Current Customer Relationship Management Research Articles

Golden Arches of Success: Enhancing Customer Relationship Management at McDonald's, Wide Angle, Ahmedabad

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is crucial in the retail business, especially in the highly competitive fast-food sector. This research examines the customer relationship management (CRM) strategies used by McDonald's, Wide Angle in Ahmedabad. The objective is to get insights into their methods of managing customer relationships and improving corporate performance. The goals include evaluating current CRM strategies, identifying strengths and areas for improvement, and offering practical suggestions to increase CRM performance. The study used a qualitative research methodology, including semi-structured interviews with branch managers to get in-depth understanding of McDonald's customer relationship management (CRM) activities. The key results include McDonald's tactics for managing data, techniques for segmenting customers, avenues for contact, and programmes for fostering loyalty. The investigation demonstrates a significant focus on customisation, the use of technology, and the incorporation of client feedback methods. The strengths that have been highlighted include the implementation of comprehensive communication strategies and the successful implementation of loyalty programmes. On the other hand, the problems that need to be addressed are the integration of feedback into practical and effective initiatives.

The New Times of Social Media Marketing in the B2B Framework

Nowadays, we live in the age of Marketing 4.0. Historically, marketing has often depended on changing consumer habits and needs. Thus, it is necessary to understand the new habits and needs of the consumer to make companies more and more effective. Currently, social media marketing (SMM) is ubiquitous in organizations, and is seen as a tool to achieve strategic goals. Therefore, SMM is important for companies to adapt their approach to customer relationship management and advance new marketing competencies to enable customer satisfaction. To drive customer satisfaction and improve customer experience, managers are loading social media applications into their current customer relationship management (CRM) systems. This study seeks to understand the feasibility of implementing SMM in business to business (B2B) companies and how this affects CRM and customer knowledge management (CKM). For this study, data were collected from two Portuguese micro-companies. The methodology used was exploratory qualitative in nature through a multiple case study, wherein semi-structured interviews were applied. It was found that SMM cannot be used in the B2B companies under investigation because CRM needs are much more dependent on CKM than on the mass interactions and indirect communication with the customer that can potentially exist in SMM. In these companies, communication with the client can be adjusted on a case-by-case basis through SMM, without the need for mass communication with all clients. This paper provides implications for the management of micro-enterprises regarding social media marketing. It also contributes to the development of the literature on SMM, CRM and CKM.

The Importance of Human Domain Knowledge and Business Data Analytics to Support Modern Financial Decisions

The purpose of this study is to identify how importance is human domain knowledge and business data analytics to support modern financial decision. Understanding whether social media narratives could provide a value-add to current customer relationship management practices could be quite valuable. Design/methodology/approach-An analysis of the literature was undertaken and based on an assessment of the literature, conceptual states and pragmatic approaches as well as existing theoretical understandings and frameworks. An explorative case study approach based on Yin’s design will be utilized as a framework as well as a demographic survey to distill even further the characteristics of the sampling from a customer, management and social media user perspective. Furthermore, a customer relationship management framework which would include the adjoining of data analytics and social media narratives will be discussed in context of the research findings. This will help researchers and practitioners more readily explore the shared value framework which the study will be based and contribute to a more fulsome consideration of customer relationship management practice shifts within a technological and social media-oriented age. The contributions of this research will also help reiterate the importance of context in data management as well as the importance of the paradigmatic power shifts reflected in consumer usage of social media, product or service offerings, social consciousness and ethical practice as it relates to the influence of consumer intentions and subsequent purchasing intentions.The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to gain common understandings of how importance is human domain knowledge and business data analytics to support modern financial decision. In order to support reliable and valid research, a purposive sample of customer relations managers, business analysts who have customer relations management (CRM) roles, and customers who utilize social media for the purposes of product or service development was attained.

Customers’ perception of current CRM practices at SBI: A case study of State Bank of India, Patna District, Bihar

In the current era of economic revolution such as demonetisation and digitization banks are considered to be playing significant role. To sustain in this challenging environment, it is crucial that banks maintain good reputation with their customers. The survival of service organisations is imaginable only if they follow strong CRM (Customer Relationship Management) practices. CRM consists of number of variables that can be studied to understand customers’ perception of service quality of these organisations. Banks are also such organisations that entirely subsist on their relationship with their customers. Therefore, it is extremely essential to understand if banks are following worthy CRM practices and whether customers are satiated with these practices or not. It has been observed that certain issues are emerging in the market that may impact the reputation of SBI in Patna. The key reason for these issues is the intense competition in the market between public and private sector banks. Customers are known to be always right and they can effortlessly switch to different banks on account of any negative experience if they come across. In addition to this, it has been identified that private banks are somehow able to attract customers due to their constant run to improve their services and relationships with the customers to survive in the tough market. This factor seems to be lacking in the case of public sector banks such as SBI. In the light of this scenario, a research has been conducted to find out the satisfaction level of customers of SBI with its services. The research provides deep insight into the problems that customers are currently experiencing and suggestions have been provided that may provide solution to the emerging issues in the bank. Keywords: Customer relationship management, Customer satisfaction, Service quality.

The Next Wave of CRM Innovation: Implications for Research, Teaching, and Practice

Globalization and customers’ ever-changing needs have created a hyper-competitive market. As a result, customer relationship management (CRM) has become a core topic of interest among both practitioners and academics. Further, over the years, with the advancements in the technology landscape, such as digital technologies, CRM has improved in myriad ways. This paper summarizes a panel discussion on CRM innovations held at the 2016 Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2016) in Chiyai, Taiwan. The panel discussed CRM fundamentals and how traditional CRM systems work in organizations. Then, the panel focused on the advancement in technology landscape such as big data, analytics, Internet of things, and artificial intelligence and how such technologies have transformed innovations in the CRM landscape. Finally, the panel highlighted the limitations in the current CRM curricula in the universities and how the curriculum today needs to reflect such advancements to enhance the union between the CRM curricula and the industry needs. Further, this paper provides future research ideas for academia and contributes to research interests on CRM in general.

A churn prediction model for prepaid customers in telecom using fuzzy classifiers

The incredible growth of telecom data and fierce competition among telecommunication operators for customer retention demand continues improvements, both strategically and analytically, in the current customer relationship management (CRM) systems. One of the key objectives of a typical CRM system is to classify and predict a group of potential churners form a large set of customers to devise profitable and targeted retention campaigns for keeping a long-term relationship with valued customers. For achieving the aforementioned objective, several churn prediction models have been proposed in the past for the accurate identification of the customers who are prone to churn. However, these previously proposed models suffer from a number of limitations which place strong barriers towards the direct applicability of such models for accurate prediction. Firstly, the feature selection methods adopted in majority of the past work neglected the information rich variables present in call details record for model development. Secondly, selection of important features was done through statistical methods only. Although statistical methods have been applied successfully in diverse domains, however, these methods alone without the augmentation of domain knowledge have the tendency to yield erroneous results. Thirdly, the previous models have been validated mainly with benchmark datasets which do not provide a true representation of real world telecom data consisting of noise and large number of missing values. Fourthly, the evaluation measures used in the past neglected the True Positive (TP) rate, which actually highlights the ability of a model to correctly classify the percentage of churners as compared to non-churners. Finally, the classifiers used in the previous models completely neglected the use of fuzzy classification methods which perform reasonably well for data sets with noise. In this paper, a fuzzy based churn prediction model has been proposed and validated using a real data from a telecom company in South Asia. A number of predominant classifiers namely, Neural Network, Linear regression, C4.5, SVM, AdaBoost, Gradient Boosting and Random Forest have been compared with fuzzy classifiers to highlight the superiority of fuzzy classifiers in predicting the accurate set of churners.

Task-Centered Context Manager for Customer Relationship Management Systems

In the customer relationship management (CRM) environment, agents tend to multitask. But the current CRM systems are not task-centered and therefore hinder the agent’s multitasking performance. We proposed the task-centered context manager, which better matches the agent’s mental model by focusing on the tasks that an agent is working on. The task-centered context manager automatically creates contexts, each for a separate task. It provides a flexible context switching mechanism for agents to easily go back and forth between tasks. And its priority-driven interface helps agents focus on important tasks. A formative usability evaluation indicated that our task-centered context manager was very well received by participating agents as evidenced by the overall System Usability Scale score of 88.5.

Is SCRM really a good social media strategy?

With the growth of social media, some customer relationship management (CRM) practitioners advocate adopting social CRM (that is, SCRM) strategies. However, what is sometimes proposed is nothing more than the rehashing of old ideas such as one-to-one communication, relationship marketing or customer engagement applied to social media. Such thinking misses the crucial point that social media is about people interacting with each other (in a community). To develop a good social media strategy, it is important to realise that technologies are now allowing people to quickly connect, converse, create and collaborate with each other. Organisations forging new social media strategies should take this into account and not necessarily be tied to activities associated with their current (and possibly ineffective) CRM system.

Is SCRM really a good social media strategy?

With the growth of social media, some customer relationship management (CRM) practitioners advocate adopting social CRM (that is, SCRM) strategies. However, what is sometimes proposed is nothing more than the rehashing of old ideas such as one-to-one communication, relationship marketing or customer engagement applied to social media. Such thinking misses the crucial point that social media is about people interacting with each other (in a community). To develop a good social media strategy, it is important to realise that technologies are now allowing people to quickly connect, converse, create and collaborate with each other. Organisations forging new social media strategies should take this into account and not necessarily be tied to activities associated with their current (and possibly ineffective) CRM system.

Crm System Implementation: How Great Expectations In Sweden Are Dashed In China

This paper presents a case study of a multi-national company’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system implementation in China. The implementation in China was part of the first wave of the global implementation of the CRM-system. Although the company has extensive experience in implementing systems in its different global subsidiaries, and has planned the implementation well, the implementation in China was not a complete success. Based on the study, we identify three issues that were not stressed enough in the current CRM literature: 1) understanding the difference between the organizational culture in which the system is developed, as well as the national culture in which the system is implemented, 2) the ability to operationalize visions into goals and measures, and 3) the need to ensure system and data quality. Keywords: Implementation success, CRM system, corporate and national culture, data and systems quality, Sweden, China, case study.

Framework of manufacturer‐retailer relationship in the manufactured housing construction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the current customer relationship management (CRM) with regard to manufacturers and retailers in the US manufactured housing (MH) industry and to present an MH industry‐specific framework of CRM system.Design/methodology/approachAn overall CRM system was investigated through a questionnaire survey and interviews with industry experts. Based on the analysis of current CRM and the specific data collected, a framework of manufacturer‐retailer relationship optimization model (MRROM) for the MH industry was developed and validated trough the MH industry practitioners.FindingsMRROM describes the overall framework of an industry‐specific CRM solution for the MH industry and suggests a new paradigm for the MH customization process as a focus area.Research limitations/implicationsThis research only focused on the framework of optimal CRM system at the macro levels and an optimization model in the critically constrained manufacturer‐retailer relationship areas.Practical implicationsThe proposed framework of MRROM can be used for developing the CRM vision and CRM strategies for the MH industry. It can then be the basis of an assessment of the current and required CRM capabilities of the enterprise.Originality/valueSupply chain management for the MH industry is a new area of research. The proposed MRROM will contribute to improving the effectiveness and long‐term success of the supply chain in the MH industry. In addition, the proposed MRROM can be applied to other industries in the similar circumstances as well and is expected to facilitate the overall sales process.

CRM in Indian banking Sector: exploring the critical success factors

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is no longer a new term but a reality for many organisations. Banking is a prime candidate for CRM transformation, as competition in this sector increases; an excellence in service becomes a critical success factor. The study discovers the factors that influence CRM in Indian Banking Sector and evaluates the current CRM implementation process. Respondents are from both private and public sector banks. Findings of this study have relevance for managers as these findings provide them with the current scenario of CRM. Further managers learn to identify CRM-related factors that could contribute to CRM implementation.

Employees' affective commitment to change

PurposeAlthough organizational change is inevitable with customer relationship management (CRM) implementation, very little is known about how this change affect employees, and how their actions in turn influence the success of CRM projects. The purpose of this study is to address this void in the current CRM literature.Design/methodology/approachUsing an exploratory approach, 13 in‐depth interviews were conducted with bank managers and staff of three banks to provide preliminary support for the conceptual framework.FindingsThe three banks approached their CRM projects with very different results. Two banks achieved less success from their CRM implementation as a result of too little focus being placed on managing CRM‐induced change and people. Only one bank focused a large part of its CRM budget on change management and the organizational factors critical to the implementation. Results demonstrate a possible correlation between employees' commitment to the CRM initiative and the positive outcomes of a bank's performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper lays down the foundation for more thorough studies on employees' affective commitment to change in the CRM context. Empirical research will be needed to verify the conceptual model presented.Practical implicationsThe importance of identifying and securing employees' affective commitment to CRM‐induced change to ensure the successful roll out of a CRM implementation is highlighted.Originality/valueInitial evidence is gained of the importance of employee commitment to CRM induced change for successful CRM implementation. A total of six organizational drivers are identified which assist in gaining employee commitment to CRM induced change.

Invited Commentary—Technology Innovation and Implications for Customer Relationship Management

Existing research on services and relationship treats customer service as a major operating variable, and focuses on measuring the resulting customer satisfaction, retention, duration, repeat purchases, word-ofmouth (e.g., Boulding et al. 1993). The recent article by Rust and Chung (2006) gives an excellent review of existing marketing models of service and customer relationship management (CRM). The rapid advances in information and communication technology provide greater opportunities for today's firms to establish, nurture, and sustain longterm relationships with their customers than ever before. The ultimate goal is to transform these relationships into greater profitability by reducing customer acquisition costs, increasing repeat purchases, and charging higher prices (Winer 2001). First, CRM is no longer the privilege of the service sector. Realizing the increasing importance of customer orientation, firms of all kinds of industries, ranging from manufacturing to information, are exploring serviceled growth as a promising means of differentiation (Sawhney et al. 2004). Second, service is no longer defined as a stand-alone marketing decision aimed at increasing customer satisfaction. Contemporary practice of CRM has been integrated into every step of the marketing process handling product inquiry, telemarketing, advertising, sales, transaction, service, and survey. Third, current CRM has shifted from static relationship to dynamic learning relationship, from mass-marketing to customer-centric marketing, and from reactive service to proactive relationship building. The challenge faced by today's CRM practice is: How to learn about individual customers and act on

Customer relationship management: Barnard's foundations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to delve into Barnard's works to construct foundations of customer relationship management (CRM).Design/methodology/approachThe paper identifies Barnard's insights on customer participation using a post‐analytic method and uses them as inputs to the analysis of current CRM practices.FindingsAs an outcome of the analysis, the paper identifies the practices that are likely to lead to more effective participatory behavior of customers.Research limitations/implicationsExamining CRM from a historical perspective can open promising avenues for future research.Practical implicationsCRM programs should incorporate the practice of customer relations management in order to provide managers with the knowledge base required for appropriate decision making.Originality/valueBy placing contemporary discussions of CRM in its seminal historical context, scholars can draw upon a wealth of historical inputs to advance the study of how collaborations with customers can be nurtured effectively.

An Examination of Primary Stakeholders' Opinions in CRM: Convergence and Divergence?

The research described in this article attempts to understand the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) interest groups in the context of Stakeholder Theory. It aims to profile current CRM practices and factors that impact on success from the perspectives of users, i.e. firms deploying CRM, consultants and software vendors offering CRM solutions. The findings from 719 responses to an online survey suggest that users', consultants' and suppliers' views do not converge on issues related to CRM objectives, perceived success, causes of failure, effectiveness of CRM tasks and evaluation. The results of this study provide a platform for future research.