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Argues that the introduction of the quasi market mechanism into the Health Service has required that managers within NHS trusts acquire new managerial skills relating to market operations and, more importantly, reorientate their organizations towards the marketplace. Examines the pattern of development which has occurred within acute trusts across Scotland in the past three years, and argues that managers in the majority of trusts have developed a remarkably robust and relevant conceptualization of the nature and application of marketing within the NHS, reflecting the difficulties managers have faced in selling the concept of marketing to a generally sceptical body of clinicians. Notes, in part owing to such professional scepticism, that the development of marketing as an implementable approach to operations has lagged significantly behind the managerial conceptualization, although this cannot be attributed solely to resistance from clinicians and other health care professionals. Rather, suggests that such limited progress in implementing a market orientation reflects a range of “structural” barriers, both within individual trusts and the specific market environment faced by trusts.

The complexity of customer relationships has been recognized in the relationship marketing literature. Yet, the understanding of how this complexity impacts on the formation and development of different relationship forms is limited. Focusing on the development of customer‐service provider relationships in a financial services context, this paper aims to critically examine the nature and formation of business‐to‐consumer service relationships.

Qualitative methods were employed, with in‐depth interviews undertaken with a sample of UK bank customers.

The complexity of customer relationships was documented by approaching relationships as multidimensional, dynamic and contextual. A relationship typology based on four key relationship components (trust, commitment, buyer‐seller bonds, and relationship benefits) is proposed. This typology suggests that for a relationship to exist it does not necessarily have to encompass an emotional dimension. Moreover, the paper demonstrates the importance of the fit between customers' relational expectations and their experiences with service providers in developing long‐term committed relationships.

The study was limited to the UK context. The extension of this study to other sectors or financial institutions operating in different regulatory and technological environments needs to be tested.

It is crucial that relationships are viewed as multidimensional, taking into account various relationship components. Since different relationship components influence relationships differently, organisations need to develop different relationship marketing strategies for each consumer segment according to consumers' relational expectations.

Building on preceding research, this paper broadens understanding of the complexity of customer‐firm relationships by presenting insight into the affective element of relationships and highlighting the role of the fit between customers' relational expectations and their experiences in relationship development.

Explores the purchasing behaviour of independent financial advisors (IFAs) within the context of the UK financial sector. Reports on empirical work in which attitudes of such independent distributors toward identified supplier selection criteria were assessed. Set within the context of relationship marketing theory, seeks to employ findings to develop a generic conceptual basis for approaching the marketing of services to independent intermediaries.

The purchaser‐provider split within the NHS which emerged out of the government′s 1990 White Paper, Working for Patients, together with the introduction of the Patients Charter, has imposed new, tighter performance measures on provider units. The internal market has placed clear contractual guarantees on providers in terms of the numbers of patients seen and the quality of service/care provided. The Patients Charter has set, with little reference to local conditions, required time‐scales for treatment, i.e. waiting time guarantees for patients. The government is committed to reducing these guaranteed waiting times further. Both these factors have forced provider units to look far more closely at the way they operate, and the way they provide services. The impact of these performance measures has been magnified by the tight budgetary constraints within which provider units are currently expected to operate. Consequently the option of increasing service provision through expanding facilities and staff has effectively been precluded in the majority of instances. Thus provider units have been forced into reappraising the manner in which service provision is structured and the services delivered. While this restructuring of service provision has been most obvious in those services where the internal market has had the most immediate effect – for example, direct access services such as physiotherapy – increasingly, performance measure pressures have forced providers to examine the processes by which they deliver both in‐patient and out‐patient care. Analyses the difficulties encountered by an NHS Trust in Scotland in managing capacity and demand in a specialist out‐patient clinic.

Cause‐related and affinity marketing are based on the assumption that linking a commercial organisation's product with a non‐profit organisation enhances the product's appeal and provides differentiation from rival offers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficacy of this premise.

In‐depth qualitative research was conducted to explore the construction of consumer value in affinity credit cards, followed by large‐scale quantitative research to assess the prevalence of the perceptions and behaviour patterns identified.

Linked products offer a range of individual and group benefits, both functional and symbolic. However, the value placed on these benefit categories varied according to the type of affinity group.

Whilst encompassing a wide range of affinity categories, all of the affinity credit cards were issued by one financial services organisation. Variation is therefore possible between the benefits offered by other financial services organisations operating affinity schemes.

The findings demonstrate the need to identify the value perceived by different groups of consumers of affinity products and to tailor affinity products to the type of affinity organisation with which they are linked.

A key strength is the research's access to card holders from a wide spectrum of affinity categories. This has proved elusive in prior research. The paper challenges the assumption that linking a product to a non‐profit organisation enhances its appeal and provides a basis for differentiation. The efficacy of this premise depends on the type of cause or affinity group, with the value placed on benefit categories varying accordingly.

The Financial Services Act (FSA) has had a major impact on the distribution strategies of life assurance companies in Britain. In particular it has led to a shift away from reliance on a single independent channel of distribution, towards a multi‐channel approach with the life company exerting direct control over the distribution process. The Scottish‐based mutual life companies faced particular difficulties in responding to the changed environment because of the particular characteristics of these offices. Examines the particular responses of the Scottish mutual life companies to the FSA.