Tacit Knowledge as Competitive Advantage in Relationship Marketing: A Literature Review and Theoretical Implications

Abstract

An increasing interest in relationship marketing (RM) has occurred recently. RM has been presented as a strategic response to firms in the attainment of competitive advantages through the creation of interdependence, trust, and commitment between the firm and the customer. RM is important for firms in general and for service firms, particularly those characterized by high interpersonal contact, in which the service is inherently more relational. Tacit knowledge of employees as a result of interactions could allow a firm to obtain and maintain customer satisfaction in visits or/and subsequent uses. In this research we discuss a set of theoretical implications for service firms in which different relationships between tacit knowledge and the elements of RM are shown. In addition we argue that tacit knowledge should be seen as a source of sustainable competitive advantage in RM.