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“Making Connections”: Insights into Relationship Marketing from the Australasian Stock and Station Agent Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Simon Ville
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Abstract

Relationship marketing has received little attention from business historians who have favored the study of branding, associational advertising, market research, and the role of marketing agencies, particularly in relation to modern consumer manufacturing. Although the term relationship marketing is of recent origin, we analyze its practice under a different guise, “connections,” over several centuries: we draw on the extensive archival evidence of a rural business services industry in Australia and New Zealand. Relationship marketing's emphasis upon close and enduring individual customer relationships mitigated uncertainty of performance and behaviour, on both sides of the transaction, created by a long and geographically extended supply chain. The success of these relationships contributed to the primary industry-led economic development of both nations.

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Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 423 - 448
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2009. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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References

Bibliography of work cited

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Blaszczyk, Regina L. Imagining Consumers: Design and Innovation from Wedgwood to Corning. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Butlin, Noel G. Investment in Australian Economic Development, 1861–1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Hawke, Gary R. The Making of New Zealand. An Economic History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.Google Scholar
Jackson, BarbaraB. Winning and Keeping Industrial Customers: The Dynamics of Customer Relationships. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1985.Google Scholar
Koehn, Nancy F. Brand New. How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers’ Trust from Wedgwood to Dell. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School, 2001.Google Scholar
Maddison, Angus. The World Economy. Historical Statistics. Paris: OECD, 2003.Google Scholar
Pinkstone, Brian. Global Connections: A History of Exports and the Australian Economy. Canberra: AGPS Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Rice, Geoffrey W., ed. The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Roberts, Stephen H. History of Australian Land Settlement, 1788–1920. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1924.Google Scholar
Sheth, Jagdish N., and Parvatiyar, Atul P.., eds. Handbook of Relationship Marketing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000.Google Scholar
Tedlow, Richard S. New and Improved: The Story of Mass Marketing in America. New York: Harvard Business School Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Tedlow, Richard S., and Geoffrey, Jones. The Rise and Fall of Mass Marketing. London: Routledge, 1993.Google Scholar
Tsokhas, Kosmas A. Markets, Money and Empire. The Political Economy ofthe Australian Wool Industry. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Vavra, Terry G. Aftermarketing: How to Keep Customers for Life through Relationship Marketing. Homewood, IL: McGraw-Hill, 1992.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon P. The Rural Entrepreneurs. A History of the Stock and Station Agent Industry in Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Webster, Robert H. “A Century of Service: A Memorial to the Stock and Station Agents of NSW, Spanning 100 Years of Dedicated Agency Service to the Rural Community of This State.” North Richmond, NSW, Australia: Stock and Station Agents Association of NSW, 1991.Google Scholar
Anderson, Erin, and Barton, Weitz. “The Use of Pledges to Build and Sustain Commitment in Distribution Channels.” Journal of Marketing Research 29, no. 1 (1992): 18–34.Google Scholar
Berry, Leonard T. “Relationship Marketing.” In Emerging Perspectives on Service Marketing, edited by Berry, Leonard T., Shostack, G.Lynn, and Upah, Gregory D. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1983.Google Scholar
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Crosby, Lawrence A., Evans, Kenneth R., and Cowles, Deborah. “Relationship Quality in Services Selling: An Interpersonal Influence Perspective.” Journal of Marketing 54, no. 3 (1990): 68–81.Google Scholar
Doney, Patricia M. and Cannon, Joseph P.. “An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer-Seller Relationships.” Journal of Marketing 61, no. 2 (1997): 35–51.Google Scholar
Dwyer, Robert F., Schurr, Paul H., and Oh, Sejo. “Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships.” Journal of Marketing 51, no. 2 (1987): 11–27.Google Scholar
Evans, Joel R., and Laskin, Richard L.. “The Relationship Marketing Process: A Conceptualization and Application.” Industrial Marketing Management 23, no. 5 (1994): 439–52.Google Scholar
Fisher, John, and Stanton, John. “Marketing Veterinary Products in Nineteenth-Century Australia: The Case of John Pottie & Sons.” Online issue, Journal of Advertising History (2002): 163–73.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Robert. “Ownership, Organisation and Management: British Business and the Branded Goods Industries.” In Management and Business in Britain and France: The Age ofthe Corporate Economy, edited by Cassis, Youssef, Crouzet, Francois, and Gourvish, Terence R.. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Robert. “Products, Firms and Consumption: Cadbury and the Development of Marketing, 1900–1939.” Business History 47, no. 4 (2005): 511–31.Google Scholar
Gould, John D. “The Twilight of the Estates, 1891–1910.” Australian Economic History Review 10 (1970): 1–26.Google Scholar
Gronroos, Christian. “Relationship Approach to Marketing in Service Contexts: The Marketing and Organizational Behavior Interface.” Journal of Business Research 20, no. 1 (1990): 3–11.Google Scholar
Gronroos, Christian. “Quo Vadis Marketing? Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm.” Journal of Marketing Management 10 (1994): 347–60.Google Scholar
Heide, Jan B. “Interorganizational Governance in Marketing Channels.” Journal of Marketing 58, no. 1 (1994): 71–85.Google Scholar
Keep, William W., Hollander, Stanley C., and Dickinson, Roger. “Forces Impinging on Long-Term Business-to-Business Relationships in the United States: An Historical Perspective.” Journal of Marketing 62, no. 2 (1998): 31–45.Google Scholar
Lagrosen, Stefan and Svensson, Goran. “A Seminal Framework of Marketing Schools: Revisited and Updated.” Journal of Management History 12, no. 4 (2006): 369–84.Google Scholar
Laird, Pamela W. “Alfred D. Chandler and the Landscape of Marketing History.” Journal of Macromarketing 20, no. 2 (2000): 167–73.Google Scholar
Larson, Brian. “The Importance of Relationship Selling at the Beginning of the Century… the Last Century That Is.” Proceedings of the American Marketing Association’s Summer Educators’ Conference 11 (2000): 263–69.Google Scholar
Morgan, Robert M., and Hunt, Shelby D.. “The Commitments-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing.” Journal of Marketing 58, no. 3 (1994): 20–38.Google Scholar
Parvatiyar, Atul P., and Sheth, Jagdish N.. “The Domain and Conceptual Foundations of Relationship Marketing.” In Handbook ofRelationship Marketing, edited by Sheth, Jagdish N., and Parvatiyar, Atul P.. Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage, 2000.Google Scholar
Parvatiyar, Atul P., and Sheth, Jagdish N.. “The Evolution of Relationship Marketing.” In Handbook ofRelationship Marketing, edited by Sheth, Jagdish N., and Parvatiyar, Atul P.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon. “The Relocation of the International Market for Australian Wool.” Australian Economic History Review 45, no. 1 (2005): 73–95.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon. “Social Capital Formation in Australian Rural Communities: The Role of the Stock and Station Agent.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 36, no. 2 (2005): 185–208.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon., and Merrett, David T.. “The Development of Large Scale Enterprise in Australia, 1910–64.” Business History 42, no. 3 (2000): 13–37.Google Scholar
Webster, Frederick E. Jr., “The Changing Role of Marketing in the Corporation.” Journal of Marketing 56, no. 4 (1992): 1–17.Google Scholar
Wilson, David T. “An Integrated Model of Buyer-Seller Relationships.” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 23, no. 4 (1995): 335–45.Google Scholar
Christensen, Alan L. “Structural and Functional Evolution in the New Zealand Stock and Station Agent Industry.” MA thesis, University of Auckland,1986.Google Scholar
Australian Mercantile Loan & Finance Company. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra.Google Scholar
Dalgety, . Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra; Turnbull Library, Wellington.Google Scholar
Elders. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra.Google Scholar
Goldsbrough, Mort. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra.Google Scholar
Hepburn, Leonard. University of Melbourne Archives.Google Scholar
Murray, Roberts. Wrightson company Archives, Auckland.Google Scholar
National Mortgage and Agency Company. Hocken Archives, Dunedin.Google Scholar
New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agency. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra; Turnbull Library, Wellington.Google Scholar
Wright, Stephenson. Wrightson company Archives, Auckland.Google Scholar
Bailey, John D. A Hundred Years of Pastoral Banking: A History of the Australian Mercantile, Land and Finance Company, 1863–1963. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Blaszczyk, Regina L. Imagining Consumers: Design and Innovation from Wedgwood to Corning. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Butlin, Noel G. Investment in Australian Economic Development, 1861–1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Hawke, Gary R. The Making of New Zealand. An Economic History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.Google Scholar
Jackson, BarbaraB. Winning and Keeping Industrial Customers: The Dynamics of Customer Relationships. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1985.Google Scholar
Koehn, Nancy F. Brand New. How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers’ Trust from Wedgwood to Dell. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School, 2001.Google Scholar
Maddison, Angus. The World Economy. Historical Statistics. Paris: OECD, 2003.Google Scholar
Pinkstone, Brian. Global Connections: A History of Exports and the Australian Economy. Canberra: AGPS Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Rice, Geoffrey W., ed. The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Roberts, Stephen H. History of Australian Land Settlement, 1788–1920. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1924.Google Scholar
Sheth, Jagdish N., and Parvatiyar, Atul P.., eds. Handbook of Relationship Marketing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000.Google Scholar
Tedlow, Richard S. New and Improved: The Story of Mass Marketing in America. New York: Harvard Business School Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Tedlow, Richard S., and Geoffrey, Jones. The Rise and Fall of Mass Marketing. London: Routledge, 1993.Google Scholar
Tsokhas, Kosmas A. Markets, Money and Empire. The Political Economy ofthe Australian Wool Industry. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Vavra, Terry G. Aftermarketing: How to Keep Customers for Life through Relationship Marketing. Homewood, IL: McGraw-Hill, 1992.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon P. The Rural Entrepreneurs. A History of the Stock and Station Agent Industry in Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Webster, Robert H. “A Century of Service: A Memorial to the Stock and Station Agents of NSW, Spanning 100 Years of Dedicated Agency Service to the Rural Community of This State.” North Richmond, NSW, Australia: Stock and Station Agents Association of NSW, 1991.Google Scholar
Anderson, Erin, and Barton, Weitz. “The Use of Pledges to Build and Sustain Commitment in Distribution Channels.” Journal of Marketing Research 29, no. 1 (1992): 18–34.Google Scholar
Berry, Leonard T. “Relationship Marketing.” In Emerging Perspectives on Service Marketing, edited by Berry, Leonard T., Shostack, G.Lynn, and Upah, Gregory D. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1983.Google Scholar
Berry, Leonard T. “Relationship Marketing of Services.” In Handbook of Relationship Marketing, edited by Jagdish, N. Sheth and Parvatiyar, Atul P.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000.Google Scholar
Borys, Bryan and Jemison, David B.. “Hybrid Arrangements as Strategic Alliances: Theoretical Issues in Organizational Combinations.” Academy of Management Review 14 (1989): 234–49.Google Scholar
Bowen, David E., and Jones, Gareth R.. “Transaction Cost Analysis of Service Organization-Customer Exchange.” Academy ofManagement Review 11, no. 2 (1986): 428–41.Google Scholar
Church, Roy. “New Perspectives on the History ofProducts, Firms, Marketing, and Consumers in Britain and the United States since the Mid-Nineteenth Century.” Economic HistoryReview 52, no. 3 (1999): 405–35.Google Scholar
Church, Roy, and Andrew, Godley. “The Emergence of Modern Marketing: International Dimensions.” Special issue, Business History 45, no. 1 (2003): 1–5.Google Scholar
Crosby, Lawrence A., Evans, Kenneth R., and Cowles, Deborah. “Relationship Quality in Services Selling: An Interpersonal Influence Perspective.” Journal of Marketing 54, no. 3 (1990): 68–81.Google Scholar
Doney, Patricia M. and Cannon, Joseph P.. “An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer-Seller Relationships.” Journal of Marketing 61, no. 2 (1997): 35–51.Google Scholar
Dwyer, Robert F., Schurr, Paul H., and Oh, Sejo. “Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships.” Journal of Marketing 51, no. 2 (1987): 11–27.Google Scholar
Evans, Joel R., and Laskin, Richard L.. “The Relationship Marketing Process: A Conceptualization and Application.” Industrial Marketing Management 23, no. 5 (1994): 439–52.Google Scholar
Fisher, John, and Stanton, John. “Marketing Veterinary Products in Nineteenth-Century Australia: The Case of John Pottie & Sons.” Online issue, Journal of Advertising History (2002): 163–73.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Robert. “Ownership, Organisation and Management: British Business and the Branded Goods Industries.” In Management and Business in Britain and France: The Age ofthe Corporate Economy, edited by Cassis, Youssef, Crouzet, Francois, and Gourvish, Terence R.. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Robert. “Products, Firms and Consumption: Cadbury and the Development of Marketing, 1900–1939.” Business History 47, no. 4 (2005): 511–31.Google Scholar
Gould, John D. “The Twilight of the Estates, 1891–1910.” Australian Economic History Review 10 (1970): 1–26.Google Scholar
Gronroos, Christian. “Relationship Approach to Marketing in Service Contexts: The Marketing and Organizational Behavior Interface.” Journal of Business Research 20, no. 1 (1990): 3–11.Google Scholar
Gronroos, Christian. “Quo Vadis Marketing? Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm.” Journal of Marketing Management 10 (1994): 347–60.Google Scholar
Heide, Jan B. “Interorganizational Governance in Marketing Channels.” Journal of Marketing 58, no. 1 (1994): 71–85.Google Scholar
Keep, William W., Hollander, Stanley C., and Dickinson, Roger. “Forces Impinging on Long-Term Business-to-Business Relationships in the United States: An Historical Perspective.” Journal of Marketing 62, no. 2 (1998): 31–45.Google Scholar
Lagrosen, Stefan and Svensson, Goran. “A Seminal Framework of Marketing Schools: Revisited and Updated.” Journal of Management History 12, no. 4 (2006): 369–84.Google Scholar
Laird, Pamela W. “Alfred D. Chandler and the Landscape of Marketing History.” Journal of Macromarketing 20, no. 2 (2000): 167–73.Google Scholar
Larson, Brian. “The Importance of Relationship Selling at the Beginning of the Century… the Last Century That Is.” Proceedings of the American Marketing Association’s Summer Educators’ Conference 11 (2000): 263–69.Google Scholar
Morgan, Robert M., and Hunt, Shelby D.. “The Commitments-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing.” Journal of Marketing 58, no. 3 (1994): 20–38.Google Scholar
Parvatiyar, Atul P., and Sheth, Jagdish N.. “The Domain and Conceptual Foundations of Relationship Marketing.” In Handbook ofRelationship Marketing, edited by Sheth, Jagdish N., and Parvatiyar, Atul P.. Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage, 2000.Google Scholar
Parvatiyar, Atul P., and Sheth, Jagdish N.. “The Evolution of Relationship Marketing.” In Handbook ofRelationship Marketing, edited by Sheth, Jagdish N., and Parvatiyar, Atul P.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon. “The Relocation of the International Market for Australian Wool.” Australian Economic History Review 45, no. 1 (2005): 73–95.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon. “Social Capital Formation in Australian Rural Communities: The Role of the Stock and Station Agent.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 36, no. 2 (2005): 185–208.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon., and Merrett, David T.. “The Development of Large Scale Enterprise in Australia, 1910–64.” Business History 42, no. 3 (2000): 13–37.Google Scholar
Webster, Frederick E. Jr., “The Changing Role of Marketing in the Corporation.” Journal of Marketing 56, no. 4 (1992): 1–17.Google Scholar
Wilson, David T. “An Integrated Model of Buyer-Seller Relationships.” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 23, no. 4 (1995): 335–45.Google Scholar
Christensen, Alan L. “Structural and Functional Evolution in the New Zealand Stock and Station Agent Industry.” MA thesis, University of Auckland,1986.Google Scholar
Australian Mercantile Loan & Finance Company. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra.Google Scholar
Dalgety, . Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra; Turnbull Library, Wellington.Google Scholar
Elders. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra.Google Scholar
Goldsbrough, Mort. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra.Google Scholar
Hepburn, Leonard. University of Melbourne Archives.Google Scholar
Murray, Roberts. Wrightson company Archives, Auckland.Google Scholar
National Mortgage and Agency Company. Hocken Archives, Dunedin.Google Scholar
New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agency. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, Canberra; Turnbull Library, Wellington.Google Scholar
Wright, Stephenson. Wrightson company Archives, Auckland.Google Scholar