Keyword

Internal marketing, Financial services, Customer service.

Abstract

Internal marketing has been present as a concept in business literature for many decades, yet there appears to be no clear definition as to its actual purpose, its benefits, or who should implement such an initiative, if at all. The objective of this research was to take an exploratory investigation into internal marketing from the perspective of the employee, in order to ascertain their interpretation of internal marketing and its perceived level of importance within an organisation. Through the process of interviews and a focus group, the thoughts and beliefs of employees were extracted and analysed in relation to current literature. Interestingly, the apparent confusion as to an actual definition of internal marketing was present throughout the research, as was the failure to find agreement on who should implement such an initiative. The research also highlighted the different benefits that employees believed internal marketing could produce, from shared knowledge and commitment, to actual product sales. However, internal marketing was unanimously seen as important and the input of senior management critical to its success.


Full Text : PDF

References
  1. Ahmed, P., Rafiq, M., (2000), ‘Advances in the internal marketing concept: definition, synthesis and extension’, Journal of Services Marketing, Volume 14, Number 6, pp. 449-462
  2. Ahmed, P., Rafiq, M., (1995), ‘The role of internal marketing in the implementation of marketing strategies’, Journal of Marketing Practice, Volume 01, Number 4, pp.32-51
  3. Asif, S., Sargeant, A., (1998), ‘The strategic application of internal marketing – an investigation of UK banking’, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Volume 16, Number 2, pp. 66-79
  4. Asif, S., Sargeant, A., (2000), ‘Modelling internal communications in the financial services sector’, European Journal of Marketing, Volume 34, Issue 3 /4, pp. 1
  5. Ballantyne, D., (2000), ‘Internal relationship marketing: a strategy for knowledge renewal’, The International Journal of Bank Marketing, Volume 18, Number 6, pp. 274-286
  6. Barnet, V., (1991), ‘Sample Survey – Principles & methods’, Edward Arnold
  7. Benady, D., (2001), ‘The inside story’, Marketing Week, September 6, 2001, pp. 30-31
  8. Bernard, R., (1997), ‘The corporate intranet’, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 68
  9.     Brabbs, C., (2001), ‘Bringing out ideas and creative skills’, Marketing, July 26, 2001, Haymarket Publications
  10.     Carruthers, J., (1990), ‘A rationale for the use of semi-structured interviews’, Journal of Educational     Administration, Volume 28, Number 1
  11.     Caruana, A., Calleya, P., (1998), ‘The effect of internal marketing on organisational commitment among retail bank managers’, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Volume 16, Number 3, pp. 108-116
  12.     Chaston, I., (1990), ‘Managing for marketing excellence’, McGraw-Hill book company
  13.     Christopher, M., Payne, A., Ballantyne, D., (1991), ‘Relationship Marketing’, Butterworth Heinemann, pp. 30
  14.     Clarke, A., (2001), ‘Research takes an inventive approach’, Marketing, September 13, 2001, Haymarket Publications
  15.     Dana, J., (2000), ‘Don’t forget staff in marketing plans’, Marketing News, Volume 34, Issue 6, pp.10-11