Abstract:
In their development process, the organizations from the agriculture
field may choose either a vertical integration or a horizontal one. Regardless
of the strategy chosen, the long time competitiveness is strongly influenced by
the organization’s capacity to initiate, maintain and develop lasting
relationships with numerous categories of stakeholders (clients, suppliers,
employees, shareholders etc.). This paper first presents the main
characteristics of the relational approach in marketing theory and practice.
Several authors consider that in the marketing’s evolution, the transactional
approach represented merely a stage generated by the development of mass
production and that nowadays there’s a tendency to return to the
preindustrial relational practices. The particularities of the relationships that
can be established in the agro-alimentary field are than analyzed, with
reference to the to the six markets model developed by Christopher, Payne
and Ballantyne. Christopher et al. consider that the organizations engage in
relationships with their stakeholders on six markets: customer, referral,
influence, recruitment, supplier/alliance and internal markets. We also
underline the differences that might appear in the relational approach
depending on the chosen development strategy (vertical or horizontal). Some
examples from the Romanian market are offered. In the agro-alimentary
field, the marketing relationships system presents several particularities
related to the characteristics of the offer, the distribution channels, the
supplier chain length, the government’s degree of involvement, the financing
possibilities and so on. The development of a modern agriculture involves an
amplification of these relationships and an appropriate relationship
management is essential to the efficiency and effectiveness of the
organizations’ actions.
