A growing number of organizations are giving increased attention to customer service. Financial institutions, hospitals, public utilities, airlines, retail stores, restaurants, manufacturers, and wholesalers face the problem of gaining and retaining the patronage of customers. Building long-term relationships with customers has been given a high priority by the majority of America's most successful enterprises. These companies realize that customer satisfaction is an important key to success. Customer service can be defined as those activities that enhance or facilitate the purchase and use of the product. Today's emphasis on customer satisfaction can be traced to a managerial philosophy that has been described as the marketing concept.

Evolution of the Marketing Concept

What is the "marketing concept"? When a business firm moves from a product orientation to a customer orientation, we say it has adopted the marketing concept. This concept springs from the belief that the firm should...