Quality, value, satisfaction, trust, a

Management of in compatibility has traditionally been treated as an
uncontrollable phenomenon that needs to be avoided rather than something that
should be managed operationally. Some of the factors that are expected to
moderate the intensity of reaction to incompatibility such as mood (Swinyard
1993), involvement (Swinyard 1993), and personal values (Schwartz 1992) are,
unfortunately, beyond the control of marketing managers. That is, perhaps, the
reason for emphasis on avoiding incompatibility through effective management of
different customer segments. Articulation of a clear positioning statement which
enables customers to self select businesses where they will feel comfortable in
the company of their fellow customers is expected to help avoid incompatible
situations.
Complete avoidance of incompatibility will, however, require extreme
segmentation which may not be a practical option for all businesses. It has been
suggested that for most of the businesses to grow, they need to serve diverse
groups of customers which show different levels of tolerance to incompatible
behaviors (Martin 1996). Incompatibility, therefore, seems unavoidable. In
addition to effective segmentation incompatibility also needs to be dealt at an
operational level. Managers may use both on site solutions such as physical
separation, enforcement of policies designed to control unacceptable behavior,
and advance communication with customers about the possibility of encountering
some undesirable behaviors.
For an active management of incompatibility we need to accomplish two
tasks. First, we need to identify the factors that influence the intensity of reaction
towards undesirable public behaviors and understand their relative contributions.
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