Discusses how marketing practice is competitively evolving as airlines, in a code-sharing environment, seek to be more effective, efficient and profitable. It complements changes to airline structures in routeing, staffing levels and technology, and by establishing strong brand presence is a means for customer attraction, retention and network expansion. Distribution channels are changing as travel agencies are affected by airlines' direct sales and Internet-based interactive communication. Traditional segmentation tactics directed to business travellers, through frequent flyer programmes and premium services, are threatened by businesses economising, staff reductions and the increasing importance of the leisure traveller. An overview of international practice is taken and points illustrated, where appropriate, by examples of specific airlines.

Managing the dynamics of customer behaviour in the rapidly emerging multi-channel e-business environment is complex. Establishing an enduring and profitable dialogue with a customer requires that online relationship management applications can accommodate the channel variety in the customer’s e-communications portfolio, including their buyer behaviour dynamics. With reference to the global hotel industry, this paper considers the impact of Internet multi-channel access on the customer decision-making process; how differences in buyer behaviour and loyalty level influence the relationship management process; and the implications of effectively managing buyer behaviour and the provision of multi-channel customer accessibility for competitive advantage.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractFocuses on the forthcoming next generation Internet's address system (IPv6) which will potentially redefine the way marketers approach the segmentation of interactive cybermarkets. Explores the ramifications of Internet-based purchasing systems to buyer behaviour. Differences and similarities of next generation direct marketing compared with classic and neoclassic direct marketing approaches are evaluated. Sensitivity to changes and differences in customer decision-loyalty type are explored from the perspective of building high value customer relationships, where decision-loyalty type is considered to be a key resegmentation variable for personalised interactive cybermarketing. Electronic accessThe research register for this journal is available at

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Soft systems methodology (SSM) is a procedure for achieving improvement in human activity systems which has been applied in a wide variety of practical instances. POSIT ‐ a marketing mnemonic ‐ is a conceptual approach to marketing and its components, which also has been employed to analyse both practical situations and the subject of marketing itself. SSM and POSIT, although distinct, have features in common which are explored in this paper. A reader‐friendly simulation of SSM is taken as an example to show the relationships of the two methodologies in the analysis of marketing as an indicative human activity system.