A political approach to relationship marketing: case study of the Storsjöyran festival

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Abstract
This study is concerned with interorganisational aspects of relationship marketing, which, in turn, has led to a focus on political aspects, i.e. on interests, conflicts and power in a project network consisting of actors marketing a festival. A metaphor of a project network, the political market square (PSQ), is introduced and used in the analysis of a case study of the Storsjöyran Festival in Sweden. In order to understand the politics and the dynamics in the PSQ, actors' access is discussed. Moreover, interactions between actors, which are to be regarded as cooperative or characterised by power games, and the degree of change dynamics, contribute to understanding dynamic political processes. Identified political processes were gatekeeping, negotiations, coalition building, building of trust and identify building. These processes, and actors' entries and exits between the PSQ and a wider network, caused turbulence and changed the power structure of the PSQ. The turbulence fostered change and innovations that resulted in product development. However, actors' shared identities and a stable, positive image of the festival moderated the turbulence. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.