Relationship marketing: Its key role in entrepreneurship

The authors argue that relationship marketing can readily be adopted by a s mall entrepreneurial business but it will need to be adapted to the entrepr eneurial environment into which it is introduced. Results from initial rese arch suggest that entrepreneurial enterprises employ relationship marketing more effectively than less entrepreneurial organisations and they derive c ommercial benefits such as higher growth rates and fewer customer defection s. The authors argue that entrepreneurship can be learned and so less entre preneurial firms have the potential to learn from more successful entrepren eurs. They offer some specific recommendations but they recognise that the task is not easy because the SME has to create an internal culture that is capable of both embracing relationship marketing and being alert to opportu nity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.