Abstract:

The concept of internal marketing explains managing human resources from a marketing point of view. The basic assumption is that employees are internal customers who need to receive sufficient organisational attention to build-up external customer satisfaction and loyalty. Internal marketing seeks to establish collaboration between all functions and departments, with special emphasis on connecting Human Resource Management and Marketing function. This integrative approach is based on networking all employees in the dispersion of customer orientation. Internal marketing activities, therefore, should start from traditional market research and market segmentation, ie investigating employee personality, skills, knowledge, abilities, interests, and attitude so their beliefs, intentions and behaviors could be accordingly coordinated. Adequate organisational support in terms of knowledge sharing (training, education, promotion opportunities) and encouraging teamwork within different departments can develop a desirable work atmosphere where organisational vision and goals are completely accepted and understood. Human Resource Management task in the marketing aspect is influencing employee perception by motivating their satisfaction to build loyal employees and strong organisational culture. Job satisfaction to a great extent is a result of bonding employee with organisation (organisational commitment). Satisfied employee becomes committed and productive employee that brings satisfied and committed customer. This review paper shows that some theoretical issues about internal marketing implementation have been solved, but practical questions still have missing answers.