The Impact of Market Environments on Marketing Relationships

This paper addresses two issues empirically that have been somewhat neglected in the marketing literature. The first one is whether or not basic marketing relationships at the establishment level are robust or stable to the realization of major events that change the market environment. The second one is whether after these events take place the marketing relationships for new establishments are the same or different from those of existing establishments. What allows us to address these issues is a combination of factors affecting the operation of gas stations in Pamplona, Spain. We conducted a survey of gas stations in 1998 when prices of gasoline products were fixed by the government and a similar survey in 2007 when gas retail prices were set by market participant. This major change in market environment was the result of a price liberalization law. A comparison of the same establishments in the two surveys allows us to address the first issue identified above. A comparison of new establishments and existing ones in the most recent survey allows us to address the second issue identified above. Briefly put, customer satisfaction and its determinants prove to have a robust, stable relationship with respect to the changed market environment during this nine year period. On the other hand, some aspects of the relation between future patronage intentions and its determinants are substantially altered by the changed market environment. The aspects that remain the same in both comparisons are, thus, geographically as well as inter-temporally stable. Those that change often can be associated with specific changes in the nature of the market for gas stations in Pamplona during this nine year period.