Understanding the Relational Ecosystem in a Connected World

• Published in: The Connected Customer pp. 55 - 94
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2010
• Subjects: Relational Entities; Boundary Spanners; Pe Rc; Le Ve; Social InGroup; Ke Tp; Sa Ge; Relational Ecosystem; Firm's Brand; Cu Sto; Ho Ad; Van Den Bulte; Ho Ld; Ne Ri; Relational Channel; Dy Ad; Marketplace Network; Social In-group; Hu Rr
• ISBN: 9781848728370; 1848728379
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203863565-11

Customer decisions are often influenced by multiple sources including brands, salespeople, friends and co-workers, and internet sites. These sources of influence not only affect the customer but can also influence each other and evolve over time. For example, a firm's brand may indirectly influence a customer through the brand's impact on the customer's social in-group without the customer ever seeing any of the firm's advertising. Viewing the customer, the many sources of influence, and all the interconnections between the different sources together is a challenging task since it creates a complex picture with the customer embedded in an inter-tangled web of connections. In this customer-centric web, marketing actions ripple across direct and indirect connections affecting customer's decisions and behaviors. We term this web of customer centric interconnections as the customer's relational ecosystem. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2001) defined an ecosystem as "the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit." Thus, we chose the term ecosystem to emphasize the interconnected nature of the relational entities that constitute the environment, which influences the customer as a decision-making unit.