Society is a dynamic system of human interaction. This is one of the definitions. The key word in it is system, that is, a complex mechanism that consists of spheres of social life. There are four such areas in science:

• Political.
• Economic.
• Social.
• Spiritual.

All of them are not isolated from each other, but, on the contrary, are interconnected. We will look at examples of interaction in more detail in this article.

Political sphere

Spheres are areas in which the basic needs of society are satisfied.

Political includes bodies of state power and administration, as well as various political institutions. It is directly related to the apparatuses of coercion and suppression, which legitimately use force with the approval of the entire society. satisfies the needs for safety, security, and maintaining law and order.

These include:

• The president.
• Government.
• Local government authorities.
• Strong structure.
• Political parties and associations.
• Local government bodies.

Economic sphere

The economic sphere is designed to satisfy the material needs of society. If only adult citizens take part in political life, then absolutely everyone, including the elderly and children, takes part in political life. All people are consumers from an economic point of view, which means they are direct participants in market relations.

Key concepts in the economic sphere:

• Production.
• Exchange.
• Consumption.

Firms, plants, factories, mines, banks, etc. participate in production.

Interaction between the political and economic spheres

Let us give examples of interaction between spheres of society. The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopts laws that all citizens are required to comply with. Some adopted regulations may affect changes in economic sectors. For example, licensing of certain types of activities leads to an increase in the price of certain products due to additional costs associated with innovation.

Specific examples of interaction between spheres of society can be illustrated in the light of recent events. Against Russian Federation imposed international economic sanctions. In response, the authorities of our country introduced counter-sanctions. As a result, some European food products and medicines are not reaching the Russian market. This led to the following consequences:

• Rising prices of products.
• The absence on the shelves of many products, analogues of which are not produced in Russia.
• Development of some sectors of the economy: livestock farming, horticulture, etc.

But it is a mistake to believe that only power influences business; sometimes the opposite happens. Opposite examples of interaction between spheres of society, when economists dictate conditions to politicians, can be cited in the practice of lobbying for laws. A recent example is the so-called Rotenberg law in Russia, according to which millionaires subject to Western sanctions will be paid compensation from the state budget.

Social sphere

The social sphere satisfies the needs of society in education, medicine, services, leisure and entertainment. It includes everyday communication between citizens and large groups of people.

Political and social spheres

Politics can affect the social life of a country. The following examples of interaction between spheres of society can be given. Local city authorities have banned the opening of any entertainment establishments: clubs, night bars and cafes in one of the criminal areas on the outskirts of the city. As a result, the crime rate has fallen, but residents have to travel longer to get to places of recreation and entertainment.

The following example: in a crisis, a district municipality is experiencing a crisis. In order to reduce costs, it decides to close one of the schools. As a result, there is a reduction in teaching staff, children are transported to another locality every day, and money is saved on the maintenance of facilities, since by law all costs for their maintenance fall on local authorities.

Social and economic spheres

The economic development of a country greatly influences social life. Here are just some examples of interaction between spheres of society. The financial crisis has reduced real income population. Citizens began to spend less on entertainment and leisure, limiting trips to paid parks, sports clubs, stadiums, and cafes. The loss of customers led to the ruin of many companies.

There is also a relationship between politics, economics and social development countries. Let us give examples of interaction between spheres of society. Instability in the Middle East and the weakening of the ruble exchange rate by half, coupled with active development, have led to many canceling traditional trips to Egypt and Turkey and starting to vacation in Russia.

This example can be broken down into its components:

• Political - instability in the Middle East, government measures to increase domestic tourism.
• Economic - the devaluation of the ruble led to a significant increase in prices for trips to Turkey and Egypt while maintaining domestic prices.
• Social - tourism refers specifically to this area.

Spiritual realm

Many people mistakenly assume that the spiritual realm refers to religion. This misconception comes from a history course, where church reforms of certain periods are discussed under the relevant topics. In fact, although religion belongs to the spiritual sphere, it is not its only component.

In addition to this, this includes:

• The science.
• Education.
• Culture.

As for education, the most attentive readers will ask a fair question that we previously classified it as a social area when we examined examples of interaction between spheres of society. But spiritual education refers to education as a process, and not as an interaction between people. For example, going to school, communicating with peers, teachers - all this relates to the social area. Gaining knowledge, socialization (education), self-realization and self-improvement is a process of spiritual life that is designed to satisfy the needs for knowledge and improvement.

Spiritual and political spheres

Sometimes politics is influenced by religion. Let us give examples of interaction between the spheres. Today Iran is a religious state: all domestic politics, laws are adopted exclusively in the interests of Shiite Muslims.

Let's give historical example interactions between spheres of society. After the October Revolution of 1917, many churches were blown up, and religion was recognized as “the opium of the people,” that is, a harmful drug that must be gotten rid of. Many priests were killed, churches were destroyed, and warehouses, shops, mills, etc. were built in their place. This also affected social life: there was a spiritual decline in the population, people stopped honoring traditions, did not register marriages in churches, as a result of which unions began to disintegrate. In fact, this led to the destruction of the institution of family and marriage. The wedding witness was not God, but man, which, we agree, is a huge difference for a believer. This continued until the Great Patriotic War, until Stalin officially restored the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church on legal grounds.

Spiritual and economic spheres

Economic development also affects the spiritual life of the country. What examples of interaction between spheres of society prove this? Psychologists note that during economic crises There is a depressed state of the population. Many people lose their jobs, their savings, their companies go bankrupt - all this leads to psychological problems. But in Russia the practice of private psychologists is not developed, as, for example, in the USA. Therefore, religious sects arise that draw “lost souls” into their networks, from which it is sometimes very difficult to escape.

Another example - South Korea. The lack of minerals and other resources influenced the fact that this country began to develop science and tourism. This has yielded results - today this country is a leader in the field of electronics and is one of the ten most developed countries in the world. Politics, economics and social development collided here at once.

Spiritual and social spheres

The line between spiritual and social life is very thin, but we will try to clarify it through examples of interaction between spheres of social life. Students attending school and entering college are all two spheres, as people communicate (social) and perform various rituals (spiritual).

Examples of interaction between spheres of society from history

Let's remember a little history. It also contains interaction examples various fields society. Take Stolypin's reforms at the beginning of the 20th century. In Russia, the community was abolished, Peasant Banks were created, which issued loans to settlers, discounted travel at the expense of the state, they created a small infrastructure in Siberia. As a result, thousands of peasants from the land-poor South and the Volga region flocked to the East, where the treasured hectares of free land awaited them. All these measures allowed:

• to alleviate peasant landlessness in the central provinces;
• to develop the empty lands of Siberia;
• feed the people with bread and replenish the state budget taxes in the future.

This serves as a striking example of the interaction between politics, economics and social life of the country.

Another situation is the dispossession of peasants, as a result of which many hardworking rational owners were left without a livelihood, and their place was taken by parasites from the poor committees. As a result, many died of hunger, and rural farming was destroyed. This example shows the impact of ill-considered political decisions on the economy and social life.

Interaction between spheres of society: examples from the media

“Channel One” announced that the Russian authorities had made a decision to bomb terrorists, which is prohibited in Russia. Islamic State". Federal Channel also reported that the authorities intend to resume negotiations on the Turkish gas pipeline to Europe.

All information is from a source that relates to It illustrates examples of interaction between different spheres of society. In the first case, political and social, since the decision of the leadership of our country will lead to consequences in the Middle East. History c shows the relationship between politics and economics. The agreement between the countries will develop the gas industry and replenish the budgets of both countries.

Conclusion

Examples of interaction between spheres of society prove that we live in a complex system. A change in one subsystem necessarily affects others. All spheres are interconnected, but none of the four is the main, dominant one on which all the others depend.

Law acts as a superstructure. It is not included in any of the four, but it does not stand out in the fifth. The right is the fastening instrument above them.

Sectors of the urban economy. The development of a city's economy depends on its geographical location, functions in the settlement system, the intensity of production connections with the surrounding territory, the size of the economically active population, the capacity of basic industries.

The economy of each city consists of three main sectors - the basic, service and household sectors.

Basic sector has a city-forming role. Its enterprises produce goods and services that are exported outside the city. Revenues from their export are used to purchase products from other regions of the country and the world. The development of the basic sector is related to the dynamics of the city's population; It is the enterprises of the basic sector that determine the “face” of the city in the region, country, and world. The basic sector of the urban economy includes such industries as industry, construction, higher education, management, external transport.

Part service sector includes enterprises that provide both the basic sector (repair shops, research organizations) and people’s lives: dry cleaners, laundries, restaurants, repair shops, etc. Household sector- these are non-working pensioners, housewives, children.

Basic employment are employees of basic sector enterprises, serving- employees of other sectors of the city economy.

For rate economic efficiency and the city's development prospects, the index is used basic employment, calculated as the ratio of the number of people employed in the export industry to the number of all city residents.

In the cities of less developed countries, the so-called informal sector. It employs migrants who have recently arrived from rural areas and have no permanent job. They earn their living by carrying and selling water, newspapers, souvenirs, shining shoes and other unskilled labor, that is, work not related to either the basic or service sectors.

The level of specialization of the urban economy is determined using localization index, calculated as the ratio of the share of an industry in the urban economy to the share of the same industry in the economy of the country (world). For calculations, data on the number of employees or the cost of production is used.

Urban multiplier: Lowry's model. Lowry's model reflects the interconnection of sectors of the urban economy and their mutual influence on the growth of the city's population. The development of basic production leads to expansion service industries and increased employment both within themselves and in the household sector.

Lowry model

Let us consider the interdependence of sectors of the urban economy using the example of a small city, the basic sector and basic employment in which is associated with the development of a nearby iron ore deposit. The export of ore allows the city to purchase food and consumer goods for residents and equipment for the functioning of the basic sector. Ore mining leads to the development of technologically related industries: processing plants, repair shops, equipment manufacturing enterprises. In turn, the number of people employed in management, education, and the household sector is growing. At the first stages, employment growth in the basic sector occurs mainly due to the attraction work force from other areas or from rural areas.

Suppose that 100 miners came to the city to work in the mine; this means that the city's base employment will increase by 100 jobs. How will other sectors of the city economy “behave”? If the family of each miner consists of four people (the head of the family is a basic sector worker, a non-working wife and two children), then the population of the city as a whole will increase by 400 people. (including the basic sector - by 100, and the household sector - by 300 people). Thus, the basic multiplier is 4. For these people to live a normal life, it is necessary to build new hospitals, dry cleaners, and bakeries. This will inevitably lead to increased employment in the service sector.

As a rule, the growth of the household sector by 10 people. leads to an increase in employment in the service sector by one place. Thus, the service sector multiplier is 1/10. Obviously, everyone employed in the service sector has a family, the members of which, in turn, must have access to the service sector, i.e., the expansion of the service sector leads to the expansion of the household sector and the service sector itself. So the expansion circles of the city's population increase. When the children of miners grow up and graduate, they will likely go to work for enterprises in the basic and service sectors, i.e., a new circle of growth will begin for all sectors of the urban economy.

In actual calculations according to the Lowry model, concepts such as “zonal limit” (it is assumed that housing construction cannot expand indefinitely and occupy land intended for industrial enterprises) and “threshold limit” (there are threshold values ​​​​of the number of people at which the creation of enterprises) are used. service sector can be considered economically justified - for example, when the population grows by 1000 people, there is a need to build a clinic, and by 5000 people - a hospital).

Where h- household sector multiplier;

s- service sector multiplier.

Thus, with an increase in the base sector by 100 people. in the first expansion circle total number The city's population will increase to 667 people:

Over time, as ore reserves are depleted, mines and processing plants begin to close, and employment in the basic and service sectors will decline. If the authorities do not take measures, carry out regional policy, then the city and its surrounding territory will turn into a classic depressed area with a falling standard of living, environmental and social problems and constant opposition to the government.

If the authorities decide to support the city economy, a policy is being pursued to attract new basic industries, develop the appropriate infrastructure, and retrain personnel. If, due to the geographical location of the city (harsh natural conditions, distance from the economic centers of the country), specific economic skills and level of education of the population, new industries “refuse” to migrate, city residents may be asked to move to more promising areas.

Related information.

Introduction 2

1. Theoretical aspects building relationships with consumers 5

1.1 Concept and content of relationships with consumers 5

1.2 Patterns of buyer behavior in the market 14

1.3 Building sales processes 24

2. Building relationships with consumers at Service-NK LLC 33

2.1 General characteristics of the furniture market in Novokuznetsk and the enterprise Service-NK LLC 33

2.2 Features of building relationships with consumers of products of Service-NK LLC 38

2.3 Approaches to building relationships with consumers at Service-NK LLC 43

3. Directions for improving the building of relationships with consumers at Service-NK LLC 52

Conclusion 59

References 62

Introduction

The furniture business is now more relevant than ever and brings great profits. The opinions of both the furniture makers themselves and expert analysts are similar in this regard. Thus, at the moment the Russian furniture market is characterized as one of the most competitive. The market size has increased by 34% over the past year, and production has increased by 23%. In the structure of production by assortment, the largest share of furniture produced in Russia falls on cabinets - 30% and chairs - 29%.

Meanwhile, despite the increase in production growth rates, there are plenty of problems in the furniture business. Among the internal problems of enterprises, personnel and assortment came first: mainly the difficulty in recruiting personnel caused by a lack of personnel and a small choice. “Lack of qualified personnel + narrow assortment” is a formula for headaches for managers of furniture enterprises. Marketing, investment and equipment took a backseat. Another barrier to development is understanding your consumers. An acute problem today in this market segment is the lack of marketing techniques, which has a heavy impact on the sale of Russian furniture. Manufacturers do not take this seriously and use it little in sales. Marketing and research are undeservedly underestimated by most top managers, assigning them the title of “dark horses”.

What do manufacturers themselves consider important for their consumers? First of all, high quality is important - this parameter takes first place. In second place is the price. The “price-quality” pair determines the idea of ​​furniture production managers about the priorities for choosing a furniture product by consumers. It is known that factors such as price and quality are important only for target audiences belonging to the economical segment of consumers who are interested in furniture objects performing purely utilitarian functions. The mass consumer segment market always occupies an absolute majority in general structure production and sales volumes. However, even the traditional idea, when something created without an exclusive idea and design is considered cheap, has long been a thing of the past. Exclusive design and new features take third and fourth place. This demonstrates the recognition that design plays a significant role in creating a product.

Every year the buyer becomes more and more demanding; his preferences are based on considerations of environmental safety, fashionability, quality and cost of materials used in the manufacture of the furniture he chooses. At the same time, the consumer is increasingly inclined to the solidity of the furnishings combined with the mobility, functionality and reliability of the furniture used. All these factors require furniture manufacturers to implement innovative solutions in their relationships with consumers.

The purpose of the thesis is to theoretically study the problem of building relationships with consumers, study it on a specific object and develop proposals for improving relationships with customers.

In order to achieve our goal, we successfully solved the following tasks:

Definition of the concept and content of relationships with consumers;

Patterns of buyer behavior in the market have been identified;

The construction of sales processes is characterized;

The characteristics of the furniture market in Novokuznetsk are given;

The features of building relationships with consumers of the products of Service-NK LLC have been identified;

The approaches to building relationships with consumers at Service-NK LLC are highlighted;

Directions for improving the building of relationships with consumers at Service-NK LLC are proposed.

The object of the study is Service-NK LLC. The subject of the study is relationships with consumers.

Theoretical and information base The work was written based on the works and publications of domestic and foreign authors on problems of relationships with consumers, as well as statistical data and data from the object of study.

The thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, and a list of references.

The introduction reveals the relevance of the topic, defines the goals and objectives of the study, as well as the object and subject.

The first chapter examines the theoretical problems of relationships with consumers, their essence, examines the behavior of buyers in the market and the model of consumer purchases, and also defines the process of developing relationships with consumers.

The second chapter provides a description of the furniture market in Novokuznetsk and discusses the features and approaches to building relationships with consumers at the LLC Service-NK enterprise.

The third chapter suggests directions for improving the building of relationships with consumers and examines their economic efficiency.

In conclusion, conclusions are drawn and the work done is summed up.

1. Theoretical aspects of building relationships with consumers

1. The concept and content of relationships with consumers

When thinking about consumer relationship marketing, the first thing to understand is: “Who is the consumer?” At first glance, the answer is obvious. Consumers are actual or potential buyers of goods or services. However, this definition should be expanded because the choices people make are largely determined by their environment. For the functioning of markets, including consumer markets, the following factors that shape consumer preferences are essential:

Initiator – the one who offers to make a purchase;

The decision maker is the one who makes the choice of purchase or its main components;

The buyer is the one who actually buys;

User is someone who uses a product or service.

All these factors can be inherent in one person or several. For example, in a family, a food option may be suggested by the child, who in turn may be influenced by the father or the store clerk, but the final decision is made by the mother. In a company, the initiator may be the manager, the choice may be influenced by the employees, the decision may be made by the assistant manager, the execution will be carried out by the employee responsible for purchasing, the users will be employees from another department of the company. Therefore, the relationships that need to be established include a number of people who can come into external contact with the company in several places and in several ways. All of the above can be called shared relationship marketing, in other words, it is a common set of values ​​shared by all members of the company, which makes it possible to implement relationship marketing with consumers as intended. It may be based on a common understanding of the underlying model of these relationships and which marketing actions or behaviors correspond to the various stages.

It was shown above how a distinction can be made between marketing orientation and market orientation. Narver and Slater (1990) suggested that there are three dimensions against which market orientation can be measured. It is this approach that forms the basis (Table 1).

Table 1. Parameters for assessing market orientation

Orientation per consumer	cross-functional orientation	Competitor orientation
Striving to solve consumer problems	Telephone calls to a consumer are made by more than one department or division	All sellers receive information about competitors
Creating Customer Value	Information is distributed throughout the company (this is especially important for achieving corporate goals)	A prompt response is given to the actions of rivals (therefore it is necessary to know who the opponents are)
Tracking changes in consumer demands (to measure the degree of contact with consumers and their satisfaction, it is necessary to have good contours feedback)	Ensuring functional integration of the strategy	Managers top level Strategies used by competitors are serviced (these strategies are identified and analyzed)
Consistent customer satisfaction	All functional areas try to contribute to customer value	Opportunities for gaining competitive advantage are identified
After-sales service, which is built taking into account the fact that the actual sale does not end with the consumer purchasing the product	Resources are distributed among business units	Organizational structures must be flexible enough to encourage creativity and complex problems across multiple functional areas, often allowing them to stay ahead of possible future moves by competitors.

The table shows that in order to develop effective marketing at all stages of contact with consumers, it is necessary to actively involve both company employees and representatives of external structures. The example above states that problems often arise between sales and after-sales service.

When you consider all contacts, it is easy to see how difficult it is to develop and maintain a unified approach. When the accounting department sends out an invoice or report, many companies miss the opportunity to get customer feedback. When a company uses an intermediary, such as a wholesaler, transportation company, or call center, there is often a lack of consistency in the communication styles and techniques used by the company and its intermediaries to maintain relationships with its customers.

The period when your customers feel that they have a relationship with you can be quite long. Opportunities for strengthening the relationship with the consumer can arise before the transaction, during the actual transaction and after its completion.

Consider the example process of a consumer ordering annual maintenance for his car. It can begin with a small episode, such as a telephone conversation, during which a time is reserved for receiving a service. During the conversation, the consumer must explain what malfunction has occurred in his car, but does not always do this technically competently. “There’s a strange crackling noise in second gear.” While the car is in the garage, the consumer worries about whether it will be ready on time, whether all faults will be detected and corrected, and how much all this will cost. Therefore, when the consumer takes the car back from repair and pays the bill, there is another critical moment in the relationship. Your customer relationship marketing requirements will typically change based on what they consider important in each transaction. In the car example, before service begins, the consumer may want to see a list of services offered, their costs, and when to receive them. Of course, the customer wants complete and effective service, but he also wants to make sure that his problems are understood by you (so, in the example above, he wants you to sort out the strange noise). When a consumer receives a bill, it can be helpful to show the consumer the old parts on their vehicle that were replaced, as this usually helps explain why the bill is so large. A follow-up phone call with the service representative asking if the “strange noise” has reappeared will also be helpful in strengthening the relationship.

The example shows that several people are involved in establishing a relationship: the person who accepts the car, the personnel who directly service it, the service manager, the cashier and, possibly, the salesperson who sold the car. The functions of each of them are significant not only from the point of view of quality of service, but also from the point of view of establishing consumer relationships. But sometimes this is not taken into account, which happens, for example, when company management provides training related to consumer relationship marketing to only those specialists who most often communicate directly with consumers. Schlesinger and Heskett (1991) described this as a service-profit chain, but for the purposes of the topic here, we think of it as the relationship-profit chain shown in Figure 1. 1

We view the organization's employees as internal customers, based on the assumption that satisfying the needs of internal customers increases the ability to satisfy external customers. Therefore, a common understanding of strategic objectives and the combined efforts of all employees can become the foundation for success in the market (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Chain of relationships and profits

In internal marketing there are three main goals (according to the theory of Grönros, 1990):

the overall goal is to ensure that all employees of the organization are appropriately motivated to meet customer needs and can meet them to a high standard;

the tactical goal is to ensure that all personnel understand that they are personally involved in maintaining consumer relationships and that this is very important to the company;

The strategic goal is to convey to consumers the long-term competitive position that the company seeks to occupy, so that all parties associated with it understand its intentions for marketing relationships with consumers.

This means that marketing and sales tasks are fully communicated to each employee, and each of them understands what they need to do and how they can personally contribute to this process.

In this regard, such aspects as professional compliance, corporate culture formation, personal career and professional growth of staff are very important. These areas are mainly related to the work of line managers, but these managers should also receive significant support from departments responsible for personnel and professional training. If an organization manages to create the necessary work environment, employees feel more confident that their knowledge and skills will be fully in demand. This creates conditions for good relationships between employees, which in turn has a positive effect on relationships with consumers. Successful relationship marketing depends on several elements of internal marketing:

teamwork, the extent to which employees share the goals of the organization and strive to achieve them;

the employee’s compliance with the work he performs, his organizational and professional compliance. If a person with the required potential for business qualities is hired, managers at the appropriate levels in the company must provide conditions for the development of these qualities, the acquisition of new knowledge and skills;

technological support for the work performed: availability of the necessary tools for the work performed;

attitude towards control: employees should feel that when communicating with consumers they are given sufficient independence, which is in line with the general policy of the company. But even this is not always enough. Thus, call centers often experience high staff turnover. Research has shown that this is usually associated with work pressure, but not that associated with the number of calls to the center. A stressful atmosphere is created by management allowing employees to independently solve consumer problems;

management style: it must take into account the personal preferences of employees in performing their work, correspond to the organizational structure (how the implemented management will affect other employees) and effectiveness in working with consumers (does the style used allow achieving planned indicators?);

preventing role conflicts: doing what is declared. For example, a company claims that it strives to encourage dialogue with consumers, but in fact ignores feedback from those consumers;

eliminating dual roles: employees must understand what is expected of them in their work and how this will be assessed and rewarded. If a customer makes the most trivial excuses to avoid paying a bill, conflict resolution staff must be confident that they can respond forcefully without fear of being reprimanded by management.

In an active consumer relationship marketing policy, the idea of ​​the levels of relationships that consumers expect to reach must be clearly expressed. Sellers talk about three levels of communication with consumers. They can be expressed in the following form.

Expectation: For sellers, it is expressed primarily in the price at which they would like to sell their goods or services. From a business policy perspective, this level can be described as the ideal relationship between buyer and seller that we would like to achieve.

Desire: ideals that are often difficult to achieve in daily activities. An acceptable level of desire must be well articulated and described. All members of the organization must understand what is acceptable for the company and what is not. For example, we may want (desirable-event position) for consumers to view our company as a preferred supplier of essential goods and services, which can only be achieved by establishing close working relationships. This position can be set digitally: we want our consumer to order from us at least 50% of the products he purchases on our market.

Selectivity is a situation where we are not going to maintain relationships, which is due to certain circumstances. Not all of our consumers are good, and therefore it is necessary to have a definition of who we consider to be a bad consumer. To compete effectively, this is indispensable. Ideally, we would be happy to give such consumers to our competitors. Such consumers are, perhaps, those who make many small transactions that do not bring profit, or it is very small, or these are those consumers who complain a lot and without reason.

The consumers we classify into one of these categories do not view themselves from this point of view. In many cases, they have some idea of ​​the kind of relationship they would like to have with the company, as well as the minimum level of this relationship that is acceptable to them. They also have well-expressed ideas about what they do not accept in relationships. For example, when it comes to service quality, it is likely that if the perceived relationship differs too much from the actual relationship, customer satisfaction will sooner or later decrease.

The perception of contacts very often differs significantly from the actual parameters of these contacts and may be subject to a “halo” effect. As in personal experience, the better the relationship with the consumer, the more positively each contact is perceived.

As in personal relationships, overly expressing or overemphasizing contact may not be effective. An excellent example of this is an obsessive relationship - contact that occurs too frequently, or in which one party wants to receive or convey an excessive amount of information. In telemarketing, if a consumer calls a call center and receives an answer immediately after the first ring, sometimes he does not have time to collect his thoughts. If once or twice, faced with the resulting slow reaction of the consumer, the operator acts too quickly or aggressively at the beginning of the dialogue, then the consumer may experience a feeling of discomfort. Likewise, the constant flow of contacts that occur during transactions, solicitations, and mail may be intimidating for some consumers. To prevent this, in the sector financial services Some companies offer so-called “contact holidays” for newly attracted clients, i.e. for a certain time, after these customers purchased the first product from them, the company employees do not even try to offer them Additional services or upgraded versions of the service they started interacting with.

It is useful to consider all of the above from the point of view threshold values in relationships. At the same time, standards in relationships that do not fit into a certain range, that is, they turn out to be above or below an acceptable level, are often subject to severe criticism. Conversely, indicators that fit within the given framework can be considered normal and acceptable.

1.2 Patterns of buyer behavior in the market

Several factors influence how consumers formulate demands and develop perceptions. The most important of them is previous experience of interaction either with you or with another company that the consumer considers exemplary, reference. All suppliers of goods and services are, to one degree or another, in a state of competition with each other. In this sense, a reference company that provides consumers with even completely different products or services may create certain levels of expectations among them. For example, Mark and Spencer's return policy, the performance of Direct Line Insurance, or the level of service at Kwik Fit Wellness Centers can sometimes lead consumers to believe that all other companies should be held to the same high standards. Since consumers constantly compare the goods or services they receive and form expectations that they transfer to different suppliers, it is important for any company to monitor the activities of the best representatives of the business - this will allow it to determine the possible level of competitive standards.

The importance of recommendations as a powerful means of influence is evident in both business-to-business and consumer markets. Relationship information can be transferred both within a shopping center (this concerns the part of people who makes or influences purchasing decisions) and between centers. In shopping centers where important decisions related to high risk, for consumers it is especially important, if not to be an expert, then at least to give the impression of a knowledgeable person. Under these conditions, oral recommendations often take on special significance.

Viewing time as a scarce resource can encourage consumers to engage in increasingly dynamic interactions with companies. However, this usually gives them more reason to raise concerns about the differences between what they expected to receive and what they actually received in establishing and maintaining a relationship with you.

When consumers are feeling pressed for time, good communication can be an important foundation for relationships. However, the nature of interaction even in these conditions can be influenced by cultural characteristics. In some cultures, the importance of a decision is a function of the time it takes to make it. In other words, only minor decisions are made quickly here. This is especially true for many countries in the Middle and Far East, Africa and South America. It is also likely that consumers will want to spend more time on purchases that require their personal active participation in the choice, or on those to which they attach greater importance (for example, due to the high risk of making the wrong choice).

Awareness of a problem or need to buy can arise in two ways. Sometimes the buyer begins to feel an inner need. In the opposite case, the buyer receives the purchasing decision from the outside and then has a “matching” problem. Although developing a solution before a problem arises may seem rather strange, it is actually a fairly common form of problem solving, and many problem solvers simply do not consider classes of problems for which they do not have at least standard solutions. Thus, a person who sees a powerful motorcycle in a showroom may suddenly feel the need to quickly and economically move around the city during rush hour. Or another situation: a rival has upgraded the software for processing information on warehouse activities, which forces your company to also reconsider the approaches to this area in the work of your company so that it complies with the new approaches; and you will have to do all this very quickly. Understanding this sequence is very important from the point of view of the entire sales process.

People use information in different ways. Not every one of us acts like a professional analyst when making decisions. And not all problems can be subjected to logical analysis. Some of them are solved at the level of intuition. Decisions of a strategic nature usually fall under this category (Figure 2).

Figure 2. General model consumer purchases

As they approach the point of purchase, it is possible that buyers will shift from passive to active information seeking and may abandon some of the defensive behaviors they typically engage in Everyday life. For example, instead of passively viewing or even ignoring advertisements for a product, they can begin to actively seek out and study it in the most attentive manner.

At this stage, past experience becomes significant. When a problem arises, a person remembers his similar previous solutions, which seem suitable for a new case. This does not necessarily involve the purchase of a product or service. In the same way, alternative ways to satisfy any need are sought. For example, if you change jobs, you may give up the idea of ​​buying a motorcycle, which was mentioned above. When it comes to purchasing a product or receiving a service, previous interactions with similar goods and products are immediately recalled, and this experience can greatly influence your future actions. Information from commercial sources or from people whose recommendations you listen to is also widely used. However, it is very difficult to model the way in which all these factors will interact with each other in each case, since the combination of factors will be different each time, and each of them may manifest itself differently in a particular case. A trusted or powerful source of information, such as advice from a close friend or instructions from a boss, can specific situation have a greater impact than, say, advertising, but each situation must be viewed in its overall context.

Most decision scientists spend a lot of time evaluating options or choices. In practice, most approaches to decision making are carried out in such a way as to reduce as much as possible the number of options from which one must be chosen. As a decision rises to higher levels in the organization, fewer and fewer initial options are considered for final acceptance.

Agree that even at the everyday level, a wide range of options makes it difficult to make a decision, unlike a situation where the choice is limited. It is much more difficult to choose one candy from a full box of sweets than when there are only one or two pieces left in it. At both the everyday and professional levels, decision makers and salespeople often act as if they are in agreement: they try to simplify the situation or introduce some features into it that will make their choice easier. It is in these cases that relationships can have a powerful impact. Therefore, a good relationship between the consumer and the company can significantly help the buyer justify his choice.

However, it should be taken into account that a person can react to a situation in different ways in different cases, i.e. Its behavior cannot be completely predicted. Some consumers listen more to advice from people they know than to information provided by companies. Overall, the outcome of evaluating options largely depends on the individual and his or her past experiences, as well as how different companies present their information. Although psychologists have spent a lot of time trying to establish links between intentions to act and actual behavior, they have been unable to create a tool that can make reliable predictions. The final decision can be influenced by personal attitude towards the expected type of behavior, the relationship of people whose opinion is important to the person, and situational factors.

It is practically useful for a marketer to have, at least, one working hypothesis about how consumers evaluate different companies and their products and services, since there is a certain connection between consumer relationship marketing and a company's financial success. If relationships are important to choice, then the business case for investing in creating and maintaining those relationships is easy to make.

From a commercial point of view, the best outcome of the choice is, of course, a purchase, but a positive influence on the purchasing process is also very useful in this process, even if this time the purchase did not take place. Consumers don't always complete the buying cycle. If the interaction between the organization and the buyer influenced his attitude towards the product in a positive way, then even without the purchase the result was generally positive. Most advertising models and product promotion campaigns are built on this basis. After all, people do not jump out of their chairs when they see an advertisement on TV, and they do not take out money every time they talk to the seller, but these phenomena gradually change their overall attitude towards the situation.

After making a decision based on new information, the consumer re-evaluates the situation, for example, based on the performance indicators of the product. Therefore, it is very important for the company not to stop its sales efforts even after the consumer has made a purchase - this is necessary for the development of consumer relationship marketing. At a minimum, you should thank the consumer for placing the order or communicate with him to confirm how satisfied he is with the purchase.

In some situations, after making a purchase, individual consumers experience cognitive dissonance, that is, they experience disappointment. If the product they purchase does not meet their expectations, they may experience doubts, even anxiety. Therefore, such consumers may actively seek information that works to support their original decision; they try to convince themselves that they made the right choice. They may convince themselves that they got a “good deal” and made the right decision by purchasing this item. In doing so, they may even ignore, avoid, or distort incoming information that does not coincide with what they want to believe. “I know this pen broke two days after I bought it, but it’s cheap, and besides, I needed something to write with at the time.” Post-sale relationship marketing can help consumers justify their decision, even if they have problems with the purchase.

In business-to-business transactions, consumer relationship marketing has been recognized as a new and important marketing approach. There are many differences between inter-firm and consumer markets. However, some aspects of consumer purchasing were described first for one important reason. This is because professional buyers are also consumers of ordinary goods and services, and although their behavior is influenced by the characteristics of their work, they nevertheless remain just people with the same reactions to events as ordinary consumers.

Professional markets differ from consumer markets in a number of ways: there are fewer buyers, which encourages the development of closer relationships, and customers tend to buy products in large quantities. The dependency between buyer and supplier can be really tight. The parties can be connected not only by electronic means, the system electronic exchange data that allows buyers to order the types of products they require directly through the supplier's computer system, but they can also be linked operationally. For example, a large buyer may require its suppliers to provide certain performance parameters or other conditions. For example, a large supermarket chain may require its tuna supplier to provide a certificate that the fish were caught using methods that do not harm dolphins, or require certain standards for the products supplied. Sometimes buyers become business partners for suppliers. For example, some Japanese automobile companies send engineers to parts suppliers to help improve the quality and performance of those parts during production. They also use integrated computer systems in production, using a technique called “synchronized automation.” This is a further development of just-in-time methods, allowing the speed of the supplier's production lines to be coordinated with the operation of the buyer's equipment.

Professional buyers may also be more geographically concentrated than end users in the consumer market. Therefore, the demand of such buyers is more predictable. General trends in such a market can be shown using basic business-to-business shopping models. Such markets typically have lower price elasticities than consumer markets.

On the other hand, professional buyers tend to expect a more professional approach from the selling company. In addition, they themselves take a more rational approach to justifying the decision they make. Of course, it is possible to define some formalized procedures when making professional purchases. However, professional buyers are just as affected by emotions as any other buyer. After all, their personal career is at stake, and if they make a mistake, it leads to consequences that affect their professional and personal destiny. Therefore, they may be overly cautious and do everything to minimize the perceived risk, which can be achieved, for example, by purchasing only certain brands or interacting with already proven suppliers. They may also try to accommodate their bosses' opinions or preferences. It should be noted that they may also have personal preferences that will influence the choice and perception of relationships with suppliers.

Among other features, we note that many people are involved in making a professional purchase. more people than with normal. Here are several additional purchasing roles:

Bosses are people who give permission for proposed actions;

“gatekeepers” - people who have the ability to prevent or help gain access to decision makers (secretaries, telephone operators, purchasing agents);

Consultants are technical specialists to receive external advice of a professional nature.

Actual purchasing activities may also differ from how they are conducted in consumer markets. Here, there may be fewer intermediaries in the marketing channel and a more pronounced desire to buy directly from the main supplier of the product or service. Here, too, the expectation of reciprocity can be much stronger. If a paper manufacturer contracts with a shipping company to distribute its products, it can expect that company to purchase the paper products it needs from one of its customers. In large-scale production, an important condition may be the placement of subcontracting work in the same area and the transfer of certain technologies to local performers. Thus, when selling military products, one of the guarantees of the transaction is sometimes the conditions for the production of certain components in a certain territory or the appropriate training of local workers. The same thing often happens when delivering products to large manufacturing plants or infrastructure facilities such as docks.

Levels of service, reliability and delivery can also be more important as they have a big impact on the bottom line. Sometimes professional buyers may be interested in receiving integrated solutions, rather than their participation in individual stages of the process. For example, cash flow management may generate much more interest than purchasing accounting software (although development individual programs tenders may be announced). Therefore, in this case, understanding what the consumer may need and in what form it should be supplied is key from the point of view of the relationship with the buyer.

When making purchasing decisions, professional buyers act more professionally than ordinary consumers. They tend to make significantly more expensive purchases and more frequently. Therefore, like ordinary consumers. They need ways to separate routine from non-routine activities.

A regularly placed order is a repeat order without any modification, which is prepared in a standard manner. If you already supply products to a specific customer, the main goal from a customer relationship marketing perspective is to facilitate repeat business. This creates opportunities for additional sales of related products (that complement the initial purchase) or for the sale of improved models of goods or services.

Modified reorder is a situation where the consumer tries to change the supplier or change some aspects during the procurement process, when he still needs the product itself. Changed repeat business is often the truest test of customer relationship marketing quality. If the company fails to properly build relationships with the consumer, he will begin to consider options to switch to other products or companies.

A new challenge arises when the consumer has no experience with a specific product or service. It is in this situation that all the effects indicated in Table 3 appear. Here the consumer usually requires a lot of information, may ask for technical advice and even create a special body, as well as receive confirmation from friends or colleagues. Here the main task of marketing is to make a sale and establish relationships, which is quite difficult. If you push too hard to sell, relationships with customers may deteriorate and they may be pressured into purchasing the wrong product or service.

Table 2 Types of professional purchasing behavior

1.3 Building sales processes

When it comes to purchasing, brands become very important. Brands can take many different forms. These may include line brands (a group of similar products), umbrella brands (such as Birds Eye or Virgin), firm, family or source brands (Sony, Ford or Cadbury) and banner brands. Banner brands may include designer labels (Armani), licensed names (Disney), brands retail(eg Sam from Wal-Mart or St Mishael from Mark and Spencer). If a consumer has formed a strong relationship with a brand, it is much easier for companies to convince them to buy from it. A strong brand, built over time, allows relationships to be built on a solid foundation. Without this, each transaction requires establishing relationships almost from scratch.

Specialists from departments information technologies It is often said that no one has ever been fired for buying IBM products. This means that the reputation of IBM's products and their relationships with corporate buyers is so powerful that most buyers believe that the entire organization will have a positive relationship with the products. In other words, such a transaction becomes a safe purchase and is not subject to harsh criticism by other members of the organization.

Consumer loyalty and brands are closely linked. Highly visible and positive branding cannot exist without customer loyalty, and long-term customer loyalty depends on establishing relationships. If you manage your relationships with your customers well, they will generally be loyal to your products. This, in turn, creates opportunities for brands to work for you. Branding requires deep imprinting of product images into the minds of consumers. Ideas will be perceived positively if consumers have a positive shopping experience and make those purchases frequently enough.

The main manifestation of infidelity is the transition of a consumer from one company to another or from one brand to another. Sometimes this happens because the consumer decides that he has problems with the product or because the company does not build a good relationship with him. This is sometimes explained by the fact that people simply want variety. You need to try to figure out the basics of switching from one brand to another and understand that this is one of the most important aspects in marketing. Although it cannot be avoided, good consumer relationship marketing can entice lapsed consumers to return. Thus, transitions caused by strong price differentiation are sometimes difficult to prevent using consumer relationship marketing, but even in this case, until this happens, consumers will pay more for the brand or for a good relationship. Some companies specifically emphasize their features in advertising. For example, Kellogg's advertising tells customers that if the package does not have the name Kellogg on it, then it is not Kellogg. In other words, they do not produce products for structures that sell products under their own brand. Therefore, buyers must decide whether they should settle for a substitute product or pay a higher price and go to a specialty store to actually get their preferred brand.

Lost customers due to problems related to the quality of goods or services or due to poor marketing of customer relationships should be considered as personnel failures that can and should be avoided. IN in this case There is no need to reiterate the importance of product quality, but even the most serious companies can encounter problems of this kind from time to time. This is why it is important to keep communication channels open for communication at all times. Loyal customers won't desert you very quickly, but if they believe that no one in your company wants to listen to them, then eventually even they will be lost. Customer relationship marketing is fundamentally about encouraging feedback (not complaints) at every possible point of contact. Of course, it is important that the response to complaints, if they do appear, is quick and positive. After all, it's likely that your loyal customers are the ones willing to take the time to complain.

It is clear that the process similar to that, which is presented in Fig. 2., not suitable for everyday and mundane decisions. Not all people are going to go through it completely when they buy a loaf of bread or decide to go to work by train or bus. Generally, people try to make their purchasing decisions monotonous as it allows them to make their lives simpler. They even try to make the choice between brands of consumer goods of constant demand or in a grocery store with the least effort.

For many purchases, and perhaps for most of them, the consumer tries to make as little effort as possible. For a marketer, such a motivation to make a purchase is quite understandable, and in these conditions they only need to deal with some auxiliary circumstances. Core products can be purchased for functional reasons and have little or no symbolic value. The price of one piece of such a product is low for any chosen brand. Here, the risk that the consumer will make the wrong choice of company or product is low, since the specific economic, psychological and social characteristics of the product are poorly expressed. Such products are classified as low-involvement products. However, this does not mean that purchasing behavior does not occur here, or that brands fail to exert their influence. In this case, we are only talking about the fact that we often need to make purchasing decisions quickly and that we can do this.

Sometimes consumers feel that making the wrong product choices involves a high psychological or social risk. This manifests itself especially strongly in cases where the item being purchased has a high symbolic significance, strongly influences our self-esteem, or is dictated by belonging to one or another social group. Such groups can be both entities to which we actually belong and those to which we would like to belong. There are a lot of products that fall into this category, for example: clothing, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, cars, home furniture, books, club memberships and even schools and universities. Some cheap and frequently purchased goods and services, such as pens or newspapers, fall into this category. All this leads to the fact that such goods and services belong to the category of high-involvement products, which are very significant from the point of view of consumer relationship marketing. Good relationship marketing for products in this category has a huge impact on customer loyalty. And, conversely, the opposite result may be consumer passivity or active informal condemnation of the products offered.

To summarize the situation, we can distinguish two coordinates, branding and involvement, which together give four possible types of purchasing behavior. These are shown in Table 3 (Assael, 1987).

Table 3. Types of purchasing behavior

The usual type. There are everyday and routine decisions, the essence of which we have thought about before. In this case, there is relatively little differentiation between brands and little personal involvement. Examples of goods of this kind include salt or gasoline. In this product category, the marketer's goal is to awaken a higher degree of consumer involvement. For example, in food products this can be done by offering types of goods that are related to health or safety (salt with added vitamins). In non-food markets, the goal is to increase the emotional load (that gasoline better protects the engine of your expensive car).

Diversity. This category is characterized by strong branding and relatively low engagement. Examples of this type of product are sweets, beer or jeans. Here, the brand leader tries to take advantage of the situation due to the widest possible availability of its products on the market and its high quality (comprehensive offer). Brand relationships are made stronger through advertising.

Reducing dissonance. Sometimes purchase engagement is high, but the perceived difference between brands is low. Consumer products fall into this category Appliances high-end items such as televisions or other infrequently purchased items such as carpets, furniture, perfumes. For this type of product, the relationship with the consumer is very important, since the marketing goal is to create a positive attitude both before and after purchase. Dissonance is associated with a person having two or more conflicting beliefs. In this case, a clash is possible due to the fact that, on the one hand, his choice must be rational, and on the other, he does not see a rational justification for making such a choice and therefore must act intuitively. Helping the consumer feel positive about his choice will reduce the depth of dissonance because it will help him explain his choice more rationally.

Complex type. This type of purchase requires full evaluation (high degree of involvement). This category includes purchasing a car, an expensive computer, or a home. Because brand differentiation is strong, the relationship must be directed both to the end user and to intermediaries in distribution channels, such as retailers.

Diagram 3. The process of developing relationships with consumers

The sales process is schematically shown in Figure 3. Anyone who is able to buy a product or service is considered a possible consumer. This does not include absolutely all individuals included in the analyzed population. Given the importance of social influence, it is important to avoid targeting marketing and sales efforts at people who are unable or unwilling to make purchases, as this may irritate them. Thus, people who do not have children are unlikely to buy diapers or nappies. A clear choice of goals allows you to save huge amounts of money. A fairly common occurrence with direct mail is that it is sent to people who have already died.

As the relationship develops, the potential customer becomes a potential customer. There are people who will probably show strong interest in purchasing the products. At this stage, the company is interested in identifying such potential consumers, that is, separating those who can actually make a purchase from those who currently cannot. Of course, one of the criteria for this division is the availability of funds. However, there are other parameters to consider. For example, a potential buyer may have just signed a long-term contract with your competitor or may not be professionally trained to use a modern information technology system or new operating procedures. In some cases, potential customers who are currently unable to become actual customers can be added to the database and some of the relationship-building activities directed toward them. After all, start-up companies will one day become large businesses.

Over time, individual potential customers turn into first-class customers. Relationships with such clients will be useful, since potential consumers can communicate with those clients whom you already serve, ask for their opinion about your products, and receive other information related to it. Positive, broad-based relationships with others involved in the buying process can also help.

As soon as a new client is acquired, the process of relationship formation should be transferred to a more active mode. This is important in terms of whether a new customer will become a regular customer or will be lost after the first purchase. Relationships also impact the profitability of interacting with that customer. This only becomes more obvious as the company gets to know his needs better. Although it may not be a true partnership, even in this form, an effective and mutually beneficial relationship allows the company to firmly occupy a good market position. Clients can gain broad access to all company structures and thereby develop solutions that allow them, together with the company, to meet their needs. From a strategic perspective, this approach provides the company with a great competitive advantage. In addition, partners become a kind of intermediaries in attracting other potential consumers to the company.

Lost customers can be divided into two categories. There are consumers whom we lost only because we ourselves did not want to interact with them. During the initial communication, it turned out that these consumers belong to the category of bad customers. Therefore, we actively chose a communication option that helps get rid of them. However, in many cases, consumers are lost either due to imperfection of goods or services or due to errors in forming relationships with them. We must try to win back such consumers.

It is clear that during the process of developing relationships with consumers, significant investments of time, money and human resources are required, without which it is impossible to achieve consumer loyalty, and then maintain and strengthen it. Based on the efforts that could justify the formation of different types of consumers, we distinguish five levels of relationship structure:

Basic – the seller only sells the product;

Reactive – the sale is made, and the consumer is motivated to provide the company with feedback on how well they satisfied their need;

Account management – ​​feedback activity increases. The seller calls the consumer and actively tries to get information from him about how satisfied he is with the product or service. Based on some of the answers, the company is modernizing its products and expanding their functionality. After such answers, more attention is paid to the processes of placing orders and their delivery to the consumer;

Proactive – the consumer receives privileged access to new products. Much more time is spent on the consumer to determine how he uses the product or service. Research is conducted to find new ways to add value to consumer activities;

Partnership - the company tries to act in such a way as to become the consumer's first point of contact for a wide range of his needs. The company constantly interacts with consumers and tries to help them better solve their problems. The word “we” becomes a characteristic word for communication with the consumer. To improve the functional performance of the consumer, new characteristics are added to the company's products. In some cases, there may be a certain degree of integration between the future planning and strategic positioning of the company and its consumer.

2. Building relationships with consumers at Service-NK LLC

2.1 General characteristics of the furniture market in Novokuznetsk and the enterprise Service-NK LLC

The furniture market of Novokuznetsk, like all of Russia, is in the process of formation. A fairly high threshold for entry into this business does not allow it to appear on the market too often, as happens with advertising agencies and some newspapers and magazines. On the other hand, this market segment cannot be called “spacious” either. Many of the existing companies began their activities as small workshops, gradually acquiring equipment, production and retail space and invaluable experience to occupy a strong position in the furniture market of Novokuznetsk.

Today, the Novokuznetsk furniture market includes more than a hundred companies. At the same time, 20% of enterprises are the largest and account for 80% of the turnover of the furniture market in Novokuznetsk. Some of them produce only upholstered furniture, some only cabinet furniture, and only a small number of organizations produce both upholstered and cabinet furniture. The production volumes of furniture enterprises in Novokuznetsk are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Production volumes of furniture industry products in Novokuznetsk for 2004–2008 (in physical terms)

Name of product	Production volumes
Furniture market, thousand rubles.
Tables thousand pcs.
Chairs and armchairs thousand pcs.
Cabinets thousand pieces
Sofas thousand pieces
Beds thousand pieces
Headsets incl. Sets of furniture products thousand sets

Sometimes several people try to organize a company without sufficient funds to purchase the necessary equipment, and even in rented space. As a result, by producing a small number of products, they are unable to maintain either a decent level of quality or low prices. All this leads to them closing as quickly as they opened.

The most prominent representatives of enterprises producing cabinet furniture are: “Service-NK”, “Ideal-furniture”, “Kolibri”, “Darsing”, “Comfort”, “Leander”, “Our furniture”. Over the years of activity, the Service-NK company, created about 6 years ago, has accumulated valuable practical experience. At the same time, she does not stop there, being in constant development. The company's products have been appreciated by thousands of customers. The team of the Service-NK company is young, energetic, purposeful specialists. Constant self-improvement, the desire to learn and accumulate experience allows us to speak of them as a well-coordinated team of professionals.

Thanks to this, the company manages to keep prices low and quality high, as can be seen from Figure 4.

Figure 4. Comparative cost of a standard wardrobe with dimensions 1000x2400x600 in furniture companies in Novokuznetsk

To clearly demonstrate the implementation of a marketing system, it is necessary to consider a specific enterprise. For this role, I chose the company "Service-NK", which was created on March 25, 2003 to carry out the following activities:

furniture manufacture;

commercial, intermediary, trading, purchasing activities in consumer goods and industrial and technical goods, including excisable ones, creation of our own network of stores for wholesale, retail and other trade in these goods;

organization of industrial production, development, production and sale of consumer goods, industrial, technical and household products;

foreign economic activity;

marketing research and services in domestic and foreign markets;

other types of activities not prohibited by law.

The organizational and legal form of the enterprise is a limited liability company. Members of the Company are not liable for its obligations and bear the risk of losses associated with the activities of the Company, within the value of their share in the Authorized Capital of the Company.

The Company operates on the basis of:

economic accounting and self-financing;

non-cash payments with citizens and legal entities;

cash payments with citizens and legal entities.

Service-NK LLC was created by one founder, who is general director(Decision of the founder of Service-NK LLC dated March 19, 2003).

Diagram 4. Organizational structure of the enterprise

The company's main office and workshop premises are located in the Rembyttekhnika building at the address: Stroiteley Ave. 91. This location is convenient for several reasons.

Firstly, there are many other offices and companies located there, and every day a fairly large number of people pass by and pay attention to even simple signs or signs. This does not require the placement of large and numerous advertising brochures, banners, etc., which in turn saves material costs.

Secondly, Stroiteley Avenue has convenient transport characteristics: convenient communication with the railway station, the industrial nature of the avenue, allowing the movement of freight transport, close and convenient location of the entrance/exit of the city. All this allows you to quickly and inexpensively deliver both components for furniture production to the enterprise and finished products to the customer, which allows you to optimize transportation costs.

In addition to the office, the company has a store on rented space in the Sector shopping center at the address: st. Transport 65. Both in the store and in the office there are samples of furniture that you can either buy ready-made or order according to your taste and desire. In most cases, the company makes furniture to order, which is much more difficult than selling finished products. This requires an individual approach to each customer. It is necessary to take into account all his wishes, predict what they may be dissatisfied with, and most importantly, it is often necessary better client imagine whether the model he has chosen suits his interior or whether it is worth offering something else, so that in the future there will be no dissatisfaction and complaints. Therefore, the company provides such a free service as a visit to take measurements and consult a designer.

As already mentioned, Service-NK produces and sells cabinet furniture, but what does it relate to? This includes furniture for the hallway, kitchen, children's room, bedroom, and the company also produces sliding wardrobes. Based on this, it becomes clear that the target audience of the organization is quite wide - from students to retirees. On the one hand, this is convenient for the company, since there is no need to “get hung up” on any one direction, there is room for diversity and this will not be to the detriment of the company. But on the other hand, a wide audience implies sufficient flexibility and lability on the part of the organization, because it is necessary to please both conservative older clients and creative youth, and this is not so easy. We will look at clients in more detail below.

Different types of products are not sold in the same way and in equal quantities, and among customers there are physical and legal entities not equally represented.

Number of furniture units supplied per year, pcs.	Individuals	Legal entities

Table 6 Dynamics of product sales by type (in units)

Type of furniture	Closet	Office furniture

2.2Features of building relationships with consumers of the products of Service-NK LLC

Oddly enough, the production and sale of furniture has its own seasonality. The minimum activity is observed in January – February and May – June. This is explained by the fact that in January, after the New Year holidays, people simply run out of money and the last thing they remember is furniture. In May–June everyone either leaves for summer cottages, and there they are more concerned about whether the seedlings will sprout and whether there will be more frosts, or they are starting to make repairs, and now they are more interested in wallpaper and plastic windows. But already at the end of July - August, buyers become the most active, because the harvest is no longer in danger and you can think about buying new furniture, and by this time many have completed renovations in houses or apartments and it’s time to furnish the updated home with new furniture. The “hot” season lasts until December. A slight decline in purchasing activity is observed in September and is associated with children getting ready for school (Figure 5.).

Figure 5 Seasonality of sales of products of Service-NK LLC

One of the activities of many commercial and government organizations is participation in tenders.

The word "tender" comes from the French word "teflder", which translates as a trailer car to a steam locomotive, which contains firewood. Nowadays, a tender is a competition for the supply of a certain type of product or service conducted by an enterprise. Information about ongoing tenders can be found on the website of the state order of the Kemerovo region.

“Service-NK” has been on the market for 6 years and has also been very successful in this field. During its existence, the company has repeatedly participated in and won tenders for the production and supply of furniture for many organizations, such as: the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Justice, Kuzbass State Technical University, City Hospital No. 1, Sanatorium "Topaz", Sanatorium "Siberian Fairy Tale" " and etc.

Table 7. Product sales volumes based on tender applications (in units/thousand rubles)

Organization
Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Main Directorate of the Ministry of Justice
Kuzbass State Technical University
City Hospital No. 1
Sanatorium "Topaz"
Sanatorium "Siberian Fairy Tale"

Participation in the tender requires the company to comply with the requirements, which are established by the organizers of the competition and verified by the tender commission. Among the main requirements are: the presence of our own production, an exhibition hall, some experience in the market and the entire package of necessary regulatory documents.

Despite the complexity of preparing for participation in the tender and fierce competition, it is beneficial for the company to win the competition, since due to this, production is loaded at sufficient capacity long term, which ensures stable operation of the enterprise and allows you not to depend on the presence or absence of clients.

But the main activity of the organization is working with clients on individual orders. This direction was chosen as a priority after the company had been selling ready-made furniture for a long time. Over time, it turned out that buyers are always not satisfied with something in finished furniture - everyone has different tastes and apartments. Buyers constantly asked to change something in ready-made furniture, and the company met them. After this, it was quite logical to switch from selling ready-made furniture to producing it to order, which made it possible to significantly increase the number of customers.

Gradually, the company acquired its own equipment, established the necessary contacts with component suppliers, studied the needs and desires of customers, and formed a circle of regular customers. All this allowed us to organize the production of custom-made furniture.

Working with people requires an individual approach to each of them, this must be taken into account and constantly remembered. Therefore, the company guarantees each client special conditions. This may concern appearance products, configuration, production time, payment terms and even prices.

Over time, the social composition of consumers changes. If 4-5 years ago only people with above-average income could afford custom-made furniture, now the bulk of clients are people of average income. Such changes occur due to the fact that previously components were more expensive, and they had to be purchased from organizations located far from Novokuznetsk. This entailed an increase in the cost of production, which made it inaccessible to ordinary citizens.

With the development of small business in Russia, the number of companies selling components and accessories has increased. Therefore, production costs and, consequently, production costs gradually decreased. finished products. Against this background, it is natural for the company to transition from the production of expensive luxury furniture to cheaper and high-quality furniture to meet the needs of the growing middle class, which is becoming more and more numerous on the market.

This transition required a restructuring of both production (instead of a small amount of expensive furniture - a large amount of cheap) and the marketing system. Reducing the price of products with high quality is possible either by increasing production volumes or by reducing costs. It was decided to carry out further development in both directions. To increase production volumes, more modern equipment is needed, as well as increased labor productivity. Cost reduction is possible by lowering prices for components and fittings, but they must be of sufficient quality. The solution to this problem was the purchase of accessories in wholesale quantities directly from manufacturers. Also, cost reduction is facilitated by the reduction of production waste through the development of standard furniture options, which made it possible to minimize waste. All of the above changes made it possible to reduce product costs and increase production volumes, while maintaining quality at a high level.

The client is also offered custom-made furniture, but now he can choose the model that suits him from a variety of options: both furniture models (which were selected after analyzing and modernizing the ordered models) and various options prices (due to various combinations of components). The client, of course, can still order furniture completely to his taste, but experience has shown that the desires of clients often coincide or are very similar. This is often explained by the many standard identical Russian apartments. Therefore, if you have to make any adjustments, then only minor ones. At the same time, the customer is not limited in the choice of the color of the product and small fittings (handles, locks, legs), and the price for such products will be significantly lower than the price of a completely custom-made product.

Thus, the company managed to achieve one of the best price-quality ratios on the Novokuznetsk market, and the company’s profit did not decrease, but on the contrary, increased.

Figure 6. Profit level of Service-NK LLC in 2003–2008

Thus, the transition from intensive to extensive production, contrary to economic laws, turned out to be effective and profitable.

2.3 Approaches to building relationships with consumers at Service-NK LLC

As mentioned above, the client can choose the price option that suits him, as well as the payment plan. Let's find out in more detail what exactly the company offers?

Service-NK has a flexible system of discounts. With each order, all information about the client (full name, what order, when it was placed, for what amount, all sketches, etc.) is entered into a common database. A contract for the production of furniture is concluded with the customer, the number and electronic version of which is also available in the database.

Table 9. Discount system at Service-NK LLC

Like any self-respecting company, Service-NK offers its clients discount cards, which are presented in three versions.

Table 10 Type of discount card and the discount provided on it, and the number of cards issued

Order price	Discount amount and type of discount card	Number of cards issued
25000 -50000 rub.	5% (Regular card)
50,000 – 100,000 rub.	7% (Silver card)
Over 100,000 rub.	10% (Gold Card)

Discount cards are not personalized, but have an individual number that matches the client’s individual number. This gives people the opportunity to transfer discount cards to other people (friends, relatives), but at the same time the savings system is preserved, allowing them to accumulate the amount on the card and increase the discount (by exchanging a regular card for a silver one, a silver one for a gold one).

Discounts affect profits, but with their help you can save quite a lot on advertising. Discount cards work like word of mouth, which is much more effective than any advertising. When choosing a store, other things being equal, a person will most likely go to the one whose discount card he has.

It should be noted that the discount card does not apply to some products, but this only applies to those items for which the price has already been reduced.

Another nuance is that discounts on discount cards and discounts on repeat orders cannot be combined.

Issue discount cards led to clients coming back a second, third, or more times. The structure of consumers is presented in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Percentage clients by the number of requests to the company for 2006–2008

Along with discounts, the company has a reward system. This offer is for people who order furniture not for themselves. These are various sales agents, designers, supply managers, suppliers of enterprises, etc. By recommending furniture from this particular company, a person receives a monetary reward, the size of which depends on the volume of the order and its price, but not less than 10% of the order amount.

Let's consider payment schemes. The standard scheme involves making an advance payment of at least 50%, the rest of the amount is paid after the order is completed. But there is also a “zest” here - when paying the entire amount at once, the client is given a 3% discount. Unlike other discounts, this 3% can be added to both the discount card discount and the repeat order discount.

Almost every self-respecting company offers its goods/services on credit. The company "Service-NK" has concluded agreements with several banks to provide loans for the purchase of furniture. The company directly cooperates with Russian Standard Bank, and with other banks through the Guryanin Credit Cooperative. The loan is issued on bank terms, which are very simple these days - all you need is Novokuznetsk registration and a place of work (even not an official one). There are no restrictions on the part of the company - you can purchase products for any amount on credit.

A modern and “fashionable” trend is obtaining an interest-free loan. The Service-NK company was no exception in this matter. What is the essence of this proposal, and how can a loan be interest-free if the payment of interest is included in the definition of the word “loan”? In fact, the scheme is quite simple. When applying for a loan, the company receives the entire amount for the order immediately. I already mentioned above that when paying the entire amount at once, the client receives a discount. In this case, the customer also receives a discount, the amount of which is exactly equal to the interest on the loan.

Thus, the meaning of the loan remains the same, and there is always interest, but for the client there is no interest and no overpayment on the loan.

It is also worth paying attention to the fact that discounts on discount cards, as well as discounts on repeat orders, do not apply when applying for an interest-free loan.

The main document regulating the relationship between the company and the client is the contract. Let us consider in more detail the main terms of contracts with individuals and legal entities.

Table 11. Comparative characteristics of contracts

Parameter	Agreement with individuals	Agreement with legal entities
Name	"Contract for the manufacture of furniture"	"Agreement for the supply of furniture"
Order production time	3–4 weeks (depending on the volume and complexity of the order)	4–6 weeks (depending on the volume and complexity of the order)
Delivery time		In batches, when ready
Characteristics of the supplied furniture	Assembled or installed on site	Either assembled or disassembled and packed with assembly instructions
Prepayment	At least 50% of the order amount	At least 30% of the order amount
Penalties for failure to comply with the terms of the contract	3% of the prepayment for each day of delay	0.5% of the prepayment for each day of delay

But not everything always goes smoothly. Life makes its own adjustments to any, even the most well-established schemes. Clients are ordinary people, with their own stresses, problems and quirks. The minimum production time for products is a month, or even more for large or complex orders. This is enough long term and no one can guarantee stability everywhere and in everything during this time. It happens that a person places an order, but then, for various reasons, wants to either change the order or completely refuse the company’s services. What to do in such a situation?

What the organization’s tactics will be in such cases depends on whether the order has begun to be produced or not. If the order has not yet begun, then everything is simple - the company always meets the client halfway and either the sketches (configuration, color, etc.) of the furniture are changed, or the money is returned and the contract is terminated. When changes are made to an order, its cost is automatically recalculated, and if the new price is greater than the initial price, the client pays the difference; if less, the company pays the difference.

Things are much more complicated when the order has already been completed or its production has begun, but even in this case, “the customer is always right.” If it is not too late to adjust the order according to the client’s wishes, then this is done. The material side of the issue is balanced in the same way as described above. If the furniture is completely ready and it is impossible to make changes, then 100% of the cost is returned to the client. This, of course, is very unprofitable for the company, but fortunately this happens extremely rarely and, as a rule, people have good reasons for this. The situation is partly aggravated by the fact that in Russia there is a law on the protection of consumer rights, but there is no law on the protection of the rights of sellers.

We have tried to cover in sufficient detail the relationship of the Service-NK company with clients, who are individuals, but in addition to them there are also legal entities that also play an important role in the life of the company.

There are no significant differences in working with legal entities from individuals, but there are some nuances:

Thus, an agreement is concluded with legal entities “for the supply of furniture,” and not “for the manufacture of furniture,” as is the case with individuals. The contract differs not only in name, but in content - since large batches of goods are stipulated in more detail, all aspects are stipulated in more detail (supply volumes, delivery times, penalties, the payment scheme is clearly outlined: advance payment amount, conditions, etc.). Also, transfer and acceptance certificates are drawn up with legal entities for individual shipments of furniture. For comparative characteristics of contracts, see table. eleven.

Legal entities differ from individuals in that, as a rule, they order several units of products, which leads to large volumes of supplies. Furniture for legal entities is not always necessary in assembled form; sometimes it is supplied unassembled in packaging, which requires each unit to be supplied with assembly instructions and all fittings. When producing in large quantities, it is more difficult to monitor quality and the entire production and packaging process must be carefully monitored. When producing large volumes of furniture, it is necessary to purchase raw materials in large volumes, which, on the one hand, requires the presence of a warehouse and storekeeper, and on the other, makes it possible to purchase consumables at lower prices.

Based on the above, it is logical that large (volume) discounts are provided for large volumes. The discount amount is set individually depending on the volume and complexity of the order, but not more than 30%.

And finally, legal entities usually use cashless system calculation.

Otherwise, all conditions and schemes are the same as when working with individuals.

Everything is more or less clear with consumers, but how to attract them, because there are quite a lot of furniture companies represented on the Novokuznetsk market.

At the beginning of its work (2003–2006), the organization used print advertising in newspapers, as well as advertising on television (on Channel One). This, of course, bore fruit, but the costs of such stimulation “ate up” a significant part of the profit. Therefore, since 2006, when it had already developed its own circle of clients, the company abandoned such types of advertising, but began to use outdoor advertising in the form of banners near the store and office. Also a good incentive for consumers is the availability of unnamed discount cards that can be transferred to other persons.

The main task of any commercial organization- this is making a profit, maximum profit. This goal will be achieved only if the thoughts, aspirations and strength of the entire team are directed towards this.

The Service-NK company is a manufacturing company and in this case there are several ways to increase profits:

produce more;

more expensive to produce;

produce more and more expensively.

In order to produce more, the company has already purchased the necessary equipment, but in addition to this, more people are needed. Increasing the number of jobs increases the fund wages, which in turn reduces profits. The greater the number of workers, the more control over them is necessary, this entails the emergence of new jobs - a shop manager, a technologist, who also increase the wage fund and reduce profits.

It is especially worth noting the Russian mentality, which plays an important role. Russian people want to earn a lot without having to work. Only in Russia is it practically impossible to work the day after a holiday, personal benefits for workers come before the company, and theft is considered quite normal. All this requires more strict control, which also requires material costs.

More expensive furniture requires more skilled workers to produce. You can’t take just anyone off the street into such a production. It is necessary to either train a suitable person (which requires both time and material costs), or hire a specialist with a higher salary.

Thus, the human factor is the most difficult for any company. You can buy the latest equipment, perfectly set up the whole process, think through everything, plan it, but if a worker does not go to work, goes on strike or works poorly, any plan, even the most accurate one, will crumble like a house of cards. It is difficult to influence a person; this is not a computer that has been rebooted and is again ready to work without complaint. Each person needs to find his own approach, which requires a lot of emotional investment from the manager and creates a lot of difficulties in the daily work of the enterprise.

That is why large companies switch to fully automated production. Machines don’t get nervous, don’t have lunch, don’t take a smoke break, don’t ask for a salary increase, don’t swear and many other “don’ts...”. They simply work according to the program built into them, sometimes they break down (in 90% of cases this is also due to the human factor) and require only an initial investment of capital and maintenance costs (consumables, salaries of service personnel), which is still more profitable for the company than maintaining staff.

3. Directions for improving the building of relationships with consumers at Service-NK LLC

Having analyzed the current situation at the Service-NK enterprise, we can identify three main problems that prevent the company from developing and reaching new heights in its economic niche (Table 12).

Table 12. Identified problems and factors causing them in building relationships with consumers in Service-NK LLC

Problems	Factors causing them
The desire of buyers to purchase quality products at low prices	– low material level of the population – peculiarities of mentality (desire for “freebies”)
The desire of workers to receive more wages and work less	– features of mentality (desire for a freebie) – seeming inadequacy of evaluation of one’s work
Management's desire to increase profits by increasing turnover	– increase, in parallel with trade turnover, wage fund and production costs – the increase in profits is disproportionate to emerging costs and problems

All these problems are quite common in Russian conditions and solving them is a rather difficult task. Let's try to find their reasons first.

The first problem is rooted in the eternal Russian desire for a “silver platter”, for a “freebie”, such is the Russian mentality. We are brought up on fairy tales in which doing nothing is glorified, in which everything is done “according to the pike’s command, according to my desire.” But life, unfortunately, is not like a fairy tale and you always have to pay for everything. Not everyone is ready to come to terms with such a harsh reality.

Often, already at the stage of furniture installation, people begin to be capricious, look for shortcomings, make troubles and try in every possible way to avoid paying the remaining balance. It seems to them that now they will wave an imaginary magic wand, and they will become the owners of new beautiful furniture just because they want it. But this does not happen, and the need arises to pay for your order.

The reasons for the second obstacle on the company's path to the top are the same, only instead of furniture it is money. Of course, it’s a wonderful prospect to lie on the stove all day and also get paid for it. Moreover, everyone wants this: both the workers and the management of the company. How nice it would be if workers worked hard and did not demand payment. Also, one of the reasons for the current situation, in my opinion, is the lack of an incentive system for workers at the enterprise.

It may seem to some that there is no third problem at all - since trade turnover increases, then profits should naturally increase. But it’s only at first glance that everything is so simple. In fact, in order to increase the volume of output, a larger number of workers is needed, this will entail an increase in the wage fund and other expenses, and in the end it turns out that profits increase slightly, but there are more problems.

Table 13. Change in the volume of profit with an increase in turnover at Service-NK LLC

Thus, the example shows that by increasing turnover by 100 thousand rubles, the company’s profit will increase only by 24 thousand rubles. But the main thing is that with an increase in trade turnover, costs and requirements increase to ensure the proper level of quality and the terms specified in the contract.

What ways can be found to solve these problems? Let's start in order.

The way out of the first situation is to develop new market segments, attract clients with above-average incomes who will be willing to pay a higher price for an individual, exclusive design. To attract the consumers we need, we need to offer them something special that other companies do not have.

Such a “highlight” that can interest consumers can be, for example, sliding wardrobes in an old (classical) style. It is traditionally made from mahogany and is distinguished by its large shapes and characteristic patterns. You can also offer furniture made of natural wood, exclusive high-quality fittings, a wider range of colors, printing on mirrors (full color, sandblasting). But it’s not enough to just offer something special, you need to convey this offer to target audience. To achieve this goal, advertising will be required in Novokuznetsk glossy magazines ("Temptation", "Business Navigator"), and in professional publications ("Stroyka").

Such measures will be quite effective in achieving this goal. When buying large, expensive things, things with a long service life, rich people are more focused on prestige, a well-known brand, the image that these things will create for them. That is why, in order to interest the buyers we need, we must rely on the image-forming characteristics of the product. The client must understand and believe that only our furniture can create the desired style, the image of a successful and prosperous person. Also in our favor is the fact that in such an environment it is not customary to save on image; on the contrary, low prices arouse suspicion. It has long been known that even with a slight decrease in the price of luxury goods, sales volumes decline sharply.

Image is paid for in all areas of life. Tours from small travel agencies are often cheaper than from large ones. The cost of developing a corporate identity can vary between agencies by 10 (!) times. The price of computers assembled from the same components in Europe, Asia and Russia also differs significantly today.

It is only necessary to note that every time the consumer overpays for different components of the image. When buying a ticket from a large tour operator, he wants to insure himself against various unpleasant situations during his vacation. Thus, the overpayment amounts are a kind of insurance premium. The same applies to buying a Japanese car, for example, a Honda, instead of a cheaper but less reliable Zhiguli. But when a consumer overpays by buying a German car instead of a Korean one of the same class, elements of prestige are usually taken into account here, i.e. The consumer pays tribute to the image of the manufacturer and its product with his purchase, thereby making a contribution to the creation of his own image.

In our case, there is rather an element of prestige (oak furniture, gilded handles, full-color printing on mirrors, etc.), since quality is always put above all else, even in cheaper versions.

Thus, we will “kill two birds with one stone”: we will increase the cost of products (which, in turn, increase profits) and satisfy the needs of consumers.

In order for a person to do (or not do) something, an incentive is needed. Our ancestors began to walk on two limbs in order to free up the other two for protection and hunting. The need to communicate with each other at a distance stimulated the formation and development of a second signaling system - speech. Man builds dwellings to shelter from bad weather, predators, and villains; dresses and puts on shoes to protect from the cold (initially); tamed and domesticated animals for protection and ease of labor. We do everything in life for something, with some purpose, in order to get something in return, and work is no exception.

Why are we working? In order to make money. Why do we need money? Nowadays, almost everything: building a house, dressing, eating, getting an education, developing spiritually, raising children, traveling and much more becomes available to us if we have money. This leads to the conclusion that the best incentive for workers is their financial interest in the quantity and quality of the work they perform. Conversely, the most effective punishment is deprivation of money.

Therefore, to solve the second problem, we propose to introduce a system of bonuses and fines at the enterprise. This will improve labor productivity, which is beneficial for the company’s management, and workers will have the opportunity to independently regulate their income by the amount of work performed.

Table 14. Proposed system of bonuses and fines to stimulate employees at Service-NK LLC

So, we have one last obstacle left. Since it is not possible to easily and simply increase profits with an increase in turnover, it means that you need to come up with something that will help the company achieve its goal. Let's try to figure it out. Increasing costs are hampering profit growth, so we need to try to reduce them. To avoid increasing the wage fund and related expenses, the number of workers must remain the same.

This is quite possible to realize after the acquisition of modern equipment, which will allow the same number of workers to produce much larger volumes of production. At the same time, the presence of new equipment will improve the quality of products, which, in turn, will increase their price. This will give us an advantage over other companies and increase our competitiveness. Also, the presence of certain types of equipment will allow us to produce furniture better, faster and in larger volumes, which would have been impossible without it. For example, an edge banding machine allows you to cover the ends of parts with various types of edges much faster and with better quality than a human (minus 2 workers). The drilling and additive machine drills the necessary holes in parts in a given location, to a given depth, up to 24 holes simultaneously (minus 1 worker). A more modern model of a format-cutting machine produces faster and more accurate cutting of slab materials (minus 1 worker).

Let's look at the example of the economic benefits of purchasing new equipment. The price of the edge banding machine mentioned above is 11,000 euros or 407,000 rubles. This machine allows you to reduce the staff by 2 people. The salary of one worker is 12,000 rubles per month.

2 people* 12 thousand rubles/month*12 months = 288 thousand rubles per year

407000/288000 = 1,4

Thus, from the calculations it is clearly seen that the equipment will pay for itself in 1.5 years, even before the end of the warranty period, which is 2 years! And this despite the fact that we did not take into account the inflation rate and wage growth. Plus, we get greater speed in furniture production, higher quality and accuracy.

Figure 8. Identified problems and proposed directions for their solution at Service-NK LLC

Conclusion

Based on the results of the work done, we received the following conclusions and made the following conclusions.

Consumers are actual or potential buyers of goods or services. However, this definition should be expanded because the choices people make are largely determined by their environment. For the functioning of markets, including consumer markets, the following factors that shape consumer preferences are essential: initiator, authority, decision maker, buyer, user. All these factors can be inherent in one person or several. Therefore, the relationships that need to be established include a number of people who can come into external contact with the company in several places and in several ways. All of the above can be called shared relationship marketing, in other words, it is a common set of values ​​shared by all members of the company, which makes it possible to implement relationship marketing with consumers as intended. Therefore, a common understanding of strategic objectives and the combined efforts of all employees can become the foundation for success in the market.

Several factors influence how consumers formulate demands and develop perceptions. The most important of them is previous experience of interaction either with you or with another company that the consumer considers exemplary, reference. Purchasing decisions are greatly influenced by consumer opinions. A kind of indicator of their level of satisfaction is the proportion of transactions made on the basis of such an opinion. When consumers are feeling pressed for time, good communication can be an important foundation for relationships. As they approach the point of purchase, it is possible that buyers will shift from passive to active information seeking, and may abandon some of the defensive behaviors they typically engage in in everyday life. At this stage, past experience becomes significant. For computer n And it is very important not to stop your sales efforts after the consumer has made a purchase - this is necessary for the development of consumer relationship marketing.

3. Lost consumers due to quality problems
goods or services or due to poor marketing of relationships with
consumers should be considered as miscalculations in the work of personnel,
which can and should be avoided. It is clear that during the development process
relationships with consumers requires significant investment
time, money and human resources, without which it is impossible
achieve consumer loyalty, and then maintain and strengthen it.
Based on the efforts that could justify the formation of various
types of consumers, we distinguish five levels of relationship structure:

• Reactive;

  Account management;

  Proactive;

  Partnership.

During its existence, the company has repeatedly participated in and won tenders for the production and supply of furniture for many organizations. But the main activity of the organization is working with clients on individual orders. Working with people requires an individual approach to each of them, this must be taken into account and constantly remembered. Therefore, the company guarantees special conditions for each client. This may concern the appearance of the product, configuration, production time, payment terms and even price.

Service-NK has a flexible system of discounts, and the company also offers its clients different kinds discount cards. Along with discounts, the company has a reward system. This offer is for people who order furniture not for themselves. The standard payment scheme requires an advance payment of at least 50%, the remaining amount is paid after the order is completed. The company "Service-NK" has entered into agreements with several banks to provide loans (including interest-free) for the purchase of furniture. The main document regulating the relationship between the company and the client is the contract.

6. Having analyzed the current situation at the Service-NK enterprise, three main problems can be identified:

The desire of buyers to purchase quality products at low prices;

The desire of workers to receive more wages and work less;

Management's desire to increase profits by increasing turnover.

The way out of the first situation is to develop new market segments, attract clients with above-average incomes who will be willing to pay a higher price for guaranteed quality and exclusivity.

To solve the second problem, it is proposed to introduce a system of bonuses and fines at the enterprise. This will improve labor productivity, which is beneficial for the company’s management, and workers will have the opportunity to independently regulate their income by the amount of work performed.

To overcome the last obstacle, it is necessary to purchase modern equipment that will allow the same number of workers to produce much larger volumes of production. At the same time, this will improve the quality of products, which, in turn, will increase their price. As a result, we will gain an advantage over other enterprises and increase our competitiveness.

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1) Why is intraspecific competition more fierce?

2) What partners extract (receive) from mutually beneficial relationships? Explain on specific example.

3) What does the displacement of some individuals by others as a result of competition lead to?

COMPETITION, COOPERATION AND SYMBIOSIS

Between organisms of different species that make up one or another biocenosis, mutually harmful, mutually beneficial, beneficial for one side and unprofitable or indifferent for the other side, and other, more subtle relationships develop.

One of the forms of mutually harmful biotic relationships between organisms is competition. It occurs between individuals of the same or different species due to limited environmental resources. Scientists distinguish between interspecific and intraspecific competition.

Interspecific competition occurs when different types organisms live in the same territory and have similar needs for environmental resources. This leads to the gradual displacement of one type of organism by another that has advantages in the use of resources. For example, two species of cockroaches - red and black - compete with each other for habitat - human habitation. This leads to the gradual displacement of the black cockroach by the red one, since the latter has a shorter life cycle, it reproduces faster and uses resources better.

Intraspecific competition is more acute than interspecific competition, since individuals of the same species always have the same resource needs. As a result of such competition, individuals weaken each other, which leads to the death of the less adapted, that is, to natural selection. Intraspecific competition that arises between individuals of the same species for the same environmental resources negatively affects them. For example, birch trees in the same forest compete with each other for light, moisture and soil minerals, which leads to their mutual oppression and self-thinning.

Among the biotic relationships between organisms in natural communities, mutually beneficial cohabitation occurs. It is built, as a rule, on food and spatial connections, when two or more species of organisms jointly use various environmental resources for their livelihoods. The degree of mutually beneficial cohabitation between organisms varies - from temporary contacts (cooperation) to a state where the presence of a partner becomes a prerequisite for the life of each of them (symbiosis).

Cooperation is observed between a hermit crab and an anemone attached to its shelter - a shell left over from a mollusk. The cancer carries the sea anemone and feeds it with leftover food, and it protects it with the stinging cells with which its tentacles are armed.

An example of symbiosis is the relationship between forest trees and cap mushrooms: boletus, boletus, etc. Cap mushrooms entwine the roots of trees with mycelium threads and, thanks to the mycorrhiza formed in this process, obtain organic substances from plants. Mycorrhiza enhances the ability of tree root systems to absorb water from the soil. In addition, trees receive the necessary minerals from cap mushrooms using mycorrhiza.

Explanation.

The correct answer must contain the following elements:

1) Competing organisms have the same needs.

2) Benefit in the form of additional food and resources from their environment. Example: hermit crab and sea anemone. The crayfish carries the sea anemone and feeds it, the sea anemone protects the crayfish.

3) Death of less adapted individuals.

The need for the population to develop other (new) habitats.

Almost all economically developed countries There is state regulation of the location of enterprises and institutions in cities. Its goal is to maintain the high quality of the environment and its attractiveness.

Regulation of urban settlement in the USA. In the United States of America in early XIX V. in order to fire safety in cities it was allowed to build houses only from brick and stone, covered with iron or tiles.

By the beginning of the 20th century. laws were passed regulating the internal territorial structure of cities. The first of them deprived land owners of the rights to the subsoil under the site and to the airspace above it. In 1909, according to the Los Angeles Zoning Law, the city was divided into residential and industrial areas in order to protect private residential areas from the industrial neighborhood that threatened their quality (and, accordingly, value). In 1916, the New York Zoning Law was passed, according to which the city was divided into three zones: residential, commercial, and an unrestricted zone. In addition, areas were identified where the height of buildings and the density of residential development were limited.

Since the 1960s regulation of urban settlement in the USA is carried out exclusively by economic measures, which are essentially a means of segregation residential areas according to the property and social status of residents.

Is there an optimal territorial structure of a city?

It is obvious that the land use structure of each city should contain not only industrial, commercial and residential zones, but also recreational zones necessary for people’s recreation and maintaining comfortable living. The model of a polarized landscape provides answers to the questions of what relative arrangement of functional zones of the city can be considered optimal, how to protect parks, boulevards, rivers (they do not bring money to the developer) from expanding residential and commercial development?

According to Boris Rodoman's model, the optimal urban structure can be recognized as a location in which aggressive areas (industrial enterprises, shopping centers) are separated from residential areas by so-called “green wedges” - parks, boulevards, recreation areas (Fig. 58). Along the axes of the “green wedges”, starting in city parks, there should be tourist roads equipped in accordance with the requirements of landscape architecture. Only in this way - with optimization territorial structure- nature can be preserved in an industrial society.

Rice. 58. Optimal territorial structure of the city. Intertwining networks of a polarized landscape (according to B. Rodoman):
1 - city centers and highways; 2 - residential areas with a permanent population and an environmentally friendly manufacturing industry; 3 - Agriculture high and medium intensity, marine plantations and fisheries; 4 - country natural parks for recreation and tourism, extensive agriculture (natural hayfields, pastures); 5 - nature reserves; 6 - recreational settlements and dwellings (dachas, holiday homes, camp sites, floating hotels) and connecting tourist routes, trails, roads, flights

Permission to develop the purchased plot is given by the city authorities only if the requirements for its area, the architectural style of the building, the size of the living space are met (at the end of the 20th century for houses on the outskirts of the city it should be at least 140 m2, and in some more prestigious areas- about 200 m2, with a mandatory swimming pool, an expensive closed life support system, etc.). These requirements automatically make housing expensive, thereby limiting the ability of less affluent people to settle in these areas.

A system of monetary compensation to residents for “losses in quality of life” has become widespread. It is believed that the proximity of such objects as a prison, a psychiatric hospital, a power plant, or an industrial enterprise sharply reduces the quality and, accordingly, the cost of nearby housing.

Regulating urban settlement in South Africa. Existed in South Africa until the 1990s. XX century the system of apartheid - the separation of people with different skin colors - was also reflected in the territorial structure of cities: in major cities areas were allocated in which only white or only black citizens were allowed to live (Fig. 59). At present, when apartheid has been condemned and abolished by law, the previously existing settlement system continues to exist and is unlikely to be transformed soon, given the high cost of land and housing in large cities. Black residents from low level income simply cannot afford to change their place of residence.

Rice. 59. Racial zoning in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 1950s. Areas legally designated for residence:

1. - white population;
2. - people of color;
3. - Indians;
4. - Chinese;
5. - black population;
6. - central business district.

Areas where residence was not regulated by law are shown in white.

The forced relocation of indigenous residents to “townships” - “black” suburbs - dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The bulk of black South Africans lived in large cities and worked in mines and enterprises located in close proximity to the cities, commuting daily. The sharp increase in fares has made daily travel unprofitable from an economic point of view. Black Africans were forced to sell their housing in the city and settle near the mines and factories. Such settlements are located around almost all of the largest cities in South Africa, for example Durban and Johannesburg (Fig. 60).

Rice. 60. Suburb of Johannesburg (South Africa)

Regulation of urban settlement in the USSR. Existed in the USSR in the middle of the 20th century. the institution of registration and the policy of limiting the growth of large cities actually assigned citizens to certain settlements. Only in the early 1990s. the institution of registration was abolished and declared contrary to the Constitution.

Regulation of urban settlement in China. The existing “huko” system in the country, which enshrines rural population at the place of specific residence (analogous to Soviet registration), today is the main obstacle to the industrial development of China, since it prevents the migration of the predominant rural population to the rapidly developing industrial enterprises of the cities.

Main ideas of the topic

• The economic structure of a city depends on the functioning of the basic sector of the city economy.
• The nature of land use in cities depends on their transport accessibility.
• Land prices are highest in the central business district and decrease as you move away from the center.
• The territorial structure of each city contains elements of three basic models - concentric, multi-core, sectoral.
• Regulation of the territorial structure of cities is necessary to ensure optimal use urban space.

Repetition and generalization of knowledge on the topic

1. Explain with a specific example the relationship between the basic, service and household sectors. Formulate the Lowry model.
2. What are the patterns of location of plots with different land prices in a large city?
3. What patterns of land use in cities do you know? What is the peculiarity of each of them?
4. What model of urban land use does your city belong to? Why?
5. What are the patterns of setting housing prices in the city?
6. Why do poor people sometimes live in the city center, on expensive land, in poor housing, while wealthier people live on the outskirts, where land is cheaper?
7. What methods of regulating the territorial structure of a city exist?