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“Companies, particularly those which sell goods or services direct to the public, regard their trade marks (whether brand names or pictorial symbols) as being among their most valuable assets. It is important therefore for a trading nation such as the United Kingdom to have a legal framework for the protection of trade marks which fully serves the needs of industry and commerce. The law governing registered trade marks is however fifty years old and has to some extent lost touch with the marketplace. Moreover it causes some of the procedures associated with registration to be more complicated than they need be.” This introductory paragraph to the Government's recent White Paper on “Reform of Trade Marks Law” indicates that reform is in the air. The primary pressure for reform has emanated from Brussels with the need to harmonise national trade mark laws before the advent of the Single European market on 1st January 1993. To this end the Council of Ministers adopted a harmonisation directive in December 1988 which must be translated into the national laws of member states by 28th December 1991.

As retail organisations offer financial services to their customers at an increasing rate, this paper uses the emerging relationship marketing paradigm to gain strategic insights. The first level of analysis is at the organisation/customer interface. Four scenarios are analysed, which have recently emerged in international situations. These show that retail organisations are reducing the interaction and communication that banks have with their customers. Relationship marketing theory is then used to understand the implications that these scenarios pose for banks. The second analysis is at the business‐to‐business level. The application of the concept of relationship marketing at this level suggests that banks and retail organisations should focus on co‐operation rather than competition. This paper proposes strategic alliances will enable both parties to achieve more together than individually.

Presents the findings of a survey carried out among the financial directors of leading retail companies in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. The purpose of the survey was to determine those factors that influence the development of financial services within retail organisations. Considers the introduction of financial services, within the context of retailers’ relationships with their customers, and retailers’ ability to build closer relationships with existing and potential customers. Financial service provision is, therefore, considered in the context of the relationship marketing paradigm. Considers the opportunities which financial services provide for retailers to move from a transactional to relationship approach to marketing.

Losing customers can have a detrimental impact on a bank’s market share and profit. Despite these negative effects, few studies have sought to investigate fully the process of defection. Proposes, therefore, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the process of switching retail banking services by investigating the problems that influence both switching behaviour and complaints made prior to exit. Empirical evidence was drawn from 694 mail surveys collected from banking customers in Australia and New Zealand. The reasons for switching banks were classified into three main problem areas: service failures, pricing problems and denied services. Results indicated that problems with pricing had the most important impact on switching behaviour. In contrast, customers tended to complain more often about service failures prior to exiting the firm. This finding suggests that customers may be staying silent about the problems that are most important in their decision to exit the firm.

Much research looks at why customers switch service organizations but there has been less focus on why customers do not switch service organizations, even though they have seriously considered doing so. In light of this, we present an analysis of the literature and develop a list of potential switching barriers. These switching barriers are then empirically tested within two financial services industries. Results from over 400 consumers enable us to ascertain not only the importance of each switching barrier but also to develop a more parsimonious understanding of these barriers, through factor analysis. The results reveal similar patterns in the two industries in respect to switching barriers. The first of the four factors contains reasons related to apathy, the second factor contains negative reasons for customers staying with their current service provider, the third factor relates to relationship variables and the final factor relates to service recovery. Results clearly indicate that the first two factors are far more important than the latter two in terms of why customers stay even when they seriously considered leaving.

This paper is concerned with the challenge posed by the management of customer relationships in services. The focus is on banks, although similar service businesses (with long‐term customers) may be expected to encounter like challenges. The relationship approach for businesses is discussed and is judged to be quite fundamental with wide‐ranging implications. The paper considers the appropriateness of the relationship approach for retail banking given the prerequisite conditions suggested by the literature. The personal banker strategy is considered as a means to implementing the relationship approach in retail banking. Empirical findings from a study examining the role of personal bankers in New Zealand are presented. It is concluded that a relationship strategy can be a double‐edged sword: implemented well it can have the desired effects; implemented badly it can have a negative impact that will leave the organization with more problems than if they had done nothing at all.

Retailing is traditionally defined in terms of the retailers’ place in the distribution of tangible products. However, the retail function may be more widely defined where the retailer concerned is involved not only in the provision of product distribution services but also in the management and provision of financial services. Retailers are rediscovering the impact financial services may have on organisational success. That is, they are increasingly recognising the direct contribution that financial services may make to profit margins and the indirect benefits which may accrue through increased customer loyalty. This article considers the framework within which innovation in the provision of payment systems and other financial services is occurring in the retail sector.

Much attention has been paid recently to the concept of service failure. In light of this, the paper develops a model of the potential outcomes from service failure. Results are utilised from interviews with business banking customers who have recently encountered a service failure. The results show that service recovery is only one of the reasons a customer may stay or exit a service organisation after a service failure. Other factors, such as barriers to exit and loyalty, are just as prevalent in the decision‐making process. A model ofservice failure, which was generated through the results of the research, is presented in the discussion section of the paper.

Relationship marketing stresses that relationships, and not just transactions, should be the focus of marketing strategy. Part of the rationale for this lies in retention economics which are thought to be particularly powerful. Recent literature suggests that reduction of the defection rate can increase profits far more than growth in market share, better margins and other factors usually associated with competitive advantage. This paper reports the findings of a detailed analysis into the defection rate of university student accounts from financial service organizations throughout Ireland. University students’ accounts are a particularly illustrative case study since, a priori, their lifetime value, in terms of future revenue streams, have the potential of being greater than that of many other customer types. This paper then discusses defection issues and then presents evidence from the survey. Finally, the policy and strategic implications are examined.

The intensity of competition has increased within the retail banking industries in virtually all developed economies. Creating a sustainable competitive advantage, therefore, has become of paramount importance. One way through which retail banks have sought to create this sustainable competitive advantage has been the utilisation of information technology to support the marketing function. In light of this, this paper hypothesizes that marketing information system technology can leverage this sustainable competitive advantage ahead of other marketing technologies which bank management have implemented or are thinking of implementing. An analysis of the current use of marketing information system technology, however, reveals low levels of sophistication throughout the UK and Irish retail banking industries. Given this fact, the factors involved in successfully implementing marketing information system technology are presented. Empirical evidence was drawn from 48 postal questionnaires conducted in the UK and Ireland and ten case studies undertaken in the UK, USA and Australasia. Results show that marketing sophistication, organisational size, and previous implementation experience were all critical factors in a successful implementation process.