Let’s ask ourselves…
From whom will you buy a product?
A friend or a stranger.
Mostly the answer is friend.
What if your friend is charging more?
Hmm…

I may buy from the stranger. Sure? Hmm… Depends, but I will ask my friend about the price, I think… may be yes, eventually yet I may buy from my friend.

Even if your friend is charging more? In most cases, yes.

We are not suggesting that one should charge more to friends, or premium. But that is the power of relationship.
Organization must maintain healthy relationship with all environmental forces, be it internal or external. The micro environmental forces affect the ability of the organization to serve its customers. Whereas, macro environmental, the larger societal forces affect the microenvironment. A healthy relationship with these forces is of critical importance. Though the primary job of the organization is to attract and foster relationship with customers by creating customer value and satisfaction, the mission cannot be realized alone. The accomplishment depends on the company’s microenvironment – suppliers, intermediaries, customers (internal as well as external), competitors and various public, which are also the constituent of organization’s value delivery system.

Organizations needs to develop and maintain good relationship with all these partners.

Relationship with Suppliers
Suppliers are crucial link up in the organization’s overall customer value delivery system. They deliver the resources required by the organization to produce its goods and services. Organization must watch supply availability, supply shortages or delays, labour strikes, and other incidents can cost sales in short run and hurt customer satisfaction in the long run. Organizations must keep an eye on the price trends of their vital input. Mounting supply costs may force price increases that can harm the organization’s sales volume.
Supplier relationship can be maintained by helping suppliers overcome their problems and grow along with the organization. As discussed in the chapter systems, developing and helping suppliers develop systems builds relationship with the organization and suppliers treat the organization as valued customer. These relationships are also very important when organizations are aiming for JIT production systems and short supplies for any reason beyond control of the organization. Being treated as a valued customer, ensures steady supply of the inputs.

Relationship with Intermediaries
Intermediaries perform more tasks than distributing goods to the final consumer. Intermediaries perform functions like, financing the organization, maintaining inventory, promote, possess and physically distribute the products, risk taking, negotiate, order taking and take the title of the goods. Intermediaries include, resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing service agencies, and financial intermediaries. Today, organizations face large and growing reseller organizations who frequently have enough power to dictate terms or even shut the manufacturer out of the market. All the intermediaries carry out different functions, for instance, physical distribution firms help the organization to stock and move goods from their points of origin to their destination. They also ensure warehousing, transportation, delivery, speed and safety take place in a very cost efficient manner.

Like suppliers, developing the intermediaries with systems and addressing their problems is the finest way of developing relationship with them. Apart from transparent systems, and maintaining the required and recommended trade margins, distributor development grams will help these organizations.

Marketing service agencies are the marketing research firms, advertising agencies, media firms, and marketing consulting firms that help the company target and promote its products to the right market. Identifying their major problems faced by the intermediaries and helping them overcome the same can develop better relationships.

Maintaining appropriate inventory upgraded billing systems to match the regulatory requirements can help organization improve their relationship with the intermediaries.
Financial intermediaries include banks, credit companies, insurance companies, and other businesses that help finance transactions or insurance against the risks associated with the buying and selling of goods. Most organizations and customers depend on financial intermediaries to finance their transactions. Organizations can look at simplifying the documentation work of these partners. By reducing their documentation work, simplifying the buying process, customer as well as the supplier is benefitted.

Relationship with Public
A public is any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization’s ability to achieve its objectives. Kotler and Armstrong (1999) have identified seven types of publics.
1. Financial public influence the company’s ability to obtain funds. Banks, investment houses, and stockholders are the major financial public.
2. Media public carry news, features, and editorial opinion. They include newspapers magazines, and radio and television stations.
3. Government public. Management must take government developments into account. Marketers must often consult the company’s lawyers on issues of product safety, truth in advertising, and other matters.
4. Citizen action public. A company’s marketing decisions may be questioned by consumer organizations, environmental groups, minority groups, and others. Its public relations department can help it stay in touch with consumer and citizen groups.
5. Local public include neighbourhood residents and community organizations. Large companies usually appoint a community relations officer to deal with the community, attend meetings, answer questions and contribute to worthwhile causes.
6. General public include workers, managers, volunteers, and the board of directors. Large companies use newsletters and other means to inform and motivate their internal publics. When employees feel good about their company, this positive attitude spills over to external publics.
An organization should put in order plans for these major publics as well as for its customer markets. When the organization expects a particular reaction from a particular public, such as good will, positive word of mouth, or donations of time or money. The organization would have to draft an offer to this public that is attractive enough to produce the desired response.

Relationship with the customers (external as well as internal)
There are five types of external customer markets.
1. The consumer markets consist of individuals and house-holds that buy goods and services for personal consumption.
2. Business markets buy goods and services for further processing or for use in their production process.
3. Retailer markets buy goods and services to resell at a profit.
4. Government markets are made up of government agencies that buy goods and services to produce public services or transfer the goods and services to others who need them.
5. International markets consist of these buyers in other countries, including consumers, producers, resellers, and governments.
Each market type has special characteristics that call for careful study by the seller.
The internal customers of an organization are the employees. Organization must have good relationship with its internal customers for quality output effectively and efficiently. Internal customers of the organization also interact with the external customer, predominantly with local public and general public. To have good relations with trade associations, employee unions top managers from the organization should regularly meet, understand and try to address to the needs of these customers as well.
As pointed out earlier, a good investment in time and money builds healthy relationship with forces who influence the organizations smooth functioning.
Following strategies, structures, systems and resources help organization improve its relationship with partners and associates.

Reference:

Kotler, Philip and Armstrong Gary; (1999) Principles of Marketing, Eight Edition, Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited New Delhi, 1999
Ibid