Relationship marketing teams - Improving the utilization of customer relationship potentials through a high team design quality

Relationship marketing practice shows that usually more than one person in a supplier company is involved in the management of a specific customer relationship Nevertheless, hardly any relationship marketing team exploits the potentials of a customer relationship completely. The question this article deals with is how the design quality of relationship marketing teams can contribute to a better exploitation of these potentials. We draw upon major findings of work team effectiveness research and can show empirically that a favorable team design quality of a customer management team in terms of team composition, group processes, and the organizational context Of the team can significantly enhance the exploitation of the potentials of a customer relationship. Managerial implications are discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc, All rights reserved.