Internal marketing strategies in LIS: a strategic management perspective
| Pages | 294-301 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120210432264 |
| Date | 01 September 2002 |
| Published date | 01 September 2002 |
| Author | Judith Broady‐Preston,Lucy Steel |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Internalmarketing
strategiesinLIS:a
strategicmanagement
perspective
JudithBroady-Prestonand
LucySteel
Introduction
Akeyfeatureoftheliteratureofservices
marketingisadiscussionofthelinkbetween
servicequalityandservicedelivery(Berryand
Parasuraman,1991;Irons,1997;Lewisand
Entwistle,1990;Palmer,2000).Insucha
discussion,itisrecognisedthatemployeesare
thecriticalfactorindeterminingthesuccess
oftheserviceexchangeandcustomer
satisfactionwithinorganisations.Corralland
Brewerton(1999,p.246)suggestthatstaff
arethecheapestandmosteffectivewayof
marketinganorganisation:
Friendlystaffcanoftenmakeupfor
shortcomingselsewhereintheservice.Staffare
alsothemostpotentiallydamagingpartofthe
marketingequation.Customersdonotalways
noticegoodservice,buttheyinvariablynotice
andrememberpoorservice,whichisoftena
consequenceoflimitedinterpersonalskills.
Animportantelementofservicesmarketing
thathasbeenmuchneglectedintheliterature
isinternalmarketing,themainfocusofwhich
isthecentralroleofemployeesinthe
successfuldeliveryofservicestothecustomer.
EwingandCaruana(1999)arguethat
companiesmustfirstselltotheiremployees
beforetheycansellsuccessfullytotheir
customers.Palmer(2000,p.172)remarks
that:
...successfulorganizationsunderstandthe
importanceofcontactpersonnelandseean
importantrolefor``internalmarketing''.
Manyauthorshavesuggestedthatinternal
marketingisaprerequisiteforexternal
marketing(ForemanandMoney,1995;
Greeneetal.,1994;Gronroos,2000;Kotler,
2000;Pittetal.,1999;andSutter,1995).
Theyallarguethatinorderforexternal
marketingtobesuccessful,theemployeesof
anorganisationmustallbecommittedto
marketingandbeabletodelivertheservice
promised.Indeed,RosenblunthandPeters
(1992)takethisconceptastagefurther,
arguingthattheneedsofthecustomers
shouldbesecondtothoseoftheemployees,
ascustomerneedscanonlybemet
successfullyafterthoseoftheemployeeshave
beenmetsatisfactorily.Pittetal.(1999)argue
thatanorganisationcannotpromiseto
provideanexcellentservicebeforethestaff
arecommittedtosuchservicedelivery,aview
echoedalsobyKotler(2000).However,
Greeneetal.(1994,p.5)identifythe
Theauthors
JudithBroady-PrestonisLecturerintheDepartmentof
InformationandLibraryStudies,UniversityofWales,
Aberystwyth,Wales.
LucySteelisaformerstudentintheDepartmentof
InformationandLibraryStudies,andnowLibrarian,
PAConsulting,London,UK.
Keywords
Publiclibraries,Management,Internalmarketing
Abstract
Reviewstheliteraturewhichdiscussesthelinkbetween
servicequalityandservicedelivery,andtherecognition
thatemployeesareacriticalfactorindetermining the
successoftheserviceexchangeandcustomer
satisfaction.Reportsastudyofasampleofpublic
librariansinLondonusing semi-structuredquestionnaires,
unobtrusiveobservation,andananalysisofmission
statements.Theresultssuggestthataplannedinternal
marketing prog rammemayhelptoimprovethesuccessof
publiclibraryservices.
Electronicaccess
Theresearchregisterforthisjournalisavailableat
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalis
availableat
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
294
Library Management
Volume 23 .Number 6/7 .2002 .pp. 294±301
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120210432264
To continue reading
Request your trial