The Development of Internal Trust in Service Branding – a Comparison of Large Organizations and Smes

As resources for businesses become increasingly rare, awareness of responsible marketing management practices is growing. Accordingly, relationship marketing strategies have gained importance over the last two decades. While a lot of research has been conducted in large organizations, little is known about how SMEs are implementing such strategies. In particular, little is known how the development of internal trust is used in developing service brands in SMEs. This paper addresses this gap by comparing the development of internal trust in service branding strategies between large organizations and SMEs. Semi-structured interviews with managers of large organizations and owners of SMEs were conducted. The qualitative findings suggest that while there are similarities in the importance placed on the development of internal trust, there are also important differences such as the management practices used to develop trust as well as the motivations behind it.