famous being Scandinavian Airline System (SAS).^16 In fact, some
organizations have started to view internal marketing as a strategic
weapon to help retain customers through achieving high quality
service delivery and increased customer satisfaction.^13 This section
will, therefore, address key aspects of the internal market domain,
including: the concept of internal marketing; the scope of internal
marketing; and conclude with a consideration of inter-related inter-
nal marketing activities which are thought to be essential in achiev-
ing sustainable competitive advantage.
The concept of internal marketing
Internal marketing has become a frequently quoted part of market-
ing vocabulary for practitioners and academics alike. Yet despite the
numerous writings on the subject, much of the work to date is
descriptive and/or suggests strategies and plans for implementing
internal marketing programmes.^17 Internal marketing has not been
subjected to extensive research and Foreman and Money conclude
‘that nothing specific or substantial has been published on the
subject of IM in any of the major journals in the field of marketing’.^18
There is still, therefore, no unified notion of what exactly internal
marketing is and how it can be implemented in the organization.
Despite this lack of clarity on the subject of internal marketing,
the generally accepted view is that it is concerned with creating,
developing and maintaining an internal service culture and orienta-
tion, which in turn assists and supports the organization in the
achievement of its goals. The internal service culture has a vital
impact on how service-oriented and customer-oriented employees
are and, thus, how well they perform their tasks. It tells employees
how to respond to new, unforeseen and even awkward situations.
The development and maintenance of a customer-oriented culture
in the organization is, therefore, a critical determinant of long-term
success in relationship marketing. It is an organization’s culture – its
deep-seated, unwritten system of shared values and norms – which
has the greatest impact on employees, their behaviour and attitudes.
The culture of an organization in turn dictates its climate – the poli-
cies and practices which characterize the organization and reflect its
cultural beliefs.^11
The basic premise behind the development of internal marketing
is the acknowledgement of the impact of employee behaviour and
The recruitment and internal market domains 313