CRM Technological Solutions: An Approach Of The Critical Success Factors In The Implementation Process

The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy seems very attractive because it provides greats benefits to the organizations when well implemented. Particularly, CRM software solutions have been adopted to make viable this strategy and increase business performance. However, in the last decade most of these implementations have failed and a lot of corporations expressed dissatisfaction with the low returns of their investment. This work in progress proposes research in order to further understand and improve this situation. Our goal is to provide wide analysis and empirical evidence related to the critical success factors in the implementation of CRM software solutions. The investigation intends to draw conclusions and make recommendations to CRM industry agents--CRM software vendors and their implementation partners, consultants, and CRM customer companies--adjust their strategies and obtain better results in selling, implementing and using this CRM technology. The work is based in the technological perspective of CRM, formed by the CRM technological solutions developed and sold to support the CRM strategy. The implementation of this CRM technology is a key process in the general CRM adoption process and we consider this explicitly. So our study model proposes an empirical analysis embracing 4 principal topics: The relationship between success of the implementation process and success of the CRM technology results. How the degree of cultural orientation of the recipient company affects the success of the CRM technology results and implementation process, How the gaps in CRM technology and in CRM information process of the receiver company affects the success of the CRM technology results and implementation process, How the implementation partner’s service quality affects the success of the CRM technology results and implementation proces

Competitive implications of quality assurance processes in higher education. The case of higher education in engineering in France

Quality assurance in higher education is one of the cornerstones of the Bologna agenda and the Lisbon strategy, which aims at establishing the world’s most competitive knowledge economy. Extensive literature up to now has addressed quality assurance as a regulatory and policy mechanism and has presented quality assurance and market forces as antagonistic. However, what policymakers in the field fail to see is that the ‘official’ quality assurance processes also have implications in terms of competition. Indeed, higher education institutions are using the results of these, in principle aseptic, non-market-related evaluation processes, as a way to achieve competitive advantage. This paper analyses the case of higher education institutions in engineering in France. The institutional websites of 163 higher education institutions have been analysed through code-based content analysis techniques and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. This study shows that the analysis of institutional websites can be used as a tool to gauge the importance of the different dimensions of quality assurance for higher education institutions in a given national system. Furthermore, a clear association has been found between the ranking position of an institution and its communication behaviour. The results have been interpreted in the light of Neoinstitutional Theory and Porter’s generic competitive strategies. Practical implications for quality assurance practitioners and managers at higher education institutions have been highlighted

Achieving useful data analytics for marketing: Discrepancies in information quality for producers and users of information

[EN] This study proposes as a key cause of the high failure rates in the implementation of analytical projects for marketing decisions, the discrepancy in the information quality (DIQ) perceived between producers (information technology [IT]) and users (marketing) of knowledge. Given that the DIQ between agents is a determining factor in the success of the ability to data analytics, this study focuses on examining this concept and its causes, specifically the resources related to data analytics that influence DIQ. The results of the surveys carried out with the IT and marketing managers of 95 companies in Spain, analyzed with a comparative methodological approach (dyadic), reveal the sources of the discrepancy, namely, the quality of the data, the technological capabilities, the talent, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) support, and alignment of the data plan with the marketing plan

Price sensitivity versus perceived quality: moderating effects of retailer positioning on private label consumption

Private labels are growing fast in Europe and USA, especially in the context of nondurable consumer goods. Moreover, the traditional association of private labels solely with a price focus, to the detriment of quality, appears to be diminishing. This research aims to clarify the effect of price sensitivity toward and quality perceptions of private labels on private label consumption. It analyzes the role of a retailer's price positioning as a moderator of the importance of these effects as determinants of private label purchases. With household panel data and survey information, this study investigates private labels’ share of wallet as the dependent variable; thus the logit-type model is adapted to a resource allocation context. Five sequential models specify and test the four hypotheses. In support of the hypotheses, price sensitivity and quality perceptions relate positively to private label consumption. For the moderating effect of retailer's price positioning, a negative moderating effect arises for price sensitivity, whereas a positive moderating effect appears for quality perceptions of private labels. The findings indicate that retailers’ efforts to convert private labels into tools to support positioning strategies are effective

Developmental switch from prolonged insulin action to increased insulin sensitivity in protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B-deficient hepatocytes

15 pages, 10 figures.Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is a negative regulator of insulin signaling and a therapeutic target for type 2 diabetes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the differences in insulin sensitivity between neonate and adult hepatocytes lacking PTP1B. Immortalized neonatal hepatocytes and primary neonatal and adult hepatocytes have been generated from PTP1B(-/-) and wild-type mice. PTP1B deficiency in immortalized neonatal hepatocytes prolonged insulin-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor (IR) and IR substrates (IRS) -1, -2 compared with wild-type control cells. Endogenous IR and IRS-2 were down-regulated, whereas IRS-1 was up-regulated in PTP1B(-/-) neonatal hepatocytes and livers of PTP1B(-/-) neonates. Insulin-induced activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt pathway was prolonged in PTP1B(-/-) immortalized neonatal hepatocytes. However, insulin sensitivity was comparable to wild-type hepatocytes. Rescue of PTP1B in deficient cells suppressed the prolonged insulin signaling, whereas RNA interference in wild-type cells promoted prolonged signaling. In primary neonatal PTP1B(-/-) hepatocytes, insulin prolonged the inhibition of gluconeogenic mRNAs, but the sensitivity to this inhibition was similar to wild-type cells. By contrast, in adult PTP1B-deficient livers, p85alpha was down-regulated compared with the wild type. Moreover, primary hepatocytes from adult PTP1B(-/-) mice displayed enhanced Akt phosphorylation and a more pronounced inhibition of gluconeogenic mRNAs than wild-type cells. Hepatic insulin sensitivity due to PTP1B deficiency is acquired through postnatal development. Thus, changes in IR and IRS-2 expression and in the balance between regulatory and catalytic subunits of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase are necessary to achieve insulin sensitization in adult PTP1B(-/-) hepatocytes.This work was supported by Grant BFU 2005-01615 (to A.M.V.) and Grant SAF 2004-5545 (to M.B.) from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain), Grant CAM/GR/SAL/0384/2004 (to A.M.V.) from Comunidad de Madrid (Spain), and Red de Grupos de Diabetes Mellitus Grant G03/212, Instituto Carlos III (Spain). A.G.-R. was supported by Grant FPU (Ministerio de Educación, Spain). O.E. was supported by Juan de la Cierva programe (Ministerio de Educación, Spain).Peer reviewe

La relación entre el tipo de liderazgo de los entrenadores de remo de banco fijo, el número de regatas remadas y la satisfacción de sus deportistas

Traineras rowing is a type of rowing where the boats compete in the open sea. This study aims to examine the relationship between the coach’s leadership in fixed seat rowing and the athletes' satisfaction, to which rower participation is added as a covariable. Four teams with a total 66 elite rowers (age: 28.0 ± 5.5 years) and their four coxswains (age: 36.1 ± 1.1 years) took part in this study. Two versions (preferences and perceptions) of the Leadership Scale for Sports-LSS which had been adapted to Spanish were used to evaluate the coxswains' leadership and its relationship with the rowers' satisfaction. The Spanish translation of the Athletic Satisfaction Questionnaire-ASQ was also used. In addition to leadership, which showed statistically significant relationships with the satisfaction factors taken as a whole (p=>.001), and with numerous dimensions of the scale, the number of regatas also showed statistical associations with the athletes’ general satisfaction (p=.018). The data obtained confirm the congruence hypothesis posed in the Multidimensional Model of Leadership (MML) and, in view of the differences in leadership found, the need for future interventions to improve coxswains in this sport.Las regatas de traineras son una modalidad deportiva que se desarrolla en mar abierto. El objetivo de este estudio fue examinar la relación existente entre el liderazgo de los entrenadores en remo de banco fijo y la satisfacción de los deportistas, a lo que se añade la participación de los remeros como covariable. Cuatro equipos con un total de 66 remeros de élite (edad: 28.0 ± 5.5 años) y sus cuatro entrenadores (edad: 36.1 ± 1.1 años) tomaron parte en este estudio. Para valorar el liderazgo ejercido por los entrenadores y su relación con la satisfacción de los deportistas, la adaptación al castellano de la Escala de Liderazgo en el Deporte (Leadership Scale for Sports-LSS) fue utilizada en dos de sus versiones (preferencias y percepciones) y la traducción al castellano de la Escala de Satisfacción de los Deportistas (Athletic Satisfaction Questionnaire-ASQ). Además del liderazgo, que obtuvo relaciones estadísticamente significativas con los factores de satisfacción tomadas en su conjunto (p=>.001), y con numerosas dimensiones de la escala, el número de regatas también mostró asociaciones estadísticas con la satisfacción general de los remeros (p=.018). Los datos obtenidos confirman la hipótesis de la congruencia planteada en el Multidimensional Model of Leadership (MML) y dada las diferencias de liderazgo halladas surge la necesidad de futuras intervenciones de mejora de los entrenadores en esta especialidad deportiva

El proceso de inferencia de la calidad de los productos orgánicos según la categoría de producto y estilo cognitivo

La calidad de los productos supone una variable clave de competitividad para la empresa y, pese a ello, la literatura no aporta una explicación clara de calidad del producto orgánico. Este estudio propone un modelo que destaca las percepciones sobre atributos del producto orgánico (protección medioambiental, salud y aspectos hedónicos) que explican la calidad. Adicionalmente, se consideran factores (la categoría de producto y el estilo cognitivo de los consumidores para procesar información) que condicionan la explicación de la calidad a partir de esas tres percepciones. Un estudio con 209 sujetos ofrece evidencia empírica sobre las relaciones propuestas: la percepción medioambiental tiene mayor efecto sobre la calidad para las categorías de virtud (ej. Chocolate) que para las de vicio (ej. Yogur); además, el efecto de las percepciones hedónicas sobre la calidad es mayor cuando ésta es inferida por consumidores intuitivos frente a los analíticos. Estos hallazgos sugieren importantes implicaciones teóricas y gerenciales.Product quality is a key determinant of a firm’s competitiveness, though previous literature lacks a clear explanation of product quality for organic markets. This study proposes a new model that highlights consumers’ perceptions of specific organic product attributes: environmental protection, health, and hedonic aspects. Quality assessments based on these three perceptions depend on other factors too, such as the product category and the cognitive style consumers use to process information. A study with 209 respondents offers empirical evidence that the effect of perceptions of environmental protection on perceived quality is greater for organic products in a virtue category (e.g., yogurt) than a vice category (e.g., chocolate). Hedonic perceptions also have a greater impact on perceived quality when consumers are intuitive versus analytical. These findings suggest some important theoretical and managerial implications

Role of collaboration in innovation success: differences for large and small businesses

This article analyses the role of collaboration in the contribution of innovation to business performance. Moreover, the analysis considers business size as a key control variable to understand the moderating role of collaboration in innovation success. A survey administered to Spanish firms from industrial, building, agriculture, and trade-service sectors measured two levels of innovation, incremental and radical, and two dimensions of collaboration, channel and consulting advice. The findings show that the probability of success increases when firms use collaboration to support innovation efforts. In addition, small businesses take more advantage of channel collaboration, whereas large businesses rely more on consulting advice-based collaboration. These findings suggest that the convenience of different collaboration approaches depend on business size. Also small and large firms differ on the way they might get additional advantages from alternative ways of collaboration. Therefore, the main contribution is the understanding of how innovation success depends on the interaction between the collaboration approach and business size

Determinación de precios óptimos en el sector de la distribución comercial en españa: aplicación de un enfoque de competencia asimétrica

Teniendo en cuenta la importancia que adquieren las decisiones de precios en la distribucióncomercial minorista, en este trabajo se propone un modelo de decisión de precios óptimosen el que, a corto plazo, los efectos de los precios óptimos sobre la demanda y los márgenes deldistribuidor maximizan la rentabilidad global de la categoría de productos. Tres aspectos fundamentalespermiten describir esta propuesta: 1) se basa en una perspectiva agregada; 2) incorporamodelos de cuota de mercado con consistencia lógica –con el fin de aportar mayor robustez a lamedición de la demanda– y 3) incluye el papel de la estructura competitiva mediante una modelizaciónexplícita de los efectos asimétricos de precio entre productos competidores. Asimismo, seevalúan las consecuencias de una estructura competitiva asimétrica sobre las decisiones óptimasde precios y se cuantifica el coste derivado de obviar esta circunstancia en la toma de decisiones através de una aplicación empírica