ABSTRACT
Stephen L. Vargo and Robert F. Lusch (V&L) proposes that a new dominant logic for marketing is emerging that is based on a service-centered perspective. This involves a shift in emphasis from a goods-centered logic that is based on tangible resources and transactions to one that focuses on intangible resources and relationships. V&L's article makes two important contributions: they develop eight foundational premises that underpin the emerging service-centered logic, they make a distinction between operand resources and operant resources. This chapter examines Contemporary Marketing Practice (CMP) findings that suggest an alternative competing logic of 'goods and services' rather than 'goods toward services'. This is based on the pluralism of marketing practices and aligns closely to what organizational and strategic management researchers have referred to as contingency theory. The purpose of the CMP research group's research program has been to profile marketing practice in a contemporary environment, and to examine the relevance of relational marketing in different economic and cultural contexts.
