CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Concepts and Cases

Dr Alok Kumar Rai

Professor

Faculty of Management Studies

Banaras Hindu University,

Varanasi INDIA
 Preface

Till recently, marketing has been understood as an advancement of sales that could add a
little of marketing research, advertising and after-sales service. Liberalisation in the Indian
industries in general and services sector in particular has created numerous options before
the customers. As a result, the most badly hit area of marketing has been “the customer
loyalty”. These options made customer more demanding and empowered to ask for better
services and treatment. The shift in the psychology of customers forced policy makers of
service companies assign due importance to marketing decisions and realise about the
importance of customer retention.
The above phenomenon forced marketers, academics, business strategists and
practitioners to think on the line of making superior customer service giving greater
importance to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a policy guideline for service
companies irrespective of their nature and size of business and to position them differently
in the consumer’s mind and the market.
The services industry in India has had great momentum in the recent past and
has witnessed stark changes in terms of policies. The industry’s growth has been in excess
of 57% of the total GDP of the country. There are many industries which earlier were
either governed by the government such as aviation, telecom, postal services or were
largely in unorganised form, for example, healthcare, retail and education. Increased
corporatisation of services industries has changed the market structure and, hence, the
market dynamics. The corporate structure of these industries has enabled them to work on
the marketing and customer-led initiatives in a better form with enough investments and in
a more systematic format.
The concept of CRM is at an evolving stage and various new dimensions are
being added to this at a regular pace. The book attempted to to incorporate most of them.
This comprehensive book brings out most of the latest developments in the
area of CRM in services industry, which has gained greater relevance in the new customer-
driven business era. It has been designed with the objective of making the readers aware of
the concept of CRM, primarily from the services business perspective, in Indian context,
with enough practical inputs. It covers most of the theoretical dimensions of the topic and
links them with industry illustrations.
The book discusses in its chapters the topics such as emergence and
development of CRM concept, its role and implementation, the latest developments in it,
its industry application, the role of people and employees in particular reference to CRM
implementation, and the CRM practices in various services industries. At the end of every
chapter has Review Questions based on the text and Project Assignment to be carried out
by the students for better understanding of the concepts. The six Case Studies, with critical
analysis of different industries, based on the contents of the chapters, provide for the
readers enough practical understanding on the subject.
There are two chapters exclusively based on application of Customer
Relationship Management in various services industries in general and select services
companies in particular. The practices of specific services companies are analysed from
customer’s perspective.
The book is divided in 5 parts. Each part focuses on specific dimension of
Customer Relationship Management.
Part I focuses on making readers aware of the conceptual and literary
developments and also with the strategic implementation of concepts. This part is divided
in four chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the theory of relationship and its various forms.
Chapters 2 and 3 describe various conceptual dimensions of CRM, its emergence, the
means by which it has acquired the centre stage in modern businesses, and the advantages
of its application to business organisations. They also elaborate on various theoretical
perspectives evolved through researches across the globe. Chapter 4 presents CRM
comprehension through a model and also the implementation model that companies may
adopt for CRM success.
Part II focuses on Research aspects on CRM. This is an emerging area and
many of the marketing students are interested in pursuing research in the area of CRM.
This part elaborates possible options and areas along with the methods where such research
can be conducted. Chap 5 explains on various research methods and how business research
in general is conducted. Chapter 6 explains the concept and research prospects in on
customer satisfaction alongwith elaborating the meaning and significance of Customer
Satisfaction in CRM. Chapter 7 brings forth the concept of Customer Loyalty alongwith its
contribution in CRM and business gains. This chapter also explains various customer
loyalty assessment methods. Chapter 8 explains the concept of Service Quality alonwith
ways for identification for Service Quality Gaps. This chapter also presents various service
Quality assessment scales for various industries.
Part III of the book focuses on IT application in CRM. Chapter 9 is about the
role of IT in CRM, e-CRM technologies, their advantages and various application formats
of CRM softwares. Chapter 10 demonstrates, in detail, the use of database management in
an organisation, data warehousing, data mining, and the technology that facilitates such
activities. Chapter 11 explains the customer-care technologies and the supports available
for the purpose.
Part IV of the book is focussed on various newer and emerging concepts in
CRM. Chapter 12 is about Customer retention and recall management. It also explains the
concept of Customer Experience Management. Chapter 13 is about service recovery
management which is of huge importance in case of service failure. Chapter 14 talk on a
very important dimension i.e. role of Internal Customer (Employees) on CRM. This
explores the relationship between the two as well. Chapter 15 focuses on other
contemporary concepts emerging in the field of CRM as cost and benefit analysis of CRM,
creation of a customer-centric organisation, Customer Value, Enterprise Marketing
Management and Customer Life Time Value.
Part V focuses on CRM Applications in various sectors, industries and
companies. Chapter 16 introduces services business and discusses its role of Customer
Service in Service Business. It also differentiates services marketing from product
marketing and explains the relevance of CRM in services business. Chapter 17 explains the
rural marketing issues and discusses how those issues can be addressed by Implementation
of CRM in Rural Areas. Chapters 18 elaborates CRM applications various service
Industries as retail, hospitality, telecom etc. Chapter 19 elaborate in detail, CRM
implementation in select services companies along with critical analysis of their CRM
practice.