The Brave New Service Strategy: Aligning Customer Relationships, Market Strategies, and Business Structures

The Brave New Service Strategy, delves into the evolution of service delivery and identifies three ways to forge links with customers: the relationship - where the customer personally knows the service provider and expects to interact with the same person again and again; the encounter - where the customer may know the organization but receives the service from whoever is available; and the pseudo-relationship - service delivered in an encounter structure but made to feel like a relationship.

Barbara A. Gutek is McClelland professor in the Department of Management and Policy, Eller College of Business and Public Administration, University of Arizona.