Internal Marketing to Achieve Competitive Advantage

Abstract

Although their competitors may copy their products and services, companies have found that they may nonetheless maintain competitive advantage by creating difficult-to –duplicate relationships between their employees and their customers (Stershic, 2001, p.42). Although advances in technology have enabled consumers to become informed shoppers and have made it easier to compare providers, products, and prices, discerning consumers are also more able to access the comments and opinions of other customers. Accordingly, organizations have begun to acknowledge that creating strong customer relationships is an important means of differentiating themselves from their competitors. Effective internal marketing strategies can be a vital tool for developing highly committed employees – the key to strengthening relationships with customers and achieving greater customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and higher long-term profits. In this paper we offer eight propositions about effective internal marketing and suggest that highly committed employees, achieved by intelligent and effective internal marketing, can enable organizations to create the key relationships with customers that allow those organizations to achieve unprecedented excellence and competitive advantage.
Key words: Internal marketing; Highly committed employees; Leadership; Competitive advantage; Quality service; Customer satisfaction; Human capital; Employee loyalty; Internal branding; Organizational citizenship behavior