Internal marketing

Internal marketing has the potential to deliver high service quality and customer satisfaction. Certain elements of internal marketing, for instance, empowerment and management support, are the domain of service and operations management. This chapter charts the important stages of internal marketing’s theoretical development over the previous thirty years. It looks at the extent to which the marketing function potentially influences, and should be concerned with, the traditional theoretical form of internal marketing. In theory, the influence that the marketing function has on internal marketing is limited, as internal marketing concerns using ‘marketing-like’ thinking and activity to address the internal market of employees. The marketing function operates at its margins through the development of internal marketing. A strong corporate brand has significant potential influence on the successful implementation of internal marketing, it enhances communications management and it supports the management of service employees’ attitudes.