THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL AND RELATIONSHIP MARKETING ON SALES PERFORMANCE: A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON YACHTING BUSINESS
Abstract
In this study, it is aimed to investigate the ability of yacht brokers operating in yacht business concerning the levels of social capital formation and the effectiveness of relationship marketing practices and the interaction effects of these two concepts on sales performance in general. For this purpose, from resource based view, the effects of social capital and relational marketing methods on the sales performance of yacht enterprises, which will provide competitive advantage to businesses, reduce their costs, increase profit rates, develop new customers or develop long lasting and stronger relationships with existing customers, has been investigated in this exploratory research. In this article, firstly the concepts of social capital and relational marketing and its components have been explained through literature review. Semi-structured interviews were conducted via 14-person yacht brokers by using the developed data collection tool. Findings from the data analyzed by the Nvivo7 program show that yacht brokers provide positive benefits from strong and active social networks, due to the knowledge and trust they have gained as a marketing specialist. Furthermore, it can be said that maintaining confidence in the framework of trust and establishing long-term strong relationships positively affect the performance of yacht brokers.
Keywords
Resource Based View (RBV),Social Capital,Relationship Marketing,Sales Performance,Yacht Brokerage
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