Progress in customer relationship management adoption: a cross-sector study

Although customer relationship management (CRM) is widely used by organizations to capture and manage customer data, the process of implementation can be problematic. This article takes a multi-sector view of CRM implementation in three areas of the UK services sector: banking and finance; professional services; and the government/public sector. The study captures variations in CRM practice and implementation across these sectors, applying an existing framework of CRM implementation to tease out progress in relation to people (the company's staff), the company itself, the customers, and the technology. The implications for organizations that have reached different implementation stages in their CRM journey are considered

Does Culture Impact Preferred Employee attributes in Complaint Handling Encounters?

Recently, Gruber et al.’s (2011) Kano study revealed that complaining customers in Saudi Arabia are less difficult to delight than UK customers. The present study investigates whether these differences are caused by different service sector development stages, as suggested in their study, or by cultural differences instead. Data were collected using Kano questionnaires from 151 respondents with complaining experience in Singapore. This country was chosen as it has a highly developed service economy (like the UK) but also a collectivistic culture (like Saudi Arabia). The analysis reveals that Singaporean customers show the same preferences as those in the UK. We consider this as a strong indicator for the suggested impact of the stage of service sector development rather than cultural differences on complaining customers’ preferences of frontline employee attributes. Our results support the findings by Gruber et al. (2011). By doing so, they surprisingly refute previous research which concluded that national culture plays a significant role in shaping customer expectations during complaint handling encounters. Our study especially corroborates the notion of a life cycle of quality attributes that had been found for goods and services and the preferred attributes of frontline employees dealing with customer complaints

Implementing, monitoring and measuring a programme of relationship marketing

This single, embedded case study examined the marketing activities of Flensted Catering A/S, a Danish food company. The case is the first one in a series of case studies constituting a larger research project with the overall objective of understanding how to implement relationship marketing, how to monitor the outputs and how to measure the returns. In 1996, the company embarked on a three-phase programme directed at building relations with customers. As a prelude to the implementation, Flensted Catering A/S conducted focus groups and issued questionnaires to determine customer perceptions of how the company could meliorate its performance. Subsequently, the Danish firm established project teams, instituted customer-focused staff training and sought to improve communications with customers. Following the implementation, the monitoring revealed that Flensted Catering A/S was rated as a better supplier by 43 per cent of its customers and that customer retention had risen to 94 per cen

Driven to excess? Linking calling, character and the (mis)behaviour of marketers

We are presently at a point of unique circumstantial convergence where recession, an increased emphasis on business ethics, and marketer’s reluctance to accept shifting social agendas have combined to identify the need for a new approach to marketing. Using concepts from the human resources, marketing and psychology literatures, and especially Erich Fromm’s ideas concerning economic character, this paper posits that marketers – as a professional community – are driven to promote consumerist outcomes; victims of an automaton amalgam of calling and character. The analysis suggests the vulnerability of both marketer and consumer are mutually reinforcing and that we need, somehow, to break this damaging cycle of dependence. We know little, however, about how marketers think and feel about their discipline, so this paper also promotes an agenda for marketer behaviour research, as a countervailing balance to a currently disproportionate focus on the consumer

Cross-border electronic commerce: distance effects and express delivery in European Union markets

This empirical study examines distance effects on cross-border electronic commerce and in particular the importance of express delivery in reducing the time dimension of distance. E-commerce provides suppliers with a range of opportunities to reduce distance as perceived by online buyers. They can reduce psychological barriers to cross-border demand by designing websites that simplify the search for and comparison of products and suppliers across countries. They can reduce cost barriers by applying pricing strategies that redistribute transportation costs, and they can overcome time barriers offering express delivery services. This study of 721 regions in five countries of the European Union shows that distance is not “dead” in e-commerce, that express delivery reduces distance for cross-border demand, and that e-demand delivered by express services is more time sensitive and less price sensitive than e-demand satisfied by standard delivery. The willingness of e-customers to pay for express services is shown to be affected by income and by the relative lead-time benefits and express charges. Furthermore, the adoption of express delivery is positively associated with e-loyalty in terms of repurchase rates. The results confirm the importance for e-suppliers of cleverly designed delivery services to reduce distance in order to attract online customers across borders

Lean Manufacturing in Public Services: Prospects for Value Creation

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the utilization of lean manufacturing systems in public service operations for poten- tial added value. A case study of lean manufacturing implementation at a UK city council was carried out using in-depth interviews with key personnel coupled with documents collection. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) was administered among front-line employees. Results show that lean manufacturing systems could create signi cant added value to the business and employees. A strong relation- ship was demonstrated between the lean manufacturing implementation and the a ective commitment level of employees. This paper is one of a few studies that demonstrate the applicability of manufacturing systems in other settings and that they can generate significant added value for the service department and its employees