Serving customers and consumers effectively in the twenty-first century: A conceptual framework and overview

In this article, the authors first propose and discuss a conceptual framework pertaining to the theme of this special issue. This framework portrays “markets” as consisting of “customers” and “consumers,” specifies the distinction as well as linkages between the two, and outlines specific components of individual linkages between pairs of entities within markets. Using this framework as a backdrop, the article then provides an overview of the rest of the special issue by discussing how each of the remaining articles relate to the framework and to one another. A. Parasuraman (D.B.A., Indiana University) is a professor and holder of the James W. McLamore Chair in Marketing at the University of Miami. He teaches and does research in services marketing, service-quality measurement, and the role of technology in marketing to and serving customers. He has received many distinguished teaching and research awards, including, most recently, the “Career Contributions to the Services Discipline Award” given by the American Marketing Association's (AMA) SERVSIG. He has written numerous articles in journals such as theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Retailing, andSloan Management Review. He is the author of a marketing research text and coauthor of two books on service quality and services marketing. In addition to being the editor of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), he serves on the editorial review boards of five other journals. Dhruv Grewal (Ph.D., Virginia Tech) is Interim-Chair and a professor of marketing at the University of Miami. He has published more than 40 articles in journals such as theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Retailing. His research interests focus on retailing, pricing, international marketing, and consumer behavior issues. He currently serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing. He has won awards for both his teaching and research. He has coedited a special issue of theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing and of theJournal of Retailing. He was recently elected to the AMA Academic Council—VP Research and Conferences (1999–2001). He is currently writing a book onMarketing Research (publisher: Houghton Mifflin).