Marknadsorientering i tjänsteföretag : en studie av försäkringsbolag

Sammanfattning: The background to this thesis is found in the growing importance of the marketing concept. The concept has been used frequently in articles in the past few years, in spite of lack of consensus about what it is.To make a contribution to the theoretical field the theories about service marketing and market orientation had to be examined and the relevant factors drawn out to construct a model for describing market orientation in service companies. The theoretical examination resulted in the follo­wing three components that together constitutes the foundation of the marketing concept in service companies: market information, the support system and the customer meeting.The main purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the marke­ting concept in service companies. Within this purpose the study also will identify which driving forces and obstacles affects market orientation. To a certain extent the process towards market orientation also is examined.The first analyses of the two insurance companies showed that the de­gree of activity in working with the factors that constituted the marketing concept varied. In general they had worked with approximately the same factors almost in the same way. In so doing they had worked more with some of the conceptual and behavioral factors than with the others.The cases differed from the theoretical frame of reference, as expected. However, the differences were impossible to explain with the component model. New analyses of the empirical data showed other factors that had influenced the market orientation process in the companies.The new factors could be divided into four groups depending on whether they were considered as internal or external factors and whether they were driving forces or obstacles for the process.One original component that proved to be of great importance in the market orientation process was market information. Neither of the insu­rance companies had worked with that component in a systematic way to find out, for example, the customers needs and wants.The study resulted in a more dynamic model of the market orientation process - the cycle model. It visualize the relation between the compo­nents and it also adds on a time perspective to market orientation, since it is supposed to continue over time.