Investigating the impact of cross-cultural on CRM implementation: a comparative study

In a competitive world there is a need for companies to maximise all their resources. One of the resources that are often overlooked is that of existing customer base. Customer relationship management (CRM) is a tool that is becoming increasingly popular as it provides a method of maximising existing customer resource as well as adding value from the customers’ perception. CRM consists of three simultaneous considerations that drive CRM strategy: (1) people, business culture and relationships, (2) processes, and (3) technology. In a globalise economy, cross-cultural is becoming of extreme importance to many researchers and practitioners, but there is a lack of literature on the impact of cross-cultural on CRM implementation. Multinational organizations face the situation of how to adopt CRM implementation process according to differences in culture factors from country to country

Developing a Structurational Approach to Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM)

The literature on culture provides a set of general concepts and ideas as a way of looking at the world (Hofstede 1980). However, the typologies of culture have inherent weaknesses, e.g., they do not reflect the variety of values and attitude that may exist in a country, nor do they explain how cultures have developed over time (Skok and Doringer 2001). These limitations lead our research to investigate the potential impact of cultural differences on eCRM using concepts from Structuration Theory by ,. In this paper the authors highlight the dimensions of culture and its potential impact on eCRM systems, using a Structurational analysis based on . The authors use the practice lens for studying technology in organizations based on , to develop a framework of studying different agencies and their structures within eCRM systems context. The authors conclude by a framework of Structurational analysis of eCRM systems displaying different agencies and their structures. This framework of analysis will be used to conduct a comparative case study in future research

A leadership model for e-government transformation

Since the late 1990’s governments have invested aggressively in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This trend has paved the way for moving into the “Digital Age”. However, despite the wide use of ICT, research on e-government suggests that it has not yet reached its full potential of integration. In this paper the authors consider possible reasons for this potential shortfall, using models of adoption of innovations and relating them to egovernment. In doing so, a simple “Leadership Model” is proposed, that will lead to a profound understanding in transforming government and widen the agenda for further research. In particular, the aim of this paper is to highlight and explain of the gap that exist in the final stage of multi-stage-government maturity model by (Layne and Lee, 2001) and what is needed to overcome i

Adoption of CRM: cross-cultural impact, a literature review

In a competitive world there is a need for companies to maximise all their resources. One of the resources that is often overlooked is that of existing customer base. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an area that is becoming increasingly popular as it provides a method of maximising existing customer resource as well as adding value from the customers’ perception. CRM systems are used in many multinational organizations mainly to achieve customer loyalty and retention, increase cross selling and to improve customer satisfaction. A normative review of researches done to evaluate CRM systems shows that between 25 to 75 percent of CRM systems have failed (to various degrees) because of neglecting cultural awareness. Implementing CRM systems is a time consuming and expensive business, and the impact of failure can have a dramatic effect on the organization IT investment. Multinational organizations face the situation of how to adopt CRM implementation process according to differences in culture factors from country to country. Although there are studies that investigate the relation of cultural issues to general IT implementations, there is a noticeable lack of literature on the impact of cross-cultural on CRM implementation. This paper focuses on the impact of cross-cultural on CRM systems, and tries to summarize work done to explore the cultural awareness’ issues that influence CRM system

Critical success factors for e-tendering implementation in construction collaborative environments : people and process issues

The construction industry is increasingly engulfed by globalisation where clients, business partners and customers are found in virtually every corner of the world. Communicating, reaching and supporting them are no longer optional but are imperative for continued business growth and success. A key component of enterprise communication reach is collaborative environments (for the construction industry) which allows customers, suppliers, partners and other project team members secure access to project information, products or services they need at any given moment. Implementation of the stated critical success factors of the project is essential to ensure optimal performance and benefits from the system to all parties involved. This paper presents critical success factors for the implementation of e-tendering in collaborative environments with particular considerations given to the people issues and process factors

Cultural universality versus particularity within e-CRM systems: a special case of information systems

Cultural factors are often identified as a crucial influence on the success or failure of Information Systems in general and Electronic Customer Relationship Management Systems (eCRM) in particular. Several researchers have suggested ways in which management can accommodate these factors or solve the problem they pose. This paper attempts to go one step beyond management measures and ask whether there is a theoretical foundation on which one can base the mutual influence of culture on eCRM. There is a lack of pervious literature on the impact of culture differences on eCRM systems. A normative literature review on the impact of culture on different types of Information Systems has been done to explore different cultural factors that might influence eCRM systems as an application of Information Systems. The authors highlight the cultures factors in macro and micro level that have been investigated in the literature of Information systems. At the macro level, it is necessary to consider the differences at a national level. The differentiating characteristics will include: organizational structures, function and process oriented views, supervisory control mechanisms etc. Micro level considerations will be at the individual level and will include human responses to organizational change, cultural acceptability of different organizational structures etc. The authors propose a framework of cultural concerns for management of eCRM systems within multinational environment organizations. This framework will be tested in future research and will be modified according to the results

A cultural approach to study customer relationship management (CRM) systems

As this paper takes new approach to defining and studying CRM, it defines CRM as a business strategy that seamlessly integrates every aspect of business that touches customer. Going through CRM literature, the authors notice that, there are different objectives for CRM systems i.e. retains customers for long, increase sales to existing customers and candidate customers, and others. Over the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in the acquisition of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems. However more recently, there has been an increase in reported CRM failures, suggesting that the implementation issues are not just technical, but encompass wider behavior and cultural factors. Multinational organization is faced by that problem, how they build a relationship with different customer in different culture contexts. The literature on culture provides a set of general concepts and ideas as a way of looking at the world. However, the typologies of culture have inherent weaknesses e.g. they do not reflect the variety of values and attitude that may exist in a country, nor do they explain how cultures have developed over time. These limitations will need to be borne in mind, as we consider potential culture impact on the use of information systems, particularly customer relationship management systems. The authors try to highlight the interaction between cultures in macro and micro level in the context of CRM systems. The authors conclude that social and cultural issues of the main area related to studying of CR

Towards designing a sustainable is-enabled service delivery system

This paper aims to bring into focus the concept of service sustainability. The normative literature advocates that services by companies, government institutions and service delivery are still posing great challenges to many organizations in this digital age. In highlighting the distinctive feature of service innovation, businesses will be able to maintain competitive advantage. In examining the literature on the service concept, successful companies have the customer at the forefront of their business strategy. As a result, the authors formulate suggestions on the most effective way an organization and the people concerned, can recast strategic thinking. to anticipate and adapt to ever increasing changing service environment. The contribution of the study is an IS-enabled Service Delivery Model (SDM) that places customer and staff as an integral part of the service delivery system with managed interactions and continuous quality control. This intends to support practitioners and researchers which could provide the former useful means of conceptualizing service, and raises an important issue to the latter in revisiting service quality research

Impact of knowledge management processes on organisational performance: A preliminary study

Copyright @ 2013 EMCIS.Despite the increasing number of studies relating to Knowledge Management (KM) in developed countries, few studies have explored this issue within the context of developing countries. Moreover, some industries have been affected more acutely than others in the transition to a knowledge-based economy. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate KM processes and to investigate the impact on organisational performance (OP).The authors propose a conceptual model through an in-depth investigation of the previous and current studies in the area of KM and OP. It is envisaged that this model can play a role in guiding the process of KM implementation in order to maximise the beneficial effects of KM processes on OP. An inductive qualitative approach was used based on a preliminary study. A pilot study was conducted; the study involved the use of interview as a primary data collection technique. Content analysis approach was used to identify ideas relevant to the main themes. The study showed that knowledge usage is the most influential aspect of KM that impacts OP. Moreover, the study revealed that knowledge transfer is a common KM process employed by organisations. Accordingly, it was ranked as the second most influential factor of KM with respect to OP

Cultural Dimensions And CRM Systems: A Cross-Cultural Case Study’

Cultural dimensions are often identified as a crucial influence on the success or failure of Information Systems in general and Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) in particular. Several researchers have suggested ways in which management can accommodate these dimensions or solve the problems they may pose. Ali& Alshawi (2005) have proposed a cultural concerns framework for the management of CRM systems implementation in the multinational environment. In this paper the authors test that framework by conducting a qualitative comparative case study in a large multinational organization in two countries. The authors have investigated the implementation of CRM systems within the same organization in both Egypt and the UK. Using observation, document analysis and interviews, qualitative data has been elicited and used a Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) analysis to determine themes for each case study. The result is a framework of cultural dimensions for management of CRM systems, within multinational environment organizations