A successful Customer Relationships Management (CRM) implementation helps organisations to obtain competitive advantages over others by improving customer satisfaction and loyalty, increasing revenue and reducing operating costs. Effective CRM implementation has become more and more important owing to the huge percentage of failures that occur. This year, organisations are expected to spend about $13billion on implementing CRM. While a significant amount of research has been conducted into CRM implementations, particularly with respect to Critical Success Factors (CSFs), only a minority of the implementations have been successful. Culture plays a major role in CRM implementation. It is ranked one of the top three factors involved in CRM's CSFs. Culture, therefore, become significant issues when planning to implement CRM within the developing countries, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) due to its existing cultural differences. Very limited research into CSFs for CRM implementation in the KSA exists. This research, therefore, focuses on identifying the CSFs and their interrelationships for CRM implementation in the KSA with the ultimate aim of developing an integrated model that includes these factors and their interrelationships to support effective implementation of CRM solutions within the private sector of the KSA from both organisations' and customers' perspectives. It adopts an integrated mix of case study and Grounded Theory as a research strategy. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and documentation, which was then analysed using Grounded Theory data analysis. The findings showed that adoption of CRM in the KSA revealed some additional CSFs to those found within other studies, such as customer culture and the country's policies and procedures. The interrelationships between the CSFs of CRM were identified and shown to be vital for successful CRM implementation. The results identified the relationships between CRM's CSFs and their key development stages. The findings were interpreted by using Institutional Theory. It was found that implementing a CRM solution as a response to institutional isomorphism pressures could lead to a conflict and mismatch of institutional logics among customers and CRM solutions. Organisations subjected to these pressures implemented CRM without the advantage of a cost-benefit analysis. This increased the failure of CRM adoption. This research makes six major contributions. Firstly, a theoretical contribution was made by applying Institutional Theory to enrich the understanding and interpretation of the research's findings. This provided useful insight into the main factors that affect the adoption of CRM and extended the line of research on the use of this theory to study Information Systems (IS) in organisations. Secondly, the development of the research model presented the CSFs that affected the adoption of CRM solutions and their interrelationships from both the organisations and customers' perspectives within KSA. Thirdly, the research identified thirty-one cause-and-effect relationships between CSFs that need to occur in a dependency mode for the success of CRM implementation. Fourthly, it identified that each CSF needs to be executed in certain stages during the CRM's development life cycle. Fifthly, this research provides organisations within the private sector in the KSA (those that intend to implement CRM solutions) with an extensive way of thinking about its CRM implementation. Finally, this research is one part of the very limited research focusing on the implementation of CRM solutions within the private sector in the KSA.

We examine how access to bank credit affects trade credit in the supplier-customer relationships of U.S. public firms. For identification, we use exogenous liquidity shocks to supplier firms in the form of staggered changes to interstate bank branching laws. Using a variety of tests, we show that supplier firms with greater access to banking liquidity offer more trade credit to their customers. We also show that when bank branching restrictions are relaxed in the supplier's state, the supplier-customer relationship is more likely to survive. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

<p><p>Syftet med uppsatsen var att utifrån en fallstudie av ett mellanstort svenskt industriellt företag, som tillverkar kundspecifika produkter, studera etablerade kundrelationer beträffande varför de är viktiga att behålla och utveckla. En fallstudie med kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes på Sjölanders Mekaniska samt med två av deras etablerade kunder. Frågor såsom "Vad får kunderna att bli långvariga hos Sjölanders Mekaniska?", "Hur arbetar företagen för att föra relationen framåt?" och "Vad ser företagen som viktiga faktorer i en affärsrelation?" besvarades och resultatet visade på att industriella relationer stärks och utvecklas genom att parterna för en öppen dialog och är tydliga med att framföra sina behov. Dessutom anses kvaliteten på produkterna öka då medarbetarna har lång erfarenhet av tillverkningen, vilket medför att kompetensen som finns i en etablerad relation svår och kostsam att ersätta. Vidare är det viktigt med en hållbar planeringsfunktion som aktivt håller koll på leveranssäkerheten. Slutligen kan den tillit som skapas mellan individerna i en affärsrelation ses som relationens viktigaste byggsten.</p></p> / <p>The purpose of the thesis was to perform a case study of a medium sized industrial company that produce customer specific products, and to study established customer relationships in regard of why they are important to keep and develop. The case study of Sjölanders Mekaniska and two of their established customers has been done through qualitative interviews. Questions such as "Why do the customers continue to choose Sjölanders Mekaniska?",<strong> </strong>"How do the companies work to bring their relationships forward?", and "What do the companies see as important factors in a business relationship?" were answered and the result showed that industrial relationships strengthens and develops thorough an open dialogue between the parties where clear objectives are presented. Further the quality of the products is said to increase with the employees' long experience of the production. Therefore, one can see the competence that exists within an established relationship, as difficult and expensive to replace.  Moreover, it is seen as important to maintain a sustainable planning function which actively keeps control over the reliability of delivery. Finally, the trust that is created between the individuals in a business relationship, is seen as a the most important building block of the relationship as a whole.</p>

<p>The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse how capital goods manufacturers can enhance their industrial service offering.</p><p>The theoretical basis of this research is found in services marketing, recognising co-creation of value, that the service process is an open production system and that the customer determines value as the manufacturer can only offer value propositions.</p><p>The empirical basis is a multiple case study of service management at BT Industries, Electrolux Laundry Systems, ITT Flygt, and Saab. The four companies operate within different industries, have different service offerings and they are facing different internal and external conditions, which affect their service organisation and offering.</p><p>It is becoming increasingly important for capital goods manufacturers to offer services and there are further growth and profit opportunities on the market for industrial services. It is suggested that there is major improvement potential and financial gains possible to achieve if more resources are allocated to services. Moreover, utilisation of new technological means leads to increased dematerialisation and enable manufacturers to enhance existing service offerings as well as enable new ones.</p><p>Depending on whether the services have a traditional product-orientated focus or a customer-centric process-orientated focus, and depending on the scope of the offering, there are different critical factors to consider. Process-orientated services require knowledge about not only how to service the installed base but also how to improve the customer’s industrial production process.</p><p>Generally, bundled services require a modular structure with standardised, formalised processes and integration between local and central organisation. Extensive bundled offerings require that both customer and provider have relational intent and a long-term relationship is regarded as a condition for successful customer involvement in service development. Long-term relationships also enable the company to act proactive and develop offerings with a customer-centric approach, instead of having a product-centric approach and internally-focused innovation.</p><p>To conclude, operational service processes and interfaces, internal and with the customer, are critical to manage both from a cost-efficiency and revenue-effectiveness perspective. Furthermore, it is argued that customer relationships and development of the service offering must be managed strategically.</p> / Report code: LiU-TEK-LIC 2006:42

<p><strong>Syfte:</strong> Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga kundernas köpbeteenden i en inredningsbutik, Divas Boning och att diskutera hur dessa kan påverkas och bidra till ökad konsumtionsnivå hos kunderna.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Metod: </strong>Vi har valt att använda oss av både en kvalitativ metod i form av en intervju samt en kvantitativ metod i form av en enkät. Dessa presenteras var och en för sig i empirikapitlet. Analyser har sedan gjorts också uppdelat i kvantitativ- och kvalitativ data.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Resultat & slutsats: </strong>Vår studie visar att det är av stor vikt att Divas Boning tydligt positionera sig och arbetar med sina kundrelationer. Vår studie visar även att valet av sortiment i hög grad påverkar hur butiken uppfattas och att det är viktigt att som mindre inredningsbutik inte bara se liknande butiker som konkurrenter utan även större kedjor. </p><p> </p><p><strong>Förslag till fortsatt forskning:</strong> Som fortsatt forskning skulle vi finna det intressant och lärorikt att studera branschen ur ett vidare perspektiv och göra en grundlig konkurrensanalys av Divas Bonings alla konkurrenter. I denna studie kan vi endast beröra köpbeteendet hos Divas Bonings kunder. Det skulle även vara intressant att studera skillnader mellan handel i fysisk miljö och på Internet.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Uppsatsens bidrag: </strong>Förutom kunskapen att arbeta med teoretiska modeller har vår studie framförallt bidragit med kunskap om Divas Bonings nuvarande kunder. Vi har fått en god uppfattning om kundernas köpbeteenden, vad de har för uppfattningar och behov. Denna studie kommer också att vara användbar för Divas Boning i deras marknadsplanering.</p><p><strong> </strong></p>

<p>Denna uppsats syftar till att kartlägga hur elektroniska kundrelationer skildras av marknadsföringslitteraturen inom klassisk-, direkt- och relationsmarknadsföring. Kartläggningen har även för avsikt att undersöka eventuella mönster i litteraturens skildring av den elektroniska kundrelationen.</p><p>De senaste 50 åren av teknisk utveckling har medfört en avgörande innovation för utvecklingen av elektroniska kundrelationer - nämligen datakommunikation. Tekniken bakom datakommunikation har legat till grund för vad vi idag kallar Internet, den kanske mest betydelsefulla uppfinningen inom modern informationsteknik.</p><p>Utvecklingen har även påverkat relationen mellan företag och kund. Mycket av den direkta kontakt som tidigare fanns har idag ersatts av elektroniska relationer. Den elektroniska marknaden som skapats tvingar även företag att ta den elektroniska kundrelationen på allvar. Kundens totala upplevelse av företaget och därmed konsumtionsbeslut kan avgöras i den elektroniska relationen till företagen.</p><p>Genom att kartlägga hur den elektroniska kundrelationen skildras i marknadsföringslitteraturen önskar vi bidra till ökad förståelse för denna nya typ av kundrelation. Utvecklingen stannar inte av och företagen får ständigt nya sätt att kommunicera med sina kunder, vilket i sin tur skapar nya områden för marknadsförare att arbeta i.</p><p>För att lättare identifiera den elektroniska kundrelationen i marknadsföringslitteraturen har en strukturell modell bestående av synsätten klassisk-, direkt- och relationsmarknadsföring använts. Relevant litteratur inom underkategorier till varje synsätt som bara arbetar med elektroniska kundrelationer har sedan samlats in och kartlagts. Vi har kunnat se flera mönster i skildringen av den elektroniska kundrelationen och drar följande slutsatser:</p><p>Inom e-marknadsföring (klassisk marknadsföring) skildras den elektroniska kundrelationen som ett komplement till fysiska kundrelationer. Inom datorbaserad direktmarknadsföring (direktmarknadsföring) skildras relationen som en mätbar tillgång företaget investerar i för framtida avkastning. Inom CRM (relationsmarknadsföring) skildras relationen som ett analyserbart och hanterbart objekt som kan kontrolleras i avancerade analysprogram.</p><p> </p> / <p>The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the electronic customer relationship is depicted by marketing literature within traditional-, direct- and relationship marketing. The thesis also intends to explore whether there are any patterns in the way the marketing literature describes the electronic customer relationship.</p><p>The last 50 years of technical advancement has brought a conclusive component for the development of the electronic customer relationship – e.g. data communication. This innovation has paved the ground for the development of information technology which we today refer to as the Internet – possibly the most important invention in the history of modern information technology.</p><p>This development has also affected the relationship between companies and customers. Much of the direct contact that was previously used has now been replaced by electronic relationships.  The electronic market that has been created has also forced companies to take the electronic customer relationship seriously.</p><p>With this thesis about the electronic customer relationship we hope to contribute a larger understanding for this new type of customer relationship. Development will progress and companies will be able to use new ways to communicate with its customers which will in return create new fields for marketers to work in.</p><p>In order to more easily identify the electronic customer relationship within the marketing literature a structural model consisting of the traditional-, direct- and relationship marketing approaches has been used. Relevant literature within subcategories of the different approaches that only deal with electronic customer relationship has been collected and mapped out. We have been able to see numerous patterns within the depiction of the electronic customer relationship and following conclusions have been made:</p><p>Within e-marketing (traditional marketing) the electronic customer relationship is depicted as a complement to physical customer relationships. Within computer based direct marketing (direct marketing) the electronic customer relationship is depicted as a measurable asset the company invests in for future returns. Within CRM (relationship marketing) the electronic customer relationship is depicted as an analyzable and manageable object that can be controlled in advanced analysis software.</p><p> </p>

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Stockholm based travel agencies understand and use relationship marketing and how it is perceived by customers. Relationship marketing is defined by Grönroos as a building of relationships with customers to achieve mutual benefits. Four main objectives of relationship marketing were used to contextualise the term: service quality, personalisation, differentiation, and communica-tion.In order to answer the purpose, the authors have chosen to interview three travel agen-cies that focus on offering tailor made travel for different target groups. Sampling was used to find these travel agencies, as the total number of travel agencies in the Stock-holm area is too large to interview. Also, customers who have travelled with two of the travel agencies were interviewed. Further, several theoretical frameworks are presented in order to provide the reader with a view of relationship marketing, and were used in the design and the questions asked both companies and customers. From the interviews with the companies it was found that all of them have different views of what relationship marketing is, and that they have different ways of imple-menting it. The views of relationship marketing differ from building a strong brand im-age to managing actual relationships with customers. The main efforts of relationship marketing that the companies are involved in are delivering personalized travel and high service quality to customers.It was found in the interviews with customers that their view on what makes good ser-vice is similar to that of company views. What is most important to customers is that the perceived quality matches, or exceeds, the experienced one. There are several things that companies can do to attract and retain customers including having rewards clubs, sending out a moderate amount of newsletters, and providing a personal seller for customers.

How can suppliers contribute to their customers’ value creating processes? Although this question is crucial for firms’ collaboration with customers and for their competitiveness, it is not clear how firms co-create value with their customers. Research on value co-creation has increased notably the last years. However few empirical studies have been conducted on how value is co-created in the day-to-day activities. Therefore this thesis addresses value co-creation with a strategy-as-practice perspective. The strategy-as-practice enables to link micro-level activities with the structures in which they are carried out as well as the strategic outcomes they lead to. In order to understand the process of value co-creation, a supplier and four customer companies are studied. The empirical context is a technical knowledge-intensive business service company providing its competence in product development and operating in a highly competitive environment. Focus is put on how the supplier’s processes fulfil customers’ requirements and expectations. The notion of value-in-use from the service logic forms a starting point in the analysis of customer’s requirements. Dynamic capabilities in the strategy field is used to analyse the supplier’s processes. Based on interviews, annual reports, observations and workshops, the empirical material indicates that the supplier’s processes play a crucial role for the customer. The findings in this thesis show that value-in-use is a contextual and compound concept that can take different forms as “values-in-use”, “postpone value” and “value-after-use". Understanding customers’ value-in-use requires an open dialogue between the customer and the supplier. In this sense, processes that help capture the more intangible and unconscious parts of a relationship, and the roles the parties take during the process are necessary. A finding in this thesis is that culture enhances certain processes at the expense of others. Another finding is that dynamic capabilities need to be more than well-performed processes in order for the customer to differentiate the firm from competitors. Dynamic capabilities necessitate the combination of smooth processes, understanding of customers’ value-in-use as well as managerial skills in order for the supplier to co-create value, and this in a competitive way.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga kundernas köpbeteenden i en inredningsbutik, Divas Boning och att diskutera hur dessa kan påverkas och bidra till ökad konsumtionsnivå hos kunderna.   Metod: Vi har valt att använda oss av både en kvalitativ metod i form av en intervju samt en kvantitativ metod i form av en enkät. Dessa presenteras var och en för sig i empirikapitlet. Analyser har sedan gjorts också uppdelat i kvantitativ- och kvalitativ data.   Resultat &amp; slutsats: Vår studie visar att det är av stor vikt att Divas Boning tydligt positionera sig och arbetar med sina kundrelationer. Vår studie visar även att valet av sortiment i hög grad påverkar hur butiken uppfattas och att det är viktigt att som mindre inredningsbutik inte bara se liknande butiker som konkurrenter utan även större kedjor.    Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Som fortsatt forskning skulle vi finna det intressant och lärorikt att studera branschen ur ett vidare perspektiv och göra en grundlig konkurrensanalys av Divas Bonings alla konkurrenter. I denna studie kan vi endast beröra köpbeteendet hos Divas Bonings kunder. Det skulle även vara intressant att studera skillnader mellan handel i fysisk miljö och på Internet.   Uppsatsens bidrag: Förutom kunskapen att arbeta med teoretiska modeller har vår studie framförallt bidragit med kunskap om Divas Bonings nuvarande kunder. Vi har fått en god uppfattning om kundernas köpbeteenden, vad de har för uppfattningar och behov. Denna studie kommer också att vara användbar för Divas Boning i deras marknadsplanering.

Denna uppsats syftar till att kartlägga hur elektroniska kundrelationer skildras av marknadsföringslitteraturen inom klassisk-, direkt- och relationsmarknadsföring. Kartläggningen har även för avsikt att undersöka eventuella mönster i litteraturens skildring av den elektroniska kundrelationen. De senaste 50 åren av teknisk utveckling har medfört en avgörande innovation för utvecklingen av elektroniska kundrelationer - nämligen datakommunikation. Tekniken bakom datakommunikation har legat till grund för vad vi idag kallar Internet, den kanske mest betydelsefulla uppfinningen inom modern informationsteknik. Utvecklingen har även påverkat relationen mellan företag och kund. Mycket av den direkta kontakt som tidigare fanns har idag ersatts av elektroniska relationer. Den elektroniska marknaden som skapats tvingar även företag att ta den elektroniska kundrelationen på allvar. Kundens totala upplevelse av företaget och därmed konsumtionsbeslut kan avgöras i den elektroniska relationen till företagen. Genom att kartlägga hur den elektroniska kundrelationen skildras i marknadsföringslitteraturen önskar vi bidra till ökad förståelse för denna nya typ av kundrelation. Utvecklingen stannar inte av och företagen får ständigt nya sätt att kommunicera med sina kunder, vilket i sin tur skapar nya områden för marknadsförare att arbeta i. För att lättare identifiera den elektroniska kundrelationen i marknadsföringslitteraturen har en strukturell modell bestående av synsätten klassisk-, direkt- och relationsmarknadsföring använts. Relevant litteratur inom underkategorier till varje synsätt som bara arbetar med elektroniska kundrelationer har sedan samlats in och kartlagts. Vi har kunnat se flera mönster i skildringen av den elektroniska kundrelationen och drar följande slutsatser: Inom e-marknadsföring (klassisk marknadsföring) skildras den elektroniska kundrelationen som ett komplement till fysiska kundrelationer. Inom datorbaserad direktmarknadsföring (direktmarknadsföring) skildras relationen som en mätbar tillgång företaget investerar i för framtida avkastning. Inom CRM (relationsmarknadsföring) skildras relationen som ett analyserbart och hanterbart objekt som kan kontrolleras i avancerade analysprogram. / The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the electronic customer relationship is depicted by marketing literature within traditional-, direct- and relationship marketing. The thesis also intends to explore whether there are any patterns in the way the marketing literature describes the electronic customer relationship. The last 50 years of technical advancement has brought a conclusive component for the development of the electronic customer relationship – e.g. data communication. This innovation has paved the ground for the development of information technology which we today refer to as the Internet – possibly the most important invention in the history of modern information technology. This development has also affected the relationship between companies and customers. Much of the direct contact that was previously used has now been replaced by electronic relationships.  The electronic market that has been created has also forced companies to take the electronic customer relationship seriously. With this thesis about the electronic customer relationship we hope to contribute a larger understanding for this new type of customer relationship. Development will progress and companies will be able to use new ways to communicate with its customers which will in return create new fields for marketers to work in. In order to more easily identify the electronic customer relationship within the marketing literature a structural model consisting of the traditional-, direct- and relationship marketing approaches has been used. Relevant literature within subcategories of the different approaches that only deal with electronic customer relationship has been collected and mapped out. We have been able to see numerous patterns within the depiction of the electronic customer relationship and following conclusions have been made: Within e-marketing (traditional marketing) the electronic customer relationship is depicted as a complement to physical customer relationships. Within computer based direct marketing (direct marketing) the electronic customer relationship is depicted as a measurable asset the company invests in for future returns. Within CRM (relationship marketing) the electronic customer relationship is depicted as an analyzable and manageable object that can be controlled in advanced analysis software.