003) 'From social Ties to social

Capital: Class Differences in the Relations Between Schools and Parent Networks',

American Educational Research J ournal, 40(2): 319-351"

Kotler, P. and Caslione, ].A. (2009) 'How Marketers Can Respond to Recession and

Turbulence', lournal of Customer Behaaiour, S (Summer): t87-191"patterson, A., Hodgson, ]. and shi, J. (2008) 'Chronicles of Customer Experience: The

Downfall of Lewis's Foretold" Journal of Marketing Management,24(1,-2):2945.

Pfeil, U. and Zaphiris, P. (2009) 'Investigating sociai Network Patterns within an

Empathic Online Community for Older People', Computers in Human Behattior,Doi:

10.1016/j.chb.2009.05.001.Raimondo, M.A., Miceli, G. and Costabile, M. (2008) 'How Relationship Age

Moderates Loyalty Formation', lournal of Seroice Research, (1192):1'42-160'

spohrer, J. (2009) 'welcome to our Declaration of Interdependence" sentice science,

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Note

1 This section is based on a papel by Baron, Pattelson, Warnaby and Harris, entitled 'Service-

Dominant Logic: Marketing Research Implications and opportunities" presented at the

Academy of Marketing Conference, Leeds Metropolitan University,lt[y 2009'

l.

Relationshi p Ma rketi ng

A Consumer Experience Approach

Steve SarmrlTcmy Sorwayffiary Warmaby

0sncrLos Angeles I London I New Delhi

Singapore I Washington DC

C*r:tents

PART I Relationship Marketing: The State of the Art

1 Origins and History of Relationship MarketingBackgroundLiverpool Football Club and relationship marketingSo, what is relationship marketing?Is RM a new marketing paradigm?The historical development of RMInteractions and relationships from a consumer perspectivePerspectives on interactions and relationshipsStructures and features of the bookCase Study 1: Political marketing then and now: a focus on Barack

Obama's 2008 presidential campaignReferences

I Relationship Marketing ThemesLearning objectiveslntroductionTheme 1: RM as a new type of marketingTheme 2: Relationships in networksTheme 3: The benefits of RMTheme 4: What is meant by a 'relationship' and what are

the components of a successful one?Theme 5: In what contexts is RM practised?Theme 6: Stages of relationshipTheme 7: Relationship marketing for all?SummaryLeaming outcomes-\ctivities and discussion questionsCase Study 2: Contact Theatre: a successful 'relationship-

focused' subsidized theatreR.eferences

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3 Customer Retention and LoyaltyLearning objectivesIntroductionLoyalty: a behavioural or attitudinal concept or both?Rewarding loyalty: a conceptual frameworkCustomer switching: the antithesis of loyaltyLinking retention and loyalty to profitability: the

'service-profit chain' and related workCustomer equitySummaryLearning outcomesActivities and discussion questionsCase Study 3: The Royal Exchange Theatre season ticket schemeReferences

4 Relationship Marketing: A Change in Perspective?Learning objectivesIntroductionHistory of marketing thoughtA different perspective and a changing role for the customer?A new logicThe customer in the relationship: experiential marketingSummaryLearning outcomesActivities and discussion questionsCase Study 4: Brunel's ss Grent BritainReferences

PART II Relationships from a ConsumerExperience Perspective

5 Frameworks for Analysing the Consumer ExperienceLearning objectivesIntroductionConsumer resourcesExperience domainsConsumer-to-consumer interactions and consumer

communitiesReferences

6 Consumer Resources: Use and IntegrationLearning objectivesIntroduction: contemporary customers and resourcesConsumer resource: a framework for analysisContext: the British Librarv

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BL user operand resourcesBL user operant resourcesUtilization of organizational resourcesConcluzion: implications for organizationsLearning propositionsActivities and discussion questionsReferences

Introducing Consumer Experience ModellingLearning objectivesA focus on consumer experienceIntroducing consumer experience modellingThe gap-year travel experienceConsumer experience modelling (CEM)ConclusionLearning propositionsActivities and discussion questionsReferences

Consumer Experience Modelling: Value Enhancersand InhibitorsLearning objectivesIntroductionlmplications for consumers and contributors to the

experience domainConsumer quality of life and well-being: comparison

with macromarketingConclusionLearning propositions-\ctivityReferences

Communities Within'Experiential Networks'Learning objectiveslntroduction: the importance of networksThe concept of 'community'Territorial experience networks: marketing places\on-territorial experience networks: communities of practice,

values and issuesConclusion[-earning propositions-dctivities and discussion questionsR.eferences

Contents vii

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viii Contents

10 Social Networks: C2C Exchanges and RelationshipsLearning objectivesIntroductionDefinition and history of social network sites

Consumer experiences with FacebookNature of the C2C exchangesC2C interactions and relationshipsWhat can and should organizations do?Bringing it all togetherLearning propositionsActivitiesReferences

PART III Conclusion

11, Issues for the FuturePart 1: Overview of the bookP afi 2: Researching relationship marketingPart 3: Pedagogical features: learning by doingFinal thoughtReferences

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Relationship Marketing :

The State of the Art

IMG

Documents

operand resources

operant resources

intangible resources

physical resources

use of consumer resources

different types of resources

consumer perspective

todays consumers