Abstract—The globalization and digitalization of the world’s
economies have created the premises for the assertion of
relationship marketing as theory and practice of modern
marketing. A main strategic dimension of the relationship
marketing concept is represented by the strategy of gaining
customer fidelity, which has as a primary purpose the extension
of the client retention towards the company. Setting as a leading
goal the client’s rational/emotional fidelity, the strategy of
gaining customer fidelity implies two positive effects for the
company: individualizing the relationship with the client and
improving the company’s performance. The development of the
strategy implying gaining customer fidelity is conditioned by
the manner in which a company can operate with three
variables: customer satisfaction, customer fidelity and customer
loyalty. Modeling in a correct manner these three variables
enables the company to segment the relevant market in
profitable ways. The paper is based on the theoretical
background of value chain - an important concept in the
relationship marketing theory. Thus, motivation was only
defined as a company external factor which influences the
psychological effects within the customers’ minds. Perceived
satisfaction was used as a psychological variable and loyalty as a
behavioral variable. The correlation between these two
variables reveals some insights about the mental processes that
determine the consumer behavior.
Index Terms—relationship marketing, customer satisfaction,
customer fidelity, customer loyalty, customer motivation,
customer relationship cycle, value chain.
DUMITRESCU Luigi, Professor, PhD, Faculty of Economic Sciences
“Lucian Blaga” University Sibiu, Romania (E-mail:
luigi.dumitrescu@yahoo.com)
ICHINDELEAN Mihai, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Economic Sciences
“Lucian Blaga” University Sibiu, Romania ( E-mail:
mihaitichi@yahoo.com).
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Cite:DUMITRESCU Luigi, ICHINDELEAN Mihai, "Value Chain and Customer Relationship Cycle:Two Concepts of Relationship Marketing," International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance vol.2, no.2, pp. 103-108, 2011.