Authors: Andrea Perna; Enrico Baraldi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate, on the one hand, the intra-organisational effects derived from embedding a CRM system in a firm and, on the other hand, the effects on this company’s customer relationships due to the embedding of this system in the organization. Theoretically we apply the resource network perspective (Baraldi, Gressetvold & Harrison, 2012: Håkansson & Waluszewski, 2002, 2007) based on industrial network theory (Håkansson & Snehota, 1995). Today CRM (Customer Relationship Management) appears to be a “buzzword” in the academic literature. In fact, CRM can be analyzed under different and divergent perspectives (Zablah et al., 2004). But considering our purposes we define it as a technical device interacting with people who input data and information inside an IT system to obtain processed information in order to handle customer relationships. In other words we consider the CRM as a socio-technical resource connected in the organization to actors-users who in doing activities on it can create effects on customer relationships. To address our purpose we deal with the following questions:- How is a CRM system embedded within a company to support business relationships?- How does the way in which the CRM system is installed and embedded within the organization affect how customer relationships are handled?Empirically we employ an exploratory case study over an Italian company, Loccioni Group (Loccioni). The case analyzes both the installation of the CRM system within Loccioni, featuring the adaptations that led to embedding the system in the organization, and the effects derived from currently using CRM in managing six different customer relationships from the perspective of the supplier. Our preliminary findings suggest that the installation of the CRM system must not be considered as a linear process due to the technical problems which surface when the technology is embedded within the organization. Moreover as CRM becomes embedded as a socio-technical resource the users face problems in employing it related to loss of dependence, perceived monitoring and mistrust in data inputs from other users in the same host organization. Lastly, CRM affects specific customer relationships differently depending on, for instance, the duration of each relationship and the specific managers in charge of handling it.
Journal: n.a. (n.a. – n.a.)
Web Address: n.a.
Publish Year: 2012
Conference: Rome, Italy (2012)