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This paper describes the variables researchers have found to be significantly associated with relationship marketing, those related to Guanxi, and the similarities and differences between them.

The researchers reviewed 77 articles on the subjects of Guanxi and relationship marketing and identified seven constructs from the literature that apply to both Guanxi and Relationship Marketing.

These six constructs were investigated (bonding, customer loyalty, empathy, reciprocity, and satisfaction, and trust). Four constructs were associated with Guanxi (bonding, empathy, reciprocity, and trust) and while two (satisfaction, and customer loyalty) and a category termed other were commonly used with relationship marketing.

Guanxi concentrates on building the bond or relationship before the transaction in such a way that the company and customer become one cooperative unit. Relationship marketing deals with the transaction first and builds the relationship later. Relationship marketers could benefit from incorporating the principles of Guanxi in their strategies and tactics.

Many western managers are not familiar with Guanxi. Managers, who have an understanding of the Guanxi, can become more effective at relationship marketing.

This study aims to examine the Arab practice of wasta (personal networks) and its potential interface with relationship marketing to enable firms to optimize their recruitment and retention of customers in societies where personal ties drive business relationships. It explores whether relationship marketing influences customer retention when a personal contact leaves.

Empirical data were gathered from 305 customers introduced to Egyptian small and medium-sized enterprises via wasta. Multiple-item scales were adopted, drawn from previous empirical studies. Quantitative analysis was used, including confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships posited.

Wasta plays a significant role in attracting customers, nurturing early relationships and enhancing relationship quality, but does not influence the retention of customers. Practicing relationship marketing post wasta can enhance customer loyalty, even if the business was developed through the wasta contact who left to join a rival firm.

Potential limitations arise from cultural differences in other Middle Eastern countries. Future studies could also validate the results in different sectors/industries and explore managers and employees’ perspectives.

Several recommendations emerge for managerial practitioners, including the use of wasta to attract business, but more significantly, the need for the effective use of relationship marketing to retain business. The study suggests that if relationship marketing is practiced well, customers are likely to remain loyal to the firm, even if the business was developed through a personal wasta relationship with an employee who subsequently moved to a competitor firm.

This study is the first to develop a unified model connecting the Eastern notion of wasta (personal ties) with relationship marketing. The study enhances the knowledge of wasta and relationship marketing. It is among the first to suggest that should employees with personal connections to customers leave to join a competing firm, there is still a strong likelihood that if relationship marketing is effectively practiced, then customers will remain loyal to the firm (rather than to the former employee).

IN last month's Library World attention is drawn to the subject of literary history and its teaching by Mr. Sayers, who points out some weak points in the syllabus and examination scheme of the Library Association. His remarks recall the fact that this subject has always been a difficult and rather inflammable one to tackle, because wrapped up in it is that other exciting question of Language, which must be taken in connection with Literature when considered as a teaching subject. We understand that the Literary History syllabus of the L.A. is merely a compromise, which arose out of a tangle caused by the language difficulty. The draft scheme for the teaching of Literary History which was first submitted, provided for a very strict limitation of the subject to the great authors of all nations, according to a list which had been prepared. This scheme proposed to get over the language difficulty by allowing for all purposes the use of text‐books and translations in English, because it was felt to be utterly ridiculous to expect students to be equipped with first‐hand knowledge of Homer, Dante, Hafiz, Confucius, the Vedas, Moliére, Cervantes, Schiller, Virgil, Tolstoy, and other great authors. This proposal, which would have limited the requirements of the examination to a biographical and critical knowledge of about 300 or 400 of the greatest authors of all times, was rejected, and in its place was adopted the compromise to which Mr. Sayers and many others object. This compromise on the face of it, limits the examination to English Literature only, but, when more closely scanned, it will be found also to demand a most extraordinary knowledge of all kinds of foreign authors, in a form which has not yet been systematically recorded. Apart from this, the dimensions of an unlimited survey of English Literature are enormous, because there is no attempt at definition. All that can be gathered from the actual Examination Papers is that the examiners have largely confined themselves to the purely critical side of the subject. But students are not told that modern technical and scientific literature is excluded, nor is any indication given which will show that it is the “literature of power,” and not of “knowledge,” in which candidates are expected to be proficient. Now, it is perfectly well known to every reader that not 1 per cent. of the books published is literature at all. The output of printed matter all over the world consists mostly of Lamb's “books which are not books”—text‐books, ephemera, rubbish in general, and other nondescript essays in typographical art—which have no real place in a Literary History Syllabus. It was to get over this anomaly, and equip students with the knowledge mostly required in libraries—an acquaintance with “books which are not books”—that the original draft scheme for the Literary History syllabus imposed a limitation which should prove effective in confining the examination to pure literature, and relegating the literature of knowledge to the sections devoted to Bibliography and Book Selection. In the present Syllabus, as revised, this distribution actually takes place, but with an extraordinary degree of overlapping which makes it necessary for a candidate to pass thrice in Literary History! He must first pass in Section I. Literary History, which demands among many other things a “knowledge of the editions and forms in which the works of the authors have been published.” Good. No limitation here, and any examiner would, accordingly, be perfectly fair and within his rights in asking for bibliographical details of Cocker's Arithmetic or Buchan's Domestic Medicine. Again, in Section II., Elements of Practical Bibliography, we have a demand for knowledge of book selection, the best books and periodicals, and courses of reading. Here, once more, no limitation, and again an examiner could ask when the first edition in English of the “Arabian Nights” was published,or what is the best edition of Cædmon or the Koran. Finally, in Section V., Library History and Organization, the same requirements are set forth, without any limitation, and candidates are evidently expected to possess a full knowledge of all literature before they can obtain a certificate. All this is very confusing and absurd, and gives point to every complaint which has been uttered against this part of the scheme of examinations. After all, a dilletante, gossipy, pseudo‐critical acquaintance with literary history is of very‐little practical value, compared with exact bibliographical knowledge concerning great authors and their works. For this reason we think the Association should carefully revise its Syllabus, and adopt a better‐proportioned and more equitable distribution of the subject. Section I. certainly requires strict limitation within reasonable bounds, and it ought to be confined to a working knowledge of the chief authors of the world according to a carefully prepared list of names. This should demand knowledge of biographical and critical facts, plus enough of bibliographical detail regarding titles to satisfy an examiner. Failing this, a list of authors, periods, or subjects selected for study and examination should be issued every year before the examination; but a fixed limitation to begin with would, we think, be better.

This study aims to investigate the impact of the loyalty program members’ satisfaction toward the hotel loyalty program benefits and the customer management relationship initiatives of individual hotels on the brand relationship quality (BRQ), i.e. their relationship quality with the hotel brand, and its outcomes. The moderating impact of membership level on the hypothesized relationships was also investigated.

A usable sample of 920 active members of a hotel loyalty program was obtained. Structural equation modeling with partial least squares method was used to estimate the structural relationships and to investigate the moderating effect of membership level.

Employee’s customer orientation, membership communication and hotel stay-related benefits are determinants of the loyalty program members’ BRQ. BRQ is also confirmed as a higher-order construct of three latent variables which include trust, satisfaction and commitment. Moderating effects of the membership were partially supported in this study. The strongest effect of BRQ is on members’ word of mouth followed by shares of purchase. BRQ is found to have negative relationship with members’ willingness to serve as marketing resource, but the impact was small.

This is a cross-sectional study with a population of active loyalty program members of only one luxury hotel group. The sample size of the top-tier members is also smaller in comparison to the other two groups.

This study contributes to the understanding of the antecedents and consequences of BRQ and the body of knowledge about loyalty program for hotel industry.

This is one of the few studies investigating the effectiveness of hotel loyalty programs from the active members’ perspective and the moderating effect of membership level on the relationships among BRQ, its antecedents and its outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to answer two research questions: does relationship marketing orientation (RMO) have an impact on customer satisfaction; and do the individual components of RMO have the same impact on customer satisfaction?

The above questions were answered in the context of an emerging economy using 174 responses obtained from executives of business‐to‐business firms in Vietnam.

The findings show that among key components of RMO, trust, bonding, shared value, and reciprocity have positive influence on customer satisfaction, while communication and empathy have not. Interestingly, trust and bonding are better than shared value and reciprocity in satisfying customers.

The use of cross‐sectional data does not allow the interpretation of the time sequence of the relationships among RMO components and customer satisfaction.

Managers in developing economies do not jeopardise relationship marketing orientation by mistakenly focusing on relatively less important individual components. In particular, managers may not pay much attention to communication and empathy but importantly, they should place more emphasis on trust and bonding compared to shared value and reciprocity.

This paper provides insights on the relative importance of RMO components in contributing to customer satisfaction in the context of Vietnam, a developing economy. These insights will help Vietnamese companies enhance their effectiveness in satisfying customers, growing with them, and reducing risks in doing business when entering a global market.

It is not proposed here to treat the sheaf catalogue from a controversial point of view, and to enter into a detailed examination of the respective advantages and disadvantages of this as compared with other forms of catalogues. Many are alive to the merits of the sheaf catalogue, either as the only means of displaying and indexing the contents of a library, or as an addition to some already existing means, and it is for the use of these that the following practical notes on the making of a sheaf catalogue are submitted.

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.

This study aims to develop a framework based on drew social capital theory and the literature on guanxi to examine and compare a buyer’s willingness to commit to a supplier in the context of informal social-capital networks in the two largest emerging markets of China and India. The two main objectives of the study included an examination of the influence of communication behavior and conflict resolution on the development of social-capital networks and a comparison of the influence of distinct dimensions of social-capital networks on a buyer’s commitment to a supplier.

Data was collected in China and India from random samples of buyers. The model was tested using structural equation modeling.

Findings revealed that communication and conflict resolution contribute significantly to build trust, increase social benefits and promote mutual collaboration between buyers and suppliers in both China and India. However, social benefits were found to have a greater influence on commitment in India, whereas collaboration was found to have a greater influence on commitment in China.

The study demonstrates the importance of social capital theory to explain the informal social capital network and commitment development. Results provide practitioners with specific strategies to build social capital in China and India and improve committed relationships with buyers.

This study advances theory development within the context of emerging markets. It is unique as it includes the two most populous and fast-growing emerging markets in one study.

This paper aims to integrate the concepts of the internationalization process and relationship marketing (RM). It identifies two stages for internationalization (pre-internationalization and post-internationalization) and assigns RM components for each step.

The study undertakes a review and synthesis of the extant literature examining internationalization and RM. It then identifies two stages of the internationalization process and its steps, associated with RM components.

The study highlights that each step in the internationalization process requires appropriate RM component to be implemented successfully.

Findings of this study highlight the importance of managing internationalization for firms intending to enter to foreign market and identify the issues that need to be understood, if firms are to effectively manage their internationalization strategy.

The paper is the first to integrate the concepts of internationalization and RM and to identify the factors that make managing these two types of firm's strategy.

NOW removed to Chaucer House, Malet Place, London, W.O., the Library Association is in its permanent home adjoining University College and the new National Central Library. Some strenuous work has yet to be done by the secretary and his staff before the ceremonial opening, but when Chaucer House is completed it should not only facilitate and permit the growth of the work of the Library Association; it should also form a meeting place of great value. We refer not only to meetings of a formal character, although room for these, for council and committee meetings and for examinations will, for the first time in our record, be adequate; we refer rather to the clubbable meetings that have hitherto been rather difficult. For many years librarians have advocated a professional club, where meals might be taken, friends might meet, and some of the social amenities generally be possible. There seems to be an opportunity here; but, clearly, no such club idea can be realized unless there is a definite desire for it, and, what is more, practical use made of it. If the London members dropped in regularly some catering scheme could be arranged which the provincial members could take advantage of too whenever they visited London. Can this be done? Other professions have managed it. It is merely sense to recognise that the provision of refreshments and other necessaries can only be made if there is a regular demand for them which will at least pay their cost.