Title: Value Chain and Customer Relationship Cycle:Two Concepts of Relationship Marketing
Abstract: The globalization and digitalization of the world's economies have created the premises for the assertion of relationship marketing as theory and practice of modern marketing.A main strategic dimension of the relationship marketing concept is represented by the strategy of gaining customer fidelity, which has as a primary purpose the extension of the client retention towards the company.Setting as a leading goal the client's rational/emotional fidelity, the strategy of gaining customer fidelity implies two positive effects for the company: individualizing the relationship with the client and improving the company's performance.The development of the strategy implying gaining customer fidelity is conditioned by the manner in which a company can operate with three variables: customer satisfaction, customer fidelity and customer loyalty.Modeling in a correct manner these three variables enables the company to segment the relevant market in profitable ways.The paper is based on the theoretical background of value chain -an important concept in the relationship marketing theory.Thus, motivation was only defined as a company external factor which influences the psychological effects within the customers' minds.Perceived satisfaction was used as a psychological variable and loyalty as a behavioral variable.The correlation between these two variables reveals some insights about the mental processes that determine the consumer behavior.