is to seek to ensure that the standards adopted by a regulatory body,
for example a standards setting authority within the European
Community, favour their production capabilities and competencies
as well as being ones which are consistent with the materials they
use in the manufacture of their products. For example, certain
German companies have the reputation of being highly skilled at
influencing standards setting bodies within the European
Community to favour their businesses. This might involve persuad-
ing the standards bodies to adopt a specification for a particular
type of fire-retardant or to insist on the use of a specific material.
Further examples of this approach are provided by Stigler^19 and
Kangun and Polonsky.^20
Companies involved in sensitive areas such as defence or drilling
programmes in the North Sea may recognize the importance of
these influence groups, but may not have formulated detailed and
coherent relationship marketing strategies and plans to gain
maximum advantage from managing these relationships. As dis-
cussed earlier, a marketing approach that is based on a closely
defined set of specific objectives with a detailed market plan and an
appropriate monitoring system which measures results is likely to
improve the chance of success in addressing a programme aimed at
a specific influence market.
Strategic credibility in influence markets
The dangers of ignoring the constituents of the influence market
domain are illustrated by Fisons, a UK mini-conglomerate which is
discussed in Case Study 4.2. Fisons failed to build appropriate rela-
tionships with a number of key members of the influence market
domain, including shareholders, the financial press, environmental-
ists, competitors and the US Federal Drug Administration. Failure
to address these key influence markets damaged the firm signifi-
cantly, as the case study illustrates.
A further example of poor management of influence markets is
provided by Ratners, a large jewellery retailer which is the subject of
Case Study 4.1. In 1992, Gerald Ratner made a speech at the Institute
of Directors in which he described his jewellery products as ‘total
crap’. This story was picked up in the general press and reported
widely. A failure to manage strategic credibility before and after this
event, together with an inappropriate and incomplete recovery pro-
The referral and influence market domains 243