Bank Selection Decisions and Market Segmentation

I N an analysis of marketing activities in service industries, George and Barksdale concluded that although service industries have experienced unprecedented expansion in recent years, "the marketing function appears to be less structured in service_companies than in manufacturing firms.... Fragmentation of marketing activities in service firms holds true for all components of the marketing mix."! Moreover, service firms appear to allocate a relatively smaller proportion of their operating budgets to marketing activity than manufacturing firms. Marketing has traditionally been the neglected stepsister in most service industries. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the market for commercial banking services.? Banking has historically had an apparent immunity from marketing. Yet,