Customer Relationship Management Capabilities Research Articles

Unleashing Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Dynamic Exploration of Firm Performance through Knowledge, Social Media, and Customer Relationship Management-Based Capabilities in the Face of Environmental Dynamism

Purpose: This article establishes a connection between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance, exploring the mediating effects of knowledge-based capabilities (KBC), social media use capabilities (SMUCs) and customer relationship management capabilities (CRMCs), with moderation by environmental dynamism (ED). Utilising the resource-based view (RBV) framework and a mediation moderation model, the research empirically explores these connections.Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered via a survey from 900 listed firms in Ethiopia and China, spanning manufacturing and service industries. The questionnaire underwent translation into Chinese and Amharic from English. A quantitative approach, utilising convenience sampling for survey distribution, was employed. SPSS 24 software facilitated mediation analysis, revealing no concerns related to discriminant validity.Findings/results: The findings affirm the positive impacts of EO on KBC, SMUC and CRMC in China, while only on SMUC in Ethiopia. In addition, a positive mediation of KBC, SMUC and CRMC between EO and firm performance. Additionally, ED moderated the link between SMUC, CRMC and firm performance.Practical implications: Our study recommends that policymakers and managers should invest in training programmes and information technology, organising workshops to educate staff on the effective use of social media tools. This investment holds substantial potential for dynamically transforming business models, processes and customer trends.Originality/value: This study adds to the current body of knowledge by exploring EO-firm performance correlation, incorporating the mediating effects of KBC, SMUC and CRMC while considering the moderating influence of ED.

Exploring the Impacts of Knowledge Infrastructure, Dynamic Capability, and Customer Relationship Management Ability on Business Value of a Firm

The dynamic capability of a firm is the ability to combine, develop, and reconfigure the external as well as internal expertise to respond to the changing business environment in a faster manner. A firm's knowledge infrastructure capability includes structural ability, technological ability, and human resource ability to meet the changing business requirements for the firm to manage its knowledge base. Also, the customer relationship management (CRM) ability of a firm helps it to engage with customers to meet their dynamically changing requirements. Studies show how these capabilities can enhance business value. But there is no study which investigated the combined impacts of a firm's knowledge infrastructure, dynamic capability, and CRM capability on creating business value. Therefore, this study aims to close this gap. With the help of dynamic capability view and resource-based view theory along with literature, we prepared a theoretical model. Later, we validated the model using partial least square structural equation modeling technique with 317 responses from India. The study finds that there is a significant and positive combined impact of a firm's knowledge infrastructure, dynamic capability, and CRM capability on the value creation for the firm, which in turn significantly and positively impacts firm performance.

How do organizations leverage social media to enhance marketing performance? Unveiling the power of social CRM capability and guanxi

Drawing on information technology-enabled organizational capabilities theory, we argue that how and when social media use affects marketing performance depending on the mediating role of social customer relationship management (CRM) capability and the moderating role of guanxi. Using a sample of 194 Chinese agricultural firms, we employed a combination of complementary techniques: advanced analysis for composites–structural equation modeling (ADANCO-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). In ADANCO-SEM analysis, we empirically verify the full mediating role of social CRM capability in the association between social media use and marketing performance and identify the condition for this indirect effect (i.e., when the guanxi levels are high). Moreover, guanxi plays a dual moderating role—it exerts a substitution effect when social media is used to build social CRM capability, and it exerts a complementary effect when social CRM capability is leveraged to improve marketing performance. FsQCA analysis further reveals the different configurations of social media use, guanxi, and social CRM capability that can lead to high marketing performance in different firm sizes. The findings complement those from ADANCO-SEM analysis vis-à-vis the conditions for the formation of marketing performance. This study contributes to the emerging literature on the business value of social media by theoretically exploring and empirically validating the mechanisms and boundary conditions by which social media affects marketing performance.

Exploring the Coupling Relationship Between Dynamic Marketing Capability, Strategic Information Management, and International Startup Performance

The ever-changing environment in a highly competitive marketplace presents unlimited business opportunities and endless challenges for international startups. To explore the coupled relationship between dynamic marketing capabilities, strategic information management, and international startup performance. For the first time, this study adopts a dynamic analysis and survey methodology and establishes a scoring and analysis model under a dynamic system. A questionnaire study with real data was conducted through 500 international startups in Hebei, China, and the data were processed and analyzed with the help of analytical software. The study discusses the coupling relationship between dynamic marketing capability, strategic information management capability, and enterprise performance, and reveals the intrinsic influence law of the three from multiple dimensions. Specifically, the three dimensions of dynamic marketing capabilities, namely, market knowledge management capabilities, interface synergy capabilities, and customer relationship management capabilities, can all positively affect the performance of enterprises, only the overall effect of the three dimensions on the performance is different, in which the market knowledge management capabilities can significantly improve the performance of enterprises. The strategic information management innovation of internationalized startups has a mediating effect between dynamic marketing capabilities and corporate performance, playing an indirect positive feedback role. The above study contributes to the future marketing management and performance improvement of internationalized startups.

The Dynamism of the Environment — The Impact on Service Company Competitive Advantage from a CRM Dynamic Capabilities Perspective

Abstract Objective To explore the dynamism of the environment and the impact on service company competitive advantage from a customer relationship management (CRM) dynamic capabilities (DCs) perspective. This work also aims to develop a multidimensional conceptualisation of the dynamic environment and propose a theoretical model for analysing the impact of the environment's dynamism on the relationship between dynamic CRM capabilities and competitive advantage. Research Design and Methods Based on the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities view (DCV), the method of critical literature analysis was used. Literature sources written in the last two decades were analysed. Findings The result of the literature research became the development of a new conceptualisation of the dynamic environment and its three relevant dimensions, as well as the proposal of constructs in the theoretical model, where the dynamism of the environment plays a moderating role in the relationship between dynamic CRM capabilities and competitive advantage. Implications/Recommendations As implications for further research, empirical verification of the created model and checking the relationship between the constructs should be indicated. Contribution The findings extend the application of RBV and DCV in marketing knowledge. In addition, the model and this study's conclusions direct service firms to develop CRM capabilities that can enhance the company, thereby enabling the building of competitive advantage in a dynamic environment.

Customer Engagement and Customer Relationship Management Capabilities’ Effects on Innovation Performance and Customer Distrust’s Moderating Role

This research aims to investigate how customer relationship management capabilities (CRMCs) improve customer engagement and innovation performance. Customer engagement is also tested as a mediator between CRM capabilities and innovation performance. Furthermore, the distrust moderating role was studied towards the relationship between CRMCs and customer engagement. Data were collected from 491 owner/managers of SMEs working in Saudi Arabia. The findings revealed that CRMCs positively predict customer engagement and innovation performance. Customer engagement directly affects innovation performance and acts as a mediator as well. In addition, the findings proved that distrust moderates on the link between CRMCs and customer engagement. This research adds to the marketing management theory and practices and highlighted the role of CRMCs in achieving innovation performance. It explored, considering the data base collected from SME owners and managers, the mechanism of innovation performance achievement through CRMCs and customer engagement. CRMC improvements allow businesses to have sustainable development and a better integration in the market.

COVID-19 Pandemic Learning: The Uprising of Remote Detailing in Pharmaceutical Sector Using Sales Force Automation and Its Sustainable Impact on Continuing Medical Education

The availability of resources is vital when rapid changes and updated medical information in the provision of care are needed, such as in the fight against COVID-19, which is not a conventional disease. Continuing medical education plays an essential role in preparing for and responding to such emergencies. Workflow has improved based on the virtual meetings, online trainings, and remote detailing conducted by medical representatives in order to deliver educational content instantly through digital tools, such as salesforce automation (SFA), webinars, etc. In terms of its regulatory barriers, the pharmaceutical industry mainly targets healthcare professionals, unlike most businesses that reach end users directly. Medical representatives are equipped with an SFA to enhance customer relationship management (CRM) and closed loop marketing (CLM) capabilities in pharmaceutical companies. This study aimed to fill a gap in the literature by investigating the use of SFA in work patterns, such as health professionals’ loyalty and involvement in their medical knowledge in Turkey, and how it allows for differentiating training from marketing. This study intended to compare the data on internists and medical products gathered from a well-known pharmaceutical company’s SFA. The data covered the first three months of the year 2020, when medical representatives had a normal daily routine, and that of 2021, when Turkey experienced the most powerful surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis was based on simple correspondence analysis (SCA) and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) for 11 variables. Monitoring product, physician’s segment, and medical representatives’ behaviors with SFA had a significant influence on the pharma-physician relationship strategy, as expected. The findings supported the view that SFA technologies can be deployed to advance the medical knowledge of physicians, in addition to managing and designing superior CRM and CLM capabilities.

THE EFFECT OF MARKETING CAPABILITY ON THE MARKETING PERFORMANCE OF ISLAMIC FASHION SMALL BUSINESSES: THE MEDIATOR ROLE OF A RELIGIOCENTRIC MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

As a country with Muslim majority population, Indonesia is a potential market for the development of the Muslim fashion industry. However, this opportunity has not been utilized optimally due to the limited ability to understand customer needs and desires and the lack of Islamic small-business fashion knowledge in determining strategies that can be used to improve Marketing Performance (MP). Thus, this study aims to improve marketing performance in Islamic small business fashion by increasing marketing capability. Three dimensions of marketing capability were used in this study, namely marketing innovativeness (MI), market sensing capabilities (MSC), and Customer Relationship Management Capabilities (CRMC). Previous studies have shown that there are inconsistencies in findings that examine the relationship between marketing capability and marketing performance. Theoretically, marketing capability is a strategic tool for improving marketing performance, but practically the marketing capability dimensions do not always produce better marketing performance. Therefore, this study proposes a Religio-Centric Marketing Communication Strategy (RMCS) as a variable that mediates the relationship between marketing capability and marketing performance. RMCS is a new variable that was formed from the collaboration between marketing communication strategy and religio-centric concepts. RMCS is a marketing communication strategy that is carried out religiously when communicating with other parties. The population in this study are owners or managers of Islamic small business fashion in Indonesia. Data were obtained from questionnaires distributed to 310 selected respondents and then analysed by using Structural Equation Model (SEM) with AMOS. The results showed that MP can be increased through MSC, CRMC, and RMCS, but MI was apparently unable to increase MP. Meanwhile, optimizing RMCS can be done through MI, MSC, and CRMC. From these results, it can be concluded that the performance of Islamic small business fashion can be improved through marketing communication strategies in a religious manner when communicating with other parties.

A Model Predicting CRM Resource Effect on Business Performance through CRM Capabilities

This study employs the CRM measurement model to the context of customer relationship management (CRM). It is aimed at indirectly examining the relationships between various resources of CRM and business performance. Additionally, this study is aimed at contributing to marketing research by placing an emphasis on CRM technology and their impact on performance. Through collecting secondary data, the direct and indirect effects of CRM resources and capabilities on business performance are examined within a sample of 6 case companies in the UK grocery market during 2015~2017. Additional measure of CRM capability is aggregated into the firm level to examine its relationship with their corporate performance. Furthermore, capability is categorized through defining the intention of initiating CRM programme. The results find a positive relationship between both CRM resources and their capabilities and performance. Besides, interactive capability is most essential for companies to enhance their CRM. Lastly, the interaction between technology and other resource is significantly associated with business performance. Managers may improve their CRM programs and eliminate side effects more effectively by concentrating on one type of resource to strengthen their most common CRM capability. This paper bridges significant gaps in the current literature through combining RBV and DC perspective, meanwhile, taking a capability view of CRM. Under a contemporary CRM measurement model, it examines how the possession of important CRM resource influences business performance in UK supermarket.

CRM Capability and Service Innovation in Healthcare: Evidence from India

This study aims to investigate the constituents of customer relationship management (CRM) capability that allows to exhibit customer service flexibility (CSF) and affects innovation in healthcare. In doing so, it qualitatively develops and identify the dimensions of CRM capability through a case study in a public healthcare setting in India and provides a framework of CRM, CSF, and service innovation. The findings of the study suggest that CSF is a mediating mechanism between CRM capability and service innovation which is long ignored in the healthcare literature. The study contributes to theory and practice-oriented knowledge on how the CRM capabilities can improve the public healthcare and facilitates key strategies for flexible deliveries and innovative services.

Strategic use of social media in marketing and financial performance: The B2B SME context

While the strategic use of social media (SM) for enhancing firm performance has attracted much attention, little is known about it through the lens of business-to-business (B2B) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Building on the market-driven view and the dynamic capabilities view of competitive strategy, we examine SM use in a framework of market-sensing and customer-linking capabilities that influence firm performance. Our research model posits that market orientation stimulates SM use to enhance market-sensing capability thereby facilitating two customer-linking capabilities, namely customer relationship management and brand management, which collectively contribute to greater marketing performance and financial performance. Our research model is empirically tested using a survey of 143 UK B2B SMEs. The findings broadly support our theorization in which the strategic use of SM, an essential part of market-sensing capability, enhances customer-linking capabilities. Interestingly, although SM use influences brand management capability, its suggested influences on both customer relationship management capability and marketing performance occur only through the mediation of brand management capability. Both customer-linking capabilities positively influence marketing performance and in turn financial performance. Our findings provide novel conceptual and empirical advancement of how market-centric B2B SMEs strategically use SM to enhance their market-sensing and in turn customer-linking capabilities, and hence firm performance.

Technology readiness of B2B firms and AI-based customer relationship management capability for enhancing social sustainability performance

This study contributes to the extant literature by empirically investigating the influence of Business-to-Business (B2B) firms’ technology readiness on information technology capability and artificial intelligence-based customer relationship management (AI-CRM) and finally, on relationship performance and social sustainability performance. We leverage primary data from 217 samples and examine the firm's social sustainability performance. Drawing on the paradigm of dynamic capability view, we found that a B2B firm's technology readiness has a positive relationship with information and communication technology and AI-CRM capability. Information and communication technology capability also has a positive and significant relationship with AI-CRM capability. B2B firms' relationship performance has a significant and positive relationship with social sustainability performance. A key finding of this study is that a B2B firm's information and communication technology capability mediates between technology readiness and AI-CRM capability. Additionally, industry dynamism also moderates the link between information and communication technology capability and AI-CRM capability.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled CRM capability in healthcare: The impact on service innovation

Although AI-enabled customer relationship management (CRM) systems have gained momentum in healthcare to enhance performance, there is a striking dearth of knowledge on how such capabilities are formed and affect service innovation. The study adopted a mixed-method approach to investigate the underlying phenomena. This research infused resource-based theory, dynamic capability theory, and theory of productivity paradox to investigate how healthcare in India acquires AI-enabled CRM capabilities and enhances service innovation. We identified the facets of AI-enabled CRM capabilities using a case study and developed a framework for AI-enabled CRM capability and service innovation. This study noticed that customer service flexibility (CSF) is a missing link in this relationship. The findings of the quantitative study employing PLS-SEM reveal the linear relationships between AI-enabled CRM capability, CSF, and service innovation. This study explains the formation of AI-enabled CRM capabilities to fill the research gap and direct innovative performance in healthcare, which is an immediate need to sustain in a volatile environment. This study provides theoretical implications to enhance the research stream and practical implications for decision-makers.

Examination of customer relations management in banks in terms of strategic, technological and innovation capability

PurposeBanks are fiercely competitive among themselves, focused on satisfying and retaining customers through the extensive use of technology for service innovation and delivery. In this context, the study aims to understand the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) and innovation capability, including strategy and technology elements, on customer satisfaction and the financial performance of banks.Design/methodology/approachThe sample population of the study consists of bank employees. Analyzes were made using the SMARTPLS program, and within the scope of the study, data were collected from 272 bank employees.FindingsAs a result of the analyzes, it can be explained that the innovation capability coupled with the CRM strategy and related technology have positive effects on both financial performance and customer satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was conducted in banks that have an important position in the service sector. In terms of location, the data was collected in Istanbul because the headquarters are in Istanbul. Therefore, these limitations should be taken into account in future studies.Originality/valueThe research is quite new and up-to-date in terms of examining CRM from a strategic and technological point of view, as well as examining innovation competency.

Examining the Influence of Customer Relationship Management and Innovation Capability on the Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises: Content Analysis and Partial Least Square Approach

This study acknowledges the relationships between customer relationship management, innovation capability, and firm performance in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises. Research on the direct relationship between customer relationships and firm performance is sparse, particularly in Plateau State. This essay's goal is to investigate these connections. The research design was mixed-method. Data from 10 participants in the field study was collected through one-on-one personal interviews. The data was extracted, categorized, and cross-examined using content analysis. A questionnaire was created for the quantitative method, and information was gathered from 286 owners and managers of SMEs in Plateau State. The partial least square structural equation modeling method was used to analyze the data. Results from this field research and investigation confirmed these connections, contributed to the body of literature, and showed that innovative capability mediates the relationship between CRM and SME performance and that there is a direct correlation between CRM and SME performance, SME performance, and innovation capability. We contextualize our contribution to theory and practice in this work.

Expansive or focused attention? An exploration–exploitation perspective on e‐Business systems and firm performance

This study posits that executive attention can significantly influence the impacts of customer‐facing electronic business (e‐Business) systems on firm performance. Using the exploration–exploitation perspective (EEP) as an overarching theoretical framework, and the theoretical lens of attention‐based view (ABV), we develop an integrated model to provide insights into the impacts of customer‐facing e‐Business systems on firm performance. We categorize the capabilities of customer‐facing e‐Business systems into e‐Transaction and e‐CRM (customer relationship management) capabilities as exploitation and exploration capabilities, respectively. Further, following ABV, we conceptualize focused and expansive attentions as two different types of executive attention that also incorporate exploitation and exploration orientations. We hypothesize e‐Transaction and e‐CRM capabilities to have nuanced interactive effects with focused and expansive attention on firm performance measured using return on sales and Tobin's Q. We use a panel dataset with 484 firm‐year observations from 180 firms to test our hypotheses. We estimate our models using a two‐step generalized method of moments (GMM) approach to address issues relating to endogeneity, heteroskedasticity, and serial correlation, and to produce efficient estimates. The results provide broad support for the hypotheses and are robust to the alternative measurement of dependent variables, alternative econometric model specification, and potential endogeneity from omitted covariates. The integrated model developed and empirically validated in this study serves to provide a deeper understanding of the impacts of customer‐facing e‐Business systems on firm performance. The study also highlights the need for dual attention processes on the part of senior executives to fully realize the benefits offered by these systems.

Constituents of dynamic marketing capability: Strategic fit and heterogeneity in export performance

Using the Resource Based View and Dynamic Capability theoretical lenses, this paper provides such a strategic treatise in exploring how the underlying dimensions of DMC can be understood within a higher-order DMC strategy and the influence of the latter upon the export performance of firms from an emerging market. The empirical findings drawn from a sample of 315 exporters representing eight industries from Bangladesh show that the DMC is a second-order latent construct consisting of four marketing capabilities: proactive market orientation, brand management capability, new product development capability, and customer relationship management capability. Additionally, this study identified three clusters of firms and showed that, among them, enthusiastic embracers—which are characterized by high levels of activity across marketing capabilities, such as proactive market orientation and brand management capability—achieve better performance.

Big data analytics in strategic sales performance: mediating role of CRM capability and moderating role of leadership support

PurposeThis study investigates how the combined effects of big data ability and CRM capability could impact on an organization's strategic sales performance (SSP), and how the leadership support (LS) could moderate the relationships between SSP with CRM capability and customer retention ability.Design/methodology/approachHaving inputs from the literature and resource-based view (RBV) theory, a model has been developed conceptually. The conceptual model was validated statistically using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (SEM) technique with 317 responses.FindingsThe study found that organizations' big data analytics (BDA) capability, along with customer relationship management (CRM) capability, positively and significantly impacts organizations' SSP. Also, the study found that LS has a moderating impact on organizations' SSP.Research limitations/implicationsThe study cannot be generalizable, as it is cross-sectional in nature. Also, the sample size for statistically validating the model is 317, which is not large enough to generalize the study findings. The study has used only five constructs and one moderator. With more constructs and other moderators, the boundary conditions of the model could have been increased, which could result a better explanative power of the model.Practical implicationsThis study shows that organizations' big data and CRM capabilities are important for their SSP; therefore, managers must ensure that their organization has appropriate big data and CRM capabilities. Also, the study shows the significance of LS to increase the SSP of their organizations. Thus, organizational leadership must support big data and CRM-related capabilities and ensure employees are appropriately trained to successfully use these capabilities.Originality/valueOnly a limited number of studies are available on the combined impact of big data capability and CRM capability on an organization's strategic sales. How BDA could help organizations to improve their SSP has not been explicitly studied. The proposed model shows that these capabilities, along with the moderating effects of LS, impact on organizations' SSP. Thus, the proposed theoretical model is a unique model, and the study is novel.

The impact of SNS marketing use on women entrepreneurs in the new normal era

The goal of this research was to see how network site marketing (SNS marketing) affected marketing performance in terms of customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing capabilities. This research was conducted with a quantitative approach. The population in this study are all female entrepreneurs who use SNS marketing in Bali. The sample is 260 MSMEs taken by purposive sampling. The data will be analyzed descriptively and inferentially. The inferential statistic used is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on variance, namely Partial Least Square (SEM PLS) with SmartPLS 3.0 program. The research findings are that SNS marketing use has a positive and significant effect on CRM capability and marketing capability, CRM capability and marketing capability have a positive and significant effect on business performance, CRM capability and marketing capability as partial mediation influences SNS marketing use on business performance. This research implies that it is expected to help MSMEs in making decisions regarding the use of SNS marketing.

Role of social media technologies and customer relationship management capabilities 2.0 in creating customer loyalty and university reputation

ABSTRACT Social media technologies (SMTs), online brand communities, and social customer relationship management (SCRM) Capabilities play an indispensable role in the engagement and loyalty-building of university students to achieve a sustainable university reputation. This study provides pioneering input for higher education institutions (HEIs) by developing a new integrated SCRM model through self-congruity or self-congruence theory, which examines SMTs Use, online brand communities, SCRM Capabilities, customer engagement, customer loyalty, and university reputation. Using cross-sectional data from 400 students from Pakistani public universities, structure equation modeling applies to Smart PLS 3.2.7. Results indicate that all hypotheses have significant positive relationships, except SMTs use found insignificant with university reputation. Also, SCRM Capabilities mediate between SMTs use and university reputation, while customer engagement mediates between online brand communities and customer loyalty. This study indirectly supports public HEIs sustainability. Further, these findings contribute new knowledge to literature and theory.