Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.

Business to Business (B2B) firms spend significant resources managing close relationships with their customers, yet there is limited understanding of how the customers perceive the relationship based on the customer management efforts initiated by the firm. Specifically, studies on how firms communicate different values to B2B customers and how they perceive the values the firm offers by consistently evaluating the direct marketing communication which ultimately affect their buying behaviors have been largely overlooked. Typically, the direct marketing communication efforts are geared towards explicitly featuring economic values or relational values. To implement an effective communication strategy catering to customers’ preferences, firms should understand how these organizational marketing communications dynamically influence the perceived importance of different values offered by the firm. Therefore, using data from a Fortune 500 B2B service firm and employing a content analysis and a robust econometric model, we find that (i) the effect of economic and relational marketing communication on customer purchase behavior vary by customers and change overtime (ii) the latent stock variable of direct marketing communication affect the customer purchase behaviors and (iii) the evolution of customers’ perceived importance can be recovered using the transaction data. Overall, we provide a marketing resource reallocation strategy that enables marketers to customize marketing communication and improve a firm’s financial performance.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to investigate CRM application in South Africa with specific reference to the FMCG industry in this country. The research started off with a literature review of CRM with reference to its failures and successes as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the system, furthermore the requirements for a successful CRM system were investigated. Interviews were also held with industry experts to gain insights into CRM application in South Africa. The study found that, although the FMCG industry in South Africa is based on the B2B route to market and not on the B2C route to market, CRM still has the potential to add value to the organisation. In addition, the failures of CRM are not industry-specific but common across industries. There are a vast number of reasons for the failure of CRM, ranging from CRM’s exclusion from the company strategy to a lack of change management and a lack of end-user involvement in the implementation of the system and process. Although it would seem that CRM fails more than it succeeds it is not due to the system itself but to human nature and reluctance to change. The research clearly illustrates that CRM fails as a result of human decisions and the disadvantages posed by the system. It is clear that CRM starts with the organisation’s strategy. If CRM complies or fits in with the strategy of the company it will succeed. What’s more, CRM has to be driven from top management down. Lastly, CRM will work for the FMCG industry of South Africa and will add value to any organisation dealing with customers. However, this will only be realised if the organisation follows a customer-centric approach and if CRM is not seen as an IT project but rather as part of the organisational culture. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om die toepassing van CRM (kliënteverhoudings-bestuur – customer relationship management) in Suid-Afrika te ondersoek met spesifieke verwysing na die bedryf vir vlot verkoopbare verbruikersgoedere (FMCG – fast-moving consumer goods) in dié land. Die navorsing het met ’n literatuuroorsig van CRM begin met verwysing na die mislukkings, suksesse en die voor- en nadele van die stelsel. Die vereistes vir ’n suksesvolle CRM-stelsel is ook ondersoek. Daarby is onderhoude met kundiges in die bedryf gevoer om insig in die toepassing van CRM in Suid-Afrika te verkry. Die studie het bevind dat hoewel die FMCG-bedryf in Suid-Afrika op die B2B roete na mark en nie op die B2C roete na mark gegrond is nie, het CRM steeds die potensiaal om waarde tot die organisasie toe te voeg. Daarby is die gebreke van CRM nie bedryfspesifiek nie maar kom dit algemeen by alle bedryfsrigtings voor. Die talle redes vir die mislukkig van CRM wissel van die uitsluiting van CRM van die maatskappy se strategie tot by ’n gebrek aan veranderingsbestuur en ’n gebrek aan eindgebruiker-betrokkenheid in die implementering van die stelsel en die proses. Hoewel dit voorkom of CRM meer misluk as wat dit slaag, is dit nie die gevolg van die stelsel self nie maar van die menslike aard en onwilligheid om te verander. Die navorsing toon duidelik aan dat CRM as gevolg van menslike besluite en die nadele van die stelsel misluk. Dit is duidelik dat CRM by die organisasie se strategie begin. Indien CRM aan die maatskappystrategie voldoen of daarby inpas, sal dit slaag. Daarby moet CRM deur topbestuur van bo af gedryf word. Laastens sal CRM vir die FMCG-bedryf in Suid-Afrika werk en waarde tot enige organisasie toevoeg wat met kliënte werk. Dit sal egter net realiseer indien die organisasie ’n kliëntgesentreerde benadering volg en indien CRM nie as ’n IT-projek nie maar as deel van die organisasie se kultuur gesien word.

Customer loyalty programmes are widely regarded by companies as an effective means of achieving a strategic advantage over competitors and as a highly-effective platform to build lasting relationships with their most-valued customers. However, in today’s fast-paced world and loyalty-mature marketplace, customer loyalty programmes are showing signs of limited sustainability. Companies are starting to realise the importance of focusing on deeper, more meaningful, relevant and mutually-beneficial relationships with their customers in an attempt to sustain brand loyalty. The process of developing true customer loyalty involves companies adding extraordinary human level customer treatment. The purpose of this study is to explore whether customer loyalty programmes are developing true customer loyalty amongst customers. This research study explicitly investigates the views, attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of consumers partaking in customer loyalty programmes. At the outset of the study a literature review was conducted to explore and discuss literature pertaining to the key concepts of this study, namely customer loyalty programmes and true customer loyalty. This research study initially made use of a qualitative research method in the form of a focus group. The findings from the focus group contributed to the design of the questionnaire for the survey. A survey formed the quantitative component of the research. The survey questionnaire was distributed by means of a mall intercept to shoppers in a predetermined shopping mall. The ordinal data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The analysis indicated a marked disconnect between customer loyalty programmes and true customer loyalty. Customer loyalty programmes are generally regarded by customers as discount drivers rather than loyalty drivers. Customers indicated superior service, quality, trust and aligned values as key drivers in developing true customer loyalty. The majority of respondents stated that their selected customer loyalty programme was not developing true customer loyalty. The study provides a clear indication that customer loyalty programmes are not shifting attitudes that lead to ongoing behavioural change such as motivating multiple purchases. A key recommendation resulting from this study is for companies to develop customer-centric loyalty programmes that sincerely consider the needs of the customer, rather than merely attempting to drive sales through discount initiatives masked as customer loyalty programmes.

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<p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of the link between internal marketing and customer relationship management by conducting a case study of one Nordea call center.</p><p>Background: Keeping existing customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones. Nowadays, up to sixty percent of marketing budgets are being dedicated towards retaining customers. So forth customer relationship manage-ment is slowly beginning to penetrate the banking industry as sustaina-ble relationships between organizations and their customers are becom-ing more evident.</p><p>Theory: The case study is based on an internal marketing model by Bansal et al. (2001) which shows how managers can influence the job satisfaction of their employees through six dimensions. Based on the previously men-tioned model, customer relationship management theory and the service marketing triangle by Kotler et al. (2002), the researchers present their our own model, at the end of the theoretical section, which seeks to en-hance the understanding of the link between internal marketing and cus-tomer relationship management.</p><p>Method: Since there was lacking theoretical evidence in how to link internal marketing to customer relationship management, the study was of exploratory nature. Qualitative data was collected by conducting two fo-cus groups (independently of each other) at one Nordea call center. The first focus group was composed of five managers and the second focus group of three frontline employees.</p><p>Conclusion: Nordea has been used as an example to illustrate that customer relation-ship management, such as using sales opportunities to strengthen rela-tionships with customers, is dependent on managers‟ ability to “sell” the organization‟s customer relationship management ideas to its front-line employees. Moreover managers have the ability through the six dimensions of internal marketing to affect job satisfaction which in turn will determine how frontline employees make use of the sales opportu-nities provided by Nordea‟s content management system (CMS).</p>

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Customer retention is an important issue for any business, especially in mature markets such as the UK mobile market where new customers can only be acquired from competitors. Different methods and techniques have been used to investigate customer retention including statistical methods and data mining. However, due to the increasing complexity of the mobile market, the effectiveness of these techniques is questionable. This study proposes Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation (ABMS) as a novel approach to investigate customer retention. ABMS is an emerging means of simulating behaviour and examining behavioural consequences. In outline, agents represent customers and agent relationships represent processes of agent interaction. This study follows the design science paradigm to build and evaluate a generic, reusable, agent-based (CubSim) model to examine the factors affecting customer retention based on data extracted from a UK mobile operator. Based on these data, two data mining models are built to gain a better understanding of the problem domain and to identify the main limitations of data mining. This is followed by two interrelated development cycles: (1) Build the CubSim model, starting with modelling customer interaction with the market, including interaction with the service provider and other competing operators in the market; and (2) Extend the CubSim model by incorporating interaction among customers. The key contribution of this study lies in using ABMS to identify and model the key factors that affect customer retention simultaneously and jointly. In this manner, the CubSim model is better suited to account for the dynamics of customer churn behaviour in the UK mobile market than all other existing models. Another important contribution of this study is that it provides an empirical, actionable insight on customer retention. In particular, and most interestingly, the experimental results show that applying a mixed customer retention strategy targeting both high value customers and customers with a large personal network outperforms the traditional customer retention strategies, which focuses only on the customer‘s value.

Abstract Social media is a marketing phenomenon that is growing very fast. Social media helps creating value for customers in broadcasting the advertising among social networks. Blog posts, videos, pictures, reviews and ratings all have a significant impact on marketing. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how companies can achieve customer loyalty and customer relationship management using social media marketing and if companies can target new customers by social media. An inductive research approach was used in the study. Semi-structured interviews were performed with interviewees from two companies. A survey questionnaire was answered by 100 social media users which were also customers of the companies. The findings show that there are certain constraints in social media such as risk of user information security when their information can be shared with the companies so that companies can do better marketing research. Word of mouth is spread on social media where new customers are targeted. Social media is providing new channels for support, advertisement and acting as a news feed tool to keep customers up to date about recent events and news. The company stated that no extra resources were required to market on social media.

The purpose of this case study is to determine if there are any under- or overrepresented industries in CRM case studies. CRM stands for customer relationship management and can be applied as a system to help the sales manager in an industry to control the activities and their customers. CRM enable long-term relationships with customer and to retaining key customer. The top findings in this case study is that the hotel industry is by far the leader of CRM case studies and therefore the overrepresented industry. The underrepresented industries when it comes to amount of CRM case studies is the digital content industry, retailing industry, pharmaceutical industry and the telecommunication industry. The conclusion in this case study is that all the service industries are dependent on the CRM-systems and therefore a lot of case studies have been composed about the subject. Another conclusion is that that CRM-systems cannot be ignored by any industries since the economy is customer orientated.