Management Quarterly

Relationship marketing involves building trust and commitment to develop and maintain a customer base. The concept is an ideal strategy for consumer-owned utilities as they are about to enter a restructured and highly competitive environment. As the relationship between these utilities and their customers grows through frequent contact, the greater is their competitive edge. Relationship marketing can be implemented by adopting and developing a distinctive brand identity that imparts the bene...

Rural electric industry leaders define success.

Success, whether corporate or personal, can be defined in a number of ways. Seven officials in the rural electric industry offer their own definitions of success. For Assn of Illinois Electric Cooperatives Pres and CEO Earl Struck, success means overcoming obstacles and reaching goals. Midwest Energy Pres and Gen Mgr Gene Argo believes that success has four key elements, namely, a goal, good luck, social support and a willingness to take risks. Cobb Electric Membership Corp and Cooperative Po...

Using HRM to compete in the 21st century.

Human resource management Effective human resources management (HRM) is a crucial factor as electric cooperatives compete in a deregulated environment. HRM has evolved to encompass a number of functions other than human resource planning, recruiting, training, performance review, compensation and job analysis. As dramatic changes take hold in the electric industry, HRM departments are increasingly expected to implement high-performance policies and practices that will ensure sustained competitive advantage. Among the ...