Broad marketing and strategic issues:
● the use of IT to create competitive advantage
● creation of a quality product through differentiation and low cost
strategies
● development of an organization almost without middle management
● creating a unique advertising message to a specific target audience
● issues of target market selection, segmentation and positioning.
Relationship marketing issues:
● building relationships through service quality and information technol-
ogy
● creating a responsive, process-oriented organization
● creation of a distinctive value proposition
● transformed traditional channels of distribution
● creation of relationships with final customers in the insurance market
● building an organization through referrals from advocates.
Direct Line represents one of the best recent examples in the UK of
achieving both differentiation and low cost strategies at the same
time and leveraging information technology to create strong rela-
tionships with the customer base. It combines a combination of high
quality advertising and the use of referrals from satisfied customers
to build a superior market position. Since the writing of the case the
market has become even more competitive and profits at Direct Line
have fallen. Participants in a case study discussion will wish to
discuss what should be done by Direct Line to sustain and build on
its market position in the face of competitive imitation.
Case 2.6: Relationship marketing: The RSPB – a bird in
the hand
This case was written by Helen Mitchell, a researcher at Cranfield
School of Management, and based on an original project written by
Karen Farquharson, Stephen Barlow, Aiden Cotter, Matthew
Meredith, Malcolm Stainforth and David White.
Abstract
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is the largest
The customer market domain: Managing relationships with buyers 61