LAUSR

The issues of elderly consumers remain under researched despite a rapidly aging population in most countries across the globe. We examine the service failure and complexity of problems of a nursing home for seniors and seek to contribute to the field of research in terms of exploring internal marketing solutions based on two theoretical frameworks- Service Profit Chain and the Relational Third Place theory. We aim to provide insights about why elderly people are not treated as consumers. Besides, based on comprehensive review of literature and analysis of an important case situation, we develop a new framework called Complex Organizational Problems and Solutions (COPS) by generalizing the insights we gained through the study. We find that internal marketing practices help improve employee satisfaction and service quality, which in turn leads to satisfied consumers.