Customer Relationship Management Practices: The Impact on Organizational Performance in SMEs of Food Manufacturing Industry

The successful implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) practices is becoming widely accepted within marketing and sales department in manufacturing industry. Moreover, establishing the customer relationships have always been an important aspect of business. Hence, this study aims to explain the impact of CRM practices to organizational performance through a proposed conceptual model in Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) food manufacturing industry. A model developed and empirically tested through survey data obtained from 369 organizations. The results indicated that CRM practices have a significant positive effect on organizational performance. Similarly, the results revealed that enhanced key customer focus and relationship marketing leads to better organizational performance. Market turbulence was found to have a negative moderating effect on the relationship between CRM practices and organizational performance. This paper contributes to existing literature by incorporating CRM practices as a construct in the proposed model. The conclusions drawn have implications for CRM practices of key customer focus, relationship marketing and market turbulence in research literature. Keywords: customer relationship management practices, market turbulence, organizational performance, small and medium enterprises, food manufacturing industr

Customer relationship management practices: the impact on organizational performance in SMEs of food manufacturing industry

The successful implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) practices is becoming widely accepted within marketing and sales department in manufacturing industry. Moreover, establishing the customer relationships have always been an important aspect of business. Hence, this study aims to explain the impact of CRM practices to organizational performance through a proposed conceptual model in Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) food manufacturing industry. A model developed and empirically tested through survey data obtained from 369 organizations. The results indicated that CRM practices have a significant positive effect on organizational performance. Similarly, the results revealed that enhanced key customer focus and relationship marketing leads to better organizational performance. Market turbulence was found to have a negative moderating effect on the relationship between CRM practices and organizational performance. This paper contributes to existing literature by incorporating CRM practices as a construct in the proposed model. The conclusions drawn have implications for CRM practices of key customer focus, relationship marketing and market turbulence in research literature

Towards a Framework of Enterprise Integration: Linking Quality Management, Organizational Learning and Information Technology

This paper proposes a framework that can be used to explain and improve enterprise integration practices. It draws on the traditions of quality management and organizational learning to understand how implementation of advanced information technologies such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management may be explained and improved. Enterprise systems implementations at two subsidiaries of two separate large conglomerates are used to illustrate this framework. In particular, it is posited that quality management and organizational learning principles and practices are essential for successful advanced information technology implementation. This is because advanced integrative information technologies like ERP and CRM are in essence process management tools and are evolving to become knowledge management tools

Customer relationship management (CRM): The impact on SMEs performance

The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy has become very popular among organizations and companies; hence it’s very common in large companies implement CRM to compete and promote their businesses. However, CRM strategies are not very common in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). SMEs have to implement customer relationship into their business operations in order to strategies on establishing high performance and high value-added with strong technical, innovative capability and competitive advantage over rivals. CRM strategies have the potential to help improve the business value and competitive capabilities of SMEs, yet have received mixed performance reviews in the extant literature. Therefore, this research presents a conceptual model on the antecedents of achieving successful implementations of CRM strategies by Malaysian SMEs. The model incorporate CRM strategies construct; key customer focus, knowledge management, relationship marketing and technological CRM resources, and investigated the impact of CRM strategies on these constructs and relationship performance. In addition the firm’s market orientation has considered as critical antecedent to the practices of CRM. The model then enables several empirically testable propositions that are relevant to develop a survey instrument for this study

The Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Loyalty in the Kenyan Mobile Telecommunication Service Industry

Customer loyalty has been presented as an indicator of successful quality management practices in both the manufacturing and the service sectors. Due to the rapid growth of the services sector in most economies, there is need to understand how this concept is associated with business practices for supporting quality in the services sector. The study examined the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in the Kenyan Mobile Telecommunication Service Sector. The SERVQUAL model was adopted in the study. Kenyatta University students drawn from five of its campuses were selected for the population of the study. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and regression analyses were the parametric statistical tools used to test the association and effect in the study. A significant relationship was found between service quality and customer loyalty r(313) = 0.47, p<0.05. The SERVQUAL model explained a significant proportion of variance in customer loyalty scores with R2 = 0.306, F(4, 308) = 33.93, p < 0.05. The dimensions in the model predicted different values on customer loyalty: Reliability b = 0.19, t(313) = 2.89, p<0.05, Assurance  b = 0.25 t(313) = 3.50, p < 0.05, Empathy b = 0.35 t(313) = 4.90, p<0.05 and  Reliability b = 0.37, t(313) = 0.54, p>0.05. In sum, service quality has a positive relationship with customer loyalty. These findings hold implications for industry operators on key areas to pay attention to in order to support the quality of services offered so as to guarantee sustained customer loyalty. Keywords: Service quality, Customer satisfaction, SERVQUAL model, Kenyatta University, Customer loyalt

A New Paradigm in Customer Relationship Management

This chapter details around the new paradigm within Customer Relationship Management that the industry is going through. It covers topics like Customer Expectations, different levels in Customer Satisfaction, types of Customers especially talking about Millennial’s and their mindset with respect to the expectations of a certain product, and how the customer relationship is changing the game in the market. This chapter also covers some of the key sections such as how Customer relationship management and information technology are playing a key role to enable firms to achieve their goals and targets. Finally, it summarizes some of the key successful best practices to be adopted by firms which can help build trust and relationship with their customers. There by increasing the revenue and customer satisfaction creating win-win situation for both parties

Total Quality Management Practices In Inland Revenue Board And It's Relationship On Employees' Organizational Commitment

The purpose of this study is to identify the degree of TQM practices being implemented in IRB and to identify the relationship between these practices and IRB employees' organizational commitment. This study also aims to find out the impact of four moderators namely, job category, length of service, TQM understanding and TQM training on the relationship of TQM practices with employees' organizational commitment. This is a case study conducted on employees' of Inland Revenue Board in the Cheras, Wilayah Persekutuan branch. Data collection was done through questionnaires and there were 186 respondents. The findings of the study reveal that only two of the practices namely, customer focus and continuous improvement are being implemented in this branch. The other four practices leadership, process management, cooperation and learning are still lacking in implementation. The results reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between four TQM practices namely, customer focus, continuous improvement, cooperation as well as process management and employees' organizational commitment. Finally, the findings show five impact of moderating factors on the relationship between TQM practices and employees' organizational commitment. These are the relationship with continuous improvement moderated by job category, process management moderated by job category as well as TQM understanding and cooperation moderated by TQM training as well as length of service. It is hoped that IRB will review their current TQM practices and steps must be taken to understand key issues that have hampered successful implementation

Development of a relationship management framework and related performance matrics for outsourced aircraft maintenance

Driven by an intensely competitive world, the use of outsourcing is extensive and growing especially in the service business area. Outsourcing provides companies with benefits such as cost reduction and performance enhancement. Despite these advantages, companies need to be aware that successful outsourcing requires an appropriate long term strategy in managing the relationships with their providers. In turn, the providers have to develop collaborative relationships with their customers in order to improve customer satisfaction. Although relationship management of relevance to outsourcing is recognised as an important concept, it has not received attention from both practitioners and researchers, especially with regard to aircraft maintenance outsourcing which is considered to be critical outsourcing associated with high financial and strategic risks. Therefore, the aim of this research study is “to improve aircraft maintenance outsourcing through relationship management”. This research has been divided into three stages to achieve the research aim. The first stage related to an exploration of the key factors for the management of outsourcing relationship, starting with a review of the relevant literature. A multiple case study was then selected to investigate today’s practices of the management of the IT outsourcing relationship, which has similar characteristics to aircraft maintenance outsourcing. A questionnaire survey was also conducted to explore key factors of relationship management for aircraft maintenance outsourcing. With these three sources of evidence, a conclusive finding is that relationship management of relevance to outsourcing comprises six key factors which are clearly defined requirements, agreement, delivery governance, service delivery, performance evaluation and inter-organisational coordination. The second stage focused on exploring how the relationship between an aircraft maintenance provider and an aircraft maintenance customer is managed. The three cases study relationships featuring the four case companies were selected to carry out an in-depth investigation of relationship management for aircraft maintenance outsourcing. The researcher used interview, observation and documentation to collect data from these four case companies. The findings showed that the six key factors identified in the first stage influence the establishment and development of the relationship between the aircraft maintenance provider and customer. Moreover, external factors also have an impact on the way that both parties manage their relationship. The third stage was to develop a proposed approach to performance measurement which is viewed as a key factor of the management of the relationship between an aircraft maintenance provider and an aircraft maintenance customer. The researcher conducted an action research in cooperation with the main subject of this research. The study discovered that the gap model is applicable for performance measurement in aircraft maintenance outsourcing. The improved version of performance measurement model includes new performance metrics that are essential for monitoring the gaps between the provider and customer

Data Envelopment Analysis for establishing the financial benchmark of Korean hotels

In the wake of catastrophic natural disasters and rising threats of terrorism, the hotel industry has seen a decline in revenue and an increase in competition. To avoid a downward spiral, the hotel industry needs to develop more competitive business strategies in order to make its operations lean and robust. These strategies may include: customer relationship management, yield management, niche marketing and continuous improvement of financial health. The success of these strategies hinges on the ability of hotel managers to assess the financial efficiency of their hotel in comparison to competition. In an effort to help hotel management enhance its financial efficiency in an increasingly competitive hotel industry, this paper proposes a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which develops a meaningful set of benchmarks that will dictate best practices and form a successful hotel business model. Using the examples of 39 international and regional hotels in Korea, this paper illustrates the usefulness of DEA for the continuous improvement of hotel business practice

A CRM-based pathway to improving organisational responsiveness: an empirical study

Successful organisations are characterised by how they adjust their organisational practices in response to the external environment. The concept of organisational responsiveness has been used to describe this ability to respond to market changes. The role played by customer relationship management (CRM) in supporting this process is considered, with a focus on the contribution made by how CRM is approached and embedded in the organisation, effective information systems, and staff empowerment. Drawing on data from an empirical study of financial services firms in Brazil, the findings show that improved organisational responsiveness is more effectively enabled by a ‘CRM approach – systems effectiveness – staff empowerment’ pathway, rather than the simple ‘CRM approach – systems implementation’ pathway adopted by many firms. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are explored