Need Assignment

Strategic alignment between relationship marketing and human resource management in financial services organizations

Damianos Giannakis a and Michael J. Harker

b *

a Hellenic American University, Athens, Greece;

b Department of Marketing, University of

Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

(Received 28 October 2013; accepted 12 December 2013)

This paper notes the critical importance of financial services firms being able to successfully implement services and relationships orientated marketing strategies. Through summarizing recent literature and outlining strategic practice, the necessity of aligning human resource management (HRM) policies with relationship marketing (RM) to achieve and sustain corporate goals is demonstrated. The results of a set of case studies and managerial interviews with senior retail banking executives from the Greek financial services sector are used to develop a framework by which this might be done. Specifically, the role of the strategically significant Human Capital Chief Enabling Officer as a link between HRM and RM is proposed and defined.

Keywords: relationship marketing; human resource management; strategic alignment; human capital chief enabling officer; financial services; Greece

Introduction

The fundamental understanding of what marketing is, what success looks like and how it

might be achieved is something that has undergone significant change in recent times. The

professional academic body in the USA has gone as far as to make a literal redefinition in

terms of services and relationships (American Marketing Association [AMA], 2004).

Consensus is far from achieved, but what is agreed upon is that the provision of high-

quality services is a basic requirement to ensure survival, let alone dominance in many

sectors (Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2008b). Financial services organizations such as retail

banks are continuously adopting and adapting relationship marketing (RM) strategies

inside a highly volatile marketing environment in order to build and sustain a competitive

market share, profitable accounts and quality customer portfolios.

This issue is one which has received significant attention in papers previously

published in this journal, with specific attention given to the role technology and

information management systems might play in developing and sustaining a relationally

orientated strategy (Dibb & Meadows, 2004; Ryals & Payne, 2001). More recently, this

journal has also considered the topics of marketing orientation and strategic plan

implementation (Blankson et al., 2013), and very recently the role and significance of line

management in marketing strategy implementation (Ramaseshan, Ishak, & Rabbanee,

2013). This is a line of discussion we wish to maintain, and to extend it further by

considering further the human elements in respect of developing and implementing

relationally orientated strategies and attempting to make a specific contribution in respect

of better structuring management processes.

q 2014 Taylor & Francis

*Corresponding author. Email: michael.harker@strath.ac.uk

Journal of Strategic Marketing, 2014

Vol. 22, No. 5, 396–419, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2013.876082

 

 

The key themes of the literature review in this paper are therefore the switch from

product to services/relational orientations and the concept and importance of alignment

within business operations and processes, with special focus on the Strategic Alignment

Model (SAM) presented by Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) (see also Henderson,

Venkatraman, & Oldach, 1996) in describing the strategic choices that financial services

line managers face. Attention then turns to extant literature and prior field-research

findings on the strategic alignment of RM and human resource management (HRM)

specifically, as a means of successfully implementing relational corporate-level strategies

where we argue that people within and outside organizations are of critical importance in

relational- and service-oriented and strategizing organizations.

The paper continues by outlining the method and methodology of the primary research

component of this project, namely the development of five in-depth case studies of Greek

retail banks in combination with 20 interviews with senior managers across a range of

business processes and functions (please refer to Appendix 1). The results of the fieldwork

are combined with the emergent ideas and theory from the literature as a means of

reflecting and considering how alignment between marketing and HR might best be

achieved. The specific and original contribution of this paper is the introduction and

definition of a proposed senior management role – that of the Human Capital Chief

Enabling Officer (HCCEO) – which, if adopted appropriately would allow and enhance

alignment between these two critical business functions.

From product to service-centricity

The evolution – some might say revolution – in marketing theory in the last 25 years has

taken it a long way away from its origins (Harker & Egan, 2006). Key figures in the early

development of marketing (Alderson, 1957; McGarry, 1950; McKitterick, 1957) created

‘lists’ of variables deduced from econometric, profit-optimizing equations. This was

labelled as the ‘functionalist school’ of marketing (McGarry, 1950). Herein lie the origins

of the in/famous marketing mix (Borden, 1964) – an abbreviated/truncated subset of

4 variables (McCarthy, 1960) from 12 identified as being strongly correlated with

profitability – product, price, branding, distribution, fact finding and analysis, personal

selling, advertising, promotions, packaging, display, servicing, physical handling. For

many years, the primacy of this simple framework was unquestioned, but by the beginning

of the 1990s this was no longer true (Waterschoot & Van den Bulte, 1992). This concern

stemmed from the fact that whilst the original microeconomic variables, derived through

empirical induction, had solid theoretical foundations – in terms of economic theory at

least – the marketing mix had only second-order links to these foundations. Furthermore,

many businesses were operating in situations and markets with characteristics significantly

different from those of North American consumer goods markets – Europe or Asia,

industrial or services markets (Elg & Johansson, 1996). Transactional marketing was

failing to satisfy modern marketing conditions. This issue was and continues to be

exacerbated by the transition of developed economies to being service-based. When

marketing a service, it has long been argued that the objectives should be not just to only

attract, but also to then keep and maintain the customer – to develop a long-term

relationship with them (Bitner, Booms, & Mohr, 1994; Cravens & Piercy, 1994; Grönroos,

1991; Gummesson, 1987). When selling a physical product, the costs of production can be

offset by the purchase. With a service, the majority of costs are often incurred whilst

‘setting-up’ the service (Berry & Parasuraman, 1991; Booms & Bitner, 1981), for example

accountancy and banking. The implication of this is that a longer-term strategy, in

Journal of Strategic Marketing 397

 

 

conjunction with placing significant emphasis on customer retention would yield

dividends (Berry, 1995; Grönroos, 1990; Parasuraman, Berry, & Zeithaml 1991; Payne &

Richard, 1993).

For these reasons and others, in 2007 the AMA produced a customer-centric definition

of marketing where the discipline was defined as follows: ‘Marketing is the activity, set of

institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging

offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large’. In their

academic work, Vargo and Lusch (2004, 2006, 2008a; Vargo, 2009) – who are key

movers in the AMA – described the derivation of this definition, defending it [primarily]

on the basis that a service- rather than product-focused definition was a more natural and

accurate reflection of the primacy of service concepts in contemporary marketing practice.

Vargo and Lusch (2004, 2008b) suggest that marketing is evolving into a new dominant

logic – one in which relationships and services hold primacy over products. Is a service

part of a relationship, or is a relationship perhaps part of a service? Regardless, both

current services marketing and RM literatures make the case that the people responsible

for service provision and/or customer contact are of very significant importance in respect

to successful implementation of marketing strategy and therefore to the success of the

organization as a whole. The people they meet are critical in the mind of the consumer

when they are assessing the ability of the company to serve them well. People working for

the organization are the ones the customer trusts or does not trust, people in

the organization give good customer service and do the job properly or they do not. It is the

people – not the abstract concept/entity/branding of the firm – who truly learn about the

customers and whom the customers learn about the firm through, it is the people from

whom the customer expects (and sometimes gives to) loyalty, trust and commitment.

To many customers, the firm is its people.

It can be argued, therefore, that a successful service organization must have a focus on

firm–customer relationships and therefore have relationship management at the heart of

tactical marketing processes and strategic corporate philosophy. The implication thereof

is that senior management must give great consideration as to what and who is at the other

end of the relationship to the customer (Dwyer, Schurr, & Oh, 1987; Ingram, 1990, 2004;

Levitt, 1983; Swan & Nolan, 1985; Tzokas, Saren, & Kiziridis, 2001). That is, marketing

success will be, to a great extent, the result of successful management of people –

customers outside the business, and front-line staff providing services within. Consider the

implications of Vargo and Lusch’s position. Successful marketing strategy is principally

concerned with developing and retaining competitive advantage through excellent

services marketing. Most fundamentally, excellent services’ marketing is based on

services provision, service provision is based on service providers, and the quality and

ability of service providers is a function of HRM. In short, successful implementation of

marketing requires successful implementation of HR strategies and operational tactics.

The concept of alignment in business

We now move on to outline the concept of alignment in a business process context.

In recent years, Labovitz and Rosansky (1997, p. 5) defined alignment ‘as both a noun and

a verb – a state of being and a set of actions . . . alignment . . . refers to the integration of

key systems and processes and responses to changes in the external environment’. Often

the concept of alignment when used in business literature is a reference to strategic fit

(Smaczny, 2001), strategic match (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, & Lampel, 1998) or simply

the interface between two things (van der Zee & de Jong, 1999). In fact, Beal and

D. Giannakis and M.J. Harker398

 

 

Yasai-Ardekani (2000, p. 735) identified alignment as ‘moderation, mediation, profile

deviation, gestalts, covariation, and matching’. In recent years, the term ‘alignment’ has

grown in use – especially in HRM literature – as a descriptive idiom to symbolize a range

of management-driven processes towards the accomplishment of strategic goals. This is an

arrangement of groups or forces in relation to one another (Short, 2008, 2009). However,

what this particular definition fails to capture is the magic of alignment. These are all the

extraordinary things that can be achieved when teams start to share the same sense of

purpose. It is the degree of mutual support arising when team members buy into a common

set of assumptions, the shared commitment derived from striving to achieve shared goals;

the elegance that is the by-product of a team balanced in skills and competences (Burdett,

1994). The strategic RM and HRM alignment framework, as it later appears in this paper,

has as its basis a bank’s organizational ability and adaptability to accomplish a ‘strategic

fit’ and ‘functional integration’ (Henderson et al., 1996; Venkatraman & Camillus, 1984)

in two different chronological stages. In this context, the strategic alignment framework

capitalizes on the SAM (as shown in Figure 1) of Henderson and Venkatraman (1993;

Henderson et al., 1996) in describing the strategic choices that managers face when

aligning the corporate business strategy and a business activity – in this case, RM.

Henderson and Venkatraman (1993), in their academic work, developed the SAM to

describe the strategic choices that line managers face when aligning the corporate business

strategy and a function. The basic assumption of the SAM is line management’s ability to

Figure 1. Strategic alignment model of Henderson and Venkatraman. Source: Henderson and Venkatraman (1993).

Journal of Strategic Marketing 399

 

 

achieve a strategic fit and functional integration (Venkatraman & Camillus, 1984) between

the models domains, and thereby have an impact on overall business success (Henderson

et al., 1996). SAM can be of value in guiding strategy formulation and implementation

since it helps to prioritize decisions and resource allocation, thus ultimately achieving

strategic alignment (Henderson et al., 1996). SAM conceptually represents the framework

for the HRM and RM strategic alignment framework in a retail financial services context.

Given the SAM, the strategy of a financial services firm is to be viewed in terms of its

strategic positioning in its chosen marketplaces, and confined to external considerations

(Henderson & Venkatraman, 1993). More explicitly, the business scope (see SAM) sets

out the external boundaries of the organization, product and market sectors and segments

to be addressed, the geographical limits and any other relevant constraints on the domain

of operations of the organization. Corporate business governance defines the ways and

means of addressing the chosen business areas (McDonald, 1994). The distinctive

competencies relate to some organizational capabilities that make the business scope and

governance real, actual, and reflect the strengths of the organization as perceived by

external markets – the customers (Henderson and Venkatraman, 1993). These authors also

consider the essential capabilities that the organization must have, or have access to, but

not the particular skills of individual employees. This last part (e.g. the impact of specific

skills and competencies of the relational sales-reps towards RM strategy implementation)

deserves our research attention since the co-creation of service represents a significant

value-adding process (Grönroos & Ravald, 2011; Vargo & Lusch, 2004) and reflects on

the sustainability of a competitive advantage of a financial services firm.

We argue that alignment is greatly important in formulating RM strategies as well as in

their implementation, and that RM and HRM might be considered as adjacent paths to a

common destination (e.g. value development) and that explanations and understanding of

human actions, interactions, hierarchy, power, negotiation, learning and development will

be of increasing relevance and significance in marketing management. We now explore

why an RM-focused financial services firm should strategically align RM and HRM.

There is limited extant literature (Chimhanzi, 2004; Chimhanzi & Morgan, 2005;

Jaworski & Kohli, 1993; Piercy, 1997a, 1997b) on the empirical implementation of RM

strategies, and this paucity is extended to examinations of the RM–HRM cross-functional

interface. This rather limited research exposure is indicative of the challenges presented in

exploring RM and HRM alignment in practice – especially in the financial services

business. To strategically impact upon firm performance requires aligning the HR system

(internal fit) with strategic goals (external fit). This alignment should establish a closer

relationship between HRM and other key functions – including, of course, marketing.

Legge (1995a, p. 35, 1995b, pp. 66–67) suggests that ‘effective HRM is seen necessarily

to involve a focus upon fostering employee motivation, commitment and development’.

This is a business approach acknowledging the importance of HRM to the aims of a

relational-oriented business, whilst reflecting attempts by management to create a work

environment that emphasizes employee development through practices such as training,

participation and communication, and the importance of having innovative, flexible,

committed employees who are valued resources (Beer, Spector, Lawrence, Quinn Mills, &

Walton, 1984a, 1984b; Boxall, 1992; Boxall & Purcell, 2003; Boxall, Purcell, & Wright,

2007; Guest, 1987, 1997, 2000).

In a relational-oriented financial services firm, it becomes important for HR [as a

management team] to carefully monitor key personnel issues such as the selection and

recruitment of sales-reps, training them and developing their skills, and certainly

periodically evaluating their actual performance based on strategic and hence, on

D. Giannakis and M.J. Harker400

 

 

operational objectives. In their academic work, Vargo and Lusch (2004, 2006, 2008b;

Vargo, 2009) claimed that a service- rather than product-focused approach to marketing

was a more natural and accurate reflection of the primacy of service concepts in

contemporary marketing practice. These services are provided by people that consumers

engage with, thus making these relationships the context within which services are

provided. This means that high-quality services need high-quality people, and they must

be recruited, developed and maintained by HR. HR and marketing must be aligned.

Relationship quality: financial services

Hennig-Thurau and Klee (1997, p. 751), whilst reflecting on a customer-centric marketing

concept orientation, consider ‘relationship quality as the degree of appropriateness of a

relationship to fulfill the needs of customers’. Academics define relationship quality as a

bundle of intangible values resulting in an expected long-term relationship between

related parties, which cannot be easily duplicated by competitors (Fruchter & Sigue, 2005;

Levitt, 1981; Wong, Hung, & Chow, 2007). Therefore, relationship quality plays a critical

role in the study of long-term relationship maintenance (Finn, 2005).

No doubt, the financial services sector (e.g. retail banking) is a demanding business

sector. Operators within this sector fully recognize that to survive and thrive requires

firm–client relationships to be developed and maintained as a means of competitive

advantage through added value and switching costs. Sale teams are therefore required to

develop a good and sustainable relationship with their clients, thereby maintaining

institutional sustainability – researchers having concluded that it is very often more

expensive to acquire new customers than to keep existing ones (Reichheld & Sasser,

1990). Further, the development of a strong and intimate series of interactions can improve

customer loyalty, which in turn leads to increased profits for the firm (Athanassopoulou,

2006). Trust is now accepted as one of the main factors in influencing a customer to

develop and maintain a relationship with the service provider (Liang & Wang, 2006;

Shekhar & Gupta, 2008). Ndubisi (2007) considers trust to be a key determinant of the

quality of buyer–seller relationships. Crosby, Evans, and Cowles (1990, p. 70) indicate that

high-relationship quality ‘means that the customer is able to rely on the sales-rep’s integrity

and has confidence in the salesperson’s future performance because the level of past

performance has been consistently satisfactory’. Summarizing the literature on relation-

ship quality in financial services, Rajaobelina and Bergeron (2009) (see Table 1) consider

the impact of a service provider’s level of knowledge and experience with regard to the focal

product or service, concluding that experienced and knowledgeable employees can reduce

customers’ perceived uncertainty and anxiety, which may lead to higher customer

satisfaction and trust.

Research methodology

This paper has so far conceptually explored the reasons ‘why a relationally oriented bank

should strategically align RM and HRM’, and brought attention to the idea that HRM

policies, practices and procedures can create organizational value generally and boost

RM-oriented sales efforts specifically.

We now turn to the primary research aspect of this project. From an exploratory

research stance, this is a topic dealing with unknown variables and contexts within a social

environment, as is the case for competitive banks. Therefore, the aim of such a qualitative

research approach was to produce insights rather than measure, to explore rather than

Journal of Strategic Marketing 401

 

 

pin down. On that basis, it was decided to produce a series of case studies in an attempt to

meet the following research objectives:

(1) Explore the reasons why an RM-focused financial services firm should

strategically align RM and HRM;

(2) Explore the process how and why HRM creates organizational value and boosts

RM performance.

Yin (2003, p. 14) defines case study research methodology as ‘an empirical enquiry

that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the

boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident’. Yin’s definition

supports our rationale behind the adoption of the use of five Greek retail banks to develop

cases as the research methodology for the purposes of this paper. Brief outlines of these

banks are available in Appendix 1. Each case incorporated the examination of four

business roles (Triangulation effect) through interviews with senior management, leading

to a total of 20 interviews. The four prescribed business roles were the HR, Marketing and

Sales Directors and a sales-rep in a business-to-consumer (B2C) point-of-sale role. The

breakdown of the 20 interviews by bank and role is given in the table within Appendix 1.

The five finally selected retail banks that took part in the study were competing B2C

retail banks. In the light of this, the investigators decided to incorporate into the cases

topics, facts, figures and issues that represented their growth momentum (e.g. assets under

management, loans and deposits development) over a five-year period and thus examined

performance indicators as well as the level of organizational change and uncertainty in the

firms’ environment. By selecting extreme cases, the aim was to amplify differences that

might exist, thereby making these differences easier to observe and understand for the

reader. The two following stages involved the preparation and the actual data collection

process. In accordance with Yin’s (2003) suggested process, there were two major

data analysis strategies: (1) relying on theoretical propositions where the researchers

followed the theoretical propositions that led to the empirical case study. The original

objectives and design of the case study research method are based on such propositions,

which in process reflect the research questions, reviews of the literature and new insights;

and (2) developing a descriptive framework for organizing the case study. Therefore,

the investigators adhered to the following major principles – stages of multiple case

analyses producing a comparative and contrasting data analysis (see Appendix 1) making

use of all the relevant evidence collated during the field research process.

In this respect, the investigators considered major rival interpretations, and explored

each of them in turn. The analysis addressed the most significant aspect of each case study

out of the sample set – driven by the investigators’ theoretical research objectives. The

analysis drew on the researchers’ prior expert knowledge in the area of the case study, but

in an unbiased and objective manner (Rowley, 2002).

Discussion

Based on the field research findings (see Table 2) and the previously discussed literature,

we now present a systematic RM and HRM strategic alignment framework in support of

implementing and sustaining RM strategy.

Conceptually, this framework develops in two distinct chronological phases. The first

alignment phase calls for functional integration of RM and HRM (see Figure 2) and the

second calls for a systematic interaction between the centrally located HRM, the RM

specialists, line sales, the HCCEO (a critical new HR role to enhance the success of

D. Giannakis and M.J. Harker402

 

 

T a b le

1 .

L it e ra tu re

o n re la ti o n sh ip

q u a li ty : c o n c e p ts , a n te c e d e n ts , c o n se q u e n c e s a n d c o n te x ts .

A u th o rs

R e la ti o n sh ip

q u a li ty

A n te c e d e n ts

C o n se q u e n c e s

C o n te x t

C ro sb y , E v a n s, a n d

C o w le s (1 9 9 0 )

T ru st , sa ti sf a c ti o n

S im

il a ri ty , e x p e rt is e , re la ti o n a l

se ll in g

N o n e

W h o le

L if e In su ra n c e

p o li c y h o ld e rs

in U S A

M o rg a n a n d H u n t

(1 9 9 4 )

C o m m it m e n t, tr u st

In te r- fi rm

re la ti o n sh ip s, e ff e c ti v e

c o m m u n ic a ti o n , sh a re d v a lu e s

In te r- fi rm

tr u st , c o o p e ra ti o n

R e la ti o n sh ip

q u a li ty

st a n d a rd s

im p ro v e m e n t

W ra y , P a lm

e r, a n d

B e jo u (1 9 9 4 )

T ru st , sa ti sf a c ti o n

E th ic s, e x p e rt is e , re la ti o n sh ip

d u ra ti o n , se ll in g o ri e n ta ti o n ,

c u st o m e r o ri e n ta ti o n

N o n e

F in a n c ia l se rv ic e s

S m it h (1 9 9 8 )

T ru st , c o m m it m e n t,

sa ti sf a c ti o n

R e la ti o n sh ip

d u ra ti o n

N o n e

3 6 6 m e m b e rs

o f p u rc h a si n g

m a n a g e m e n t A ss o c ia ti o n o f

C a n a d a

K im

, L e e , a n d Y o o

(2 0 0 6 )

T ru st , sa ti sf a c ti o n

C u st o m e r o ri e n ta ti o n ,

c o m m u n ic a ti o n , re la ti o n sh ip

b e n e fi ts

C o m m it m e n t, lo y a lt y , w o rd

o f m o u th

8 8 7 d in n e r p a tr o n s a t 2 1 lu x u ry

re st a u ra n ts in

K o re a

M a c in to sh

(2 0 0 7 )

T ru st , sa ti sf a c ti o n

C u st o m e r o ri e n ta ti o n , e x p e rt is e

W o rd

o f m o u th , lo y a lt y

2 2 0 C a n a d ia n b u si n e ss

tr a v e ll e rs

W o n g , H u n g , a n d

C h o w

(2 0 0 7 )

T ru st , sa ti sf a c ti o n

In fo rm

a ti o n sh a ri n g

W il li n g n e ss

to re fe r, a n ti c ip a ti o n

o f fu tu re

in te ra c ti o n

2 0 7 c o n su m e rs

o f fi n a n c ia l

se rv ic e s in

H o n g K o n g

C h e n g , C h e n , a n d

C h a n g (2 0 0 8 )

T ru st , sa ti sf a c ti o n

C u st o m e r o ri e n ta ti o n , e x p e rt is e ,

in te rp e rs o n a l re la ti o n sh ip

C o m m it m e n t, lo y a lt y

A ir li n e re la ti o n sh ip

q u a li ty

Journal of Strategic Marketing 403

 

 

T a b le

2 .

D a ta

a n a ly si s: k e y fi n d in g s.

R e so u rc e s

F ir m

A F ir m

B F ir m

C F ir m

D F ir m

E

S tr a te g ic

o ri e n ta ti o n

S tr o n g sa le s fo c u s w it h

p a ra ll e l R M

p ra c ti c e s

S tr o n g sa le s fo c u s w it h

p a ra ll e l R M

p ra c ti c e s

R e la ti o n a l o ri e n ta ti o n

D e v e lo p in g R M

S tr o n g re la ti o n a l

o ri e n ta ti o n

P e rf o rm

a n c e

m a n a g e m e n t

p ra c ti c e s

F u ll y a p p li c a b le

F u ll y a p p li c a b le

L o w

p ra c ti c e s

L o w

p ra c ti c e s

F u ll y a p p li c a b le

M a rk e ti n g a n d

H R M

st ru c tu re

P ro d u c t m a n a g e m e n t in

d is ti n c t b u si n e ss

u n it s

P ro d u c t m a n a g e m e n t in

d is ti n c t b u si n e ss

u n it s

S tr a te g ic

m a rk e ti n g ,

o p e ra ti o n a l m a rk e ti n g

L in e sa le s

P ro d u c t m a n a g e m e n t in

b u si n e ss

u n it s, st ra te g ic

m a rk e ti n g u n it

C e n tr a l H R M , fu ll

a p p li c a ti o n o f b u si n e ss

p a rt n e r

C e n tr a l H R M , fu ll

a p p li c a ti o n o f b u si n e ss

p a rt n e r

C e n tr a l H R M , L im

it e d ,

h o w e v e r d e v e lo p in g

a p p li c a ti o n o f B u si n e ss

p a rt n e r

C e n tr a l H R M

C e n tr a l H R M

K n o w le d g e

m a n a g e m e n t

Y e s, sa le s- re p s’

(t e c h n ic a l

sk il ls ), so m e lo n g -t e rm

le a rn in g

Y e s, sa le s- re p s’

d e v e lo p m e n t o f te c h n ic a l

sk il ls

Y e s, sa le s- re p s’

(t e c h n ic a l

sk il ls ), e v id e n c e o f

re la ti o n a l c o m p e te n c ie s

Y e s, sa le s- re p s’

d e v e lo p m e n t o f te c h n ic a l

a n d re la ti o n a l sk il ls a n d

c o m p e te n c ie s

Y e s, sa le s- re p s’

d e v e lo p m e n t o f te c h n ic a l

a n d re la ti o n a l sk il ls a n d

c o m p e te n c ie s

L e a rn in g

o rg a n iz a ti o n

Y e s, h ig h -r e g u la to ry

a n d

p ro c e d u ra l e n v ir o n m e n t

Y e s, h ig h -r e g u la to ry

a n d

p ro c e d u ra l e n v ir o n m e n t

Y e s, h ig h -r e g u la to ry

a n d

p ro c e d u ra l e n v ir o n m e n t

Y e s, h ig h -r e g u la to ry

a n d

p ro c e d u ra l e n v ir o n m e n t

Y e s, h ig h -r e g u la to ry

a n d

p ro c e d u ra l e n v ir o n m e n t

M a rk e t in te ll ig e n c e

sy st e m s

E v id e n c e o f d e v e lo p in g

m a rk e t in te ll ig e n c e

sy st e m s a n d a n a ly si s, lo w

sh a ri n g

E v id e n c e o f d e v e lo p in g

m a rk e t in te ll ig e n c e

sy st e m s a n d a n a ly si s

E v id e n c e o f d e v e lo p in g

m a rk e t in te ll ig e n c e

sy st e m s a n d a n a ly si s,

p a rt ia l sh a ri n g

L a c k o f a d e q u a te

m a rk e t

in te ll ig e n c e sy st e m s

E x c e ll e n t m a rk e t

in te ll ig e n c e sy st e m s,

in fo rm

a ti o n a n a ly se d a n d

sy st e m a ti c a ll y sh a re d

S a le s- re p s’

re la ti o n sh ip

q u a li ty

to th e b u y e r

S a le s- re p ’s

ro le

id e n ti fi c a ti o n

T e c h n ic a l sp e c ia li st

p ro d u c t/ se rv ic e -f o c u se d

T e c h n ic a l sp e c ia li st

p ro d u c t/ se rv ic e -f o c u se d

S a le s c o n su lt a n t id e n ti ty

(r e la ti o n a l- fo c u se d )

S a le s c o n su lt a n t id e n ti ty

(r e la ti o n a l- fo c u se d )

S a le s c o n su lt a n t id e n ti ty

(r e la ti o n a l- fo c u se d )

C li e n t k n o w le d g e

(B 2 C )

D e v e lo p e d b y th e u se

o f

p e rs o n a l b a n k in g a n d

m a rk e t in te ll ig e n c e

sy st e m s

D e v e lo p e d b y th e u se

o f

m a rk e t in te ll ig e n c e

sy st e m s

L im

it e d c li e n t k n o w le d g e

L im

it e d c li e n t k n o w le d g e

E x c e ll e n t – a d e q u a te

m a rk e t in te ll ig e n c e

sy st e m s in

p la c e

E x p e rt is e

Y e s

Y e s

Y e s

D e v e lo p in g

D e v e lo p in g

D. Giannakis and M.J. Harker404

 

 

H R M ’s

ro le

in c re a ti n g o rg a n iz a ti o n a l v a lu e

S a le s- re p s’

re c ru it m e n t a n d

se le c ti o n sy st e m s

A li g n m e n t o f H R M

a n d

sa le s

A li g n m e n t o f H R M

a n d

sa le s

A li g n m e n t o f H R M

a n d

sa le s

A li g n m e n t o f H R M

a n d

sa le s

A li g n m e n t o f H R M

a n d

sa le s

S a le s- re p s tr a in in g

a n d d e v e lo p m e n t

sy st e m s

L e a rn in g is su p p o rt e d

(t e c h n ic a l sk il ls )

L e a rn in g is su p p o rt e d

(t e c h n ic a l sk il ls )

L e a rn in g is su p p o rt e d

(t e c h n ic a l sk il ls )

L e a rn in g e n v ir o n m e n t

(p a ra ll e l te c h n ic a l a n d

re la ti o n a l sk il ls )

L e a rn in g is su p p o rt e d

(p a ra ll e l te c h n ic a l a n d

re la ti o n a l sk il ls )

S a le s- re p s re w a rd

sy st e m s

Y e s, li n e sa le s d e c id e

Y e s, li n e sa le s d e c id e

Y e s, li n e sa le s d e c id e

Y e s, li n e sa le s d e c id e

Y e s, li n e sa le s d e c id e

B u si n e ss

p a rt n e r

st a tu s

H R d o t li n e m a n a g e r

si tt in g in

a ll sa le s

m e e ti n g s, p a rt n e r in

st ra te g y e x e c u ti o n ,

e m p lo y e e c h a m p io n

B u si n e ss

p a rt n e r in te ra c ts

w it h b o th

li n e a n d sa le s-

re p s’

p o rt fo li o /e m p lo y e e

c h a m p io n a n d c h a n g e

a g e n t

P ro fe ss io n a l p a th

a d v is o rs /a d m in is tr a ti v e

e x p e rt a n d e m p lo y e e

c h a m p io n

N /A

c e n tr a l H R M

se rv ic e s

N /A

c e n tr a l H R M

se rv ic e s, d e v e lo p in g

P ra c ti c a l

in te ll ig e n c e

L a rg e ly

e x te n d e d

D e v e lo p in g

D e v e lo p in g

N o n e

N o n e

R e la ti o n sh ip

to li n e

m a n a g e m e n t

D o tt e d to

re ta il li n e

m a n a g e m e n t a n d H R M

B e lo n g s to

a se p a ra te te a m

o f th e c e n tr a l H R M

D ir e c t

T e a m

w o rk

T e a m w o rk

Journal of Strategic Marketing 405

 

 

strategic alignment) and the relational sales-reps in a B2C retail context (see Figure 3).

The chronological distance between planning, programming and implementation of the

two distinct RM and HRM alignment phases depends on:

(1) the corporate life cycle;

(2) the stage of maturity of a bank and line management involvement into relational

sales-rep’s HR cycle (recruitment, selection and placement, training and

development, assessment);

(3) the complexity of the structure of internal corporate activities;

(4) the complexity of relevant stakeholders’ roles; and finally

(5) the determination of line management to invest in a customer-centric business

approach.

Drawing on the original strategic alignment framework as a basis (see Figure 1), the

vertical linkage ‘strategic fit’ concerns the external business environment in which a bank

competes and equally the internal environment in which it operates. The horizontal

linkage at the integration phase denotes the RM and HRM interdepartmental integration in

a relational-oriented bank. As a result, integration takes into consideration a relational

strategic orientation, optimum adoption of marketing and HRM infrastructures in

accomplishing best RM strategies.