An investigation of client relationship marketing practice in business to business (B2B): The case study of agrochemical industry

Abstract

This research is conducted to examine and compare the relationship marketing practices at different stages of the relationship development process in the “re-packing companies” and the “Agrochemical stores” in the agrochemical industry The study employs a qualitative method in the form of in-depth interviews for gathering data from the target group, consisting of middle and higher level managers from twelve large and well-known agrochemical firms, and the data was analyzed with content analysis Eleven client relationship marketing practices were identified in this research. All practices were applied in the agrochemical store group, while ten practices were applied in the re-packing company group because the re-packing company is also considered a competitor; therefore, some practices or activities are not be provided to this group of clients. Even though both groups receive the same client relationship marketing practices, there is quite a difference in terms of the activities applied for the same practice at the same stage of the relationship development process depending on the client group.