Frederick Hong-kit Yim. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-108). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) --- p.i / ABSTRACT (CHINESE) --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.viii / Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Research Objectives --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Outline of This Study --- p.4 / Chapter CHPATER TWO --- BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS RESEARCH --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- Reasons for the Prominence of Relationship Marketing --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- The Growth of the Service Economy --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- The Heightening of Competitive Intensity --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- The Building of Customer Relationships to Gain a Competitive Advantage --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- "Relationship Marketing, CRM and CRM Orientation" --- p.8 / Chapter 2.3 --- Two Major Confusions concerning CRM identified in the Literature --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Obsessive Emphasis on the Technology Component --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- The Distinction between CRM Orientation and Market Orientation --- p.11 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- CONCEPTUALIZATION: CRM ORIENTATION --- p.13 / Chapter 3.1 --- Support for our Conceptualization --- p.14 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Components of the CRM Orientation --- p.16 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Focusing on Key Customers --- p.17 / Chapter 3.2.1.1 --- Customer-centric Marketing --- p.18 / Chapter 3.2.1.2 --- Key Customer Lifetime Value Identification --- p.20 / Chapter 3.2.1.3 --- Personalization --- p.22 / Chapter 3.2.1.4 --- Interactive Cocreation Marketing --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Organizing around CRM --- p.26 / Chapter 3.2.2.1 --- Organizational Structure --- p.26 / Chapter 3.2.2.2 --- Organization-wide Commitment of Resources --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2.2.3 --- Human Resources Management --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2.2.3.1 --- Market Training and Education --- p.29 / Chapter 3.2.2.3.2 --- Internal Communication --- p.30 / Chapter 3.2.2.3.3 --- Reward Systems --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2.2.3.4 --- Employee Involvement --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Knowledge Management --- p.32 / Chapter 3.2.3.1 --- Knowledge Learning and Generation --- p.34 / Chapter 3.2.3.2 --- Knowledge Dissemination and Sharing --- p.36 / Chapter 3.2.3.3 --- Knowledge Responsiveness --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Technology-based CRM --- p.38 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY --- p.41 / Chapter 4.1 --- Overview --- p.41 / Chapter 4.2 --- Item Generation and Content Validity --- p.41 / Chapter 4.3 --- Instrument Pretest --- p.44 / Chapter 4.4 --- Sample and Data Collection --- p.47 / Chapter 4.5 --- Identification of the Underlying Factor Structure --- p.56 / Chapter 4.6 --- Item Analysis and Reliability Assessment --- p.58 / Chapter 4.7 --- Validity Assessment --- p.60 / Chapter 4.7.1 --- Convergent Validity --- p.60 / Chapter 4.7.2 --- Discriminant Validty --- p.63 / Chapter 4.7.3 --- Nomological Validity --- p.66 / Chapter 4.8 --- The Relative Impacts of CRM Orientation and Market Orientation on Business Performance --- p.72 / Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- DISCUSSION --- p.77 / Chapter 5.1 --- Academic and Managerial Contributions --- p.77 / Chapter 5.2 --- Implications --- p.78 / Chapter 5.3 --- Limitations --- p.81 / Chapter 5.4 --- Directions for Future Research --- p.81 / APPENDICES --- p.85 / APPENDIX I. QUESTIONNAIRE --- p.85 / APPENDIX II. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ORIENTATION SCALE ITEMS (AFTER PURIFICATION) --- p.88 / REFERENCES --- p.90

Nowadays, organizational crisis management is one area in which PR experts truly earn their keep. Accordingly, until 2001, around 50 to 70 percent of the largest profit-making organizations in the United States haven't made any disaster plans. In Taiwan, it may not surprise to learn that, nowadays some still failed to put plans in place in anticipation of a catastrophe. As a matter of the fact, there are more examples of organizations getting crisis management wrong than doing it right. When crisis strikes, most companies are unprepared and poorly handle the situation. The overall purpose of this study is to investigate how Taiwanese companies use crisis management principles in handling public opinions at five phases of a crisis: detection, preparation/prevention, containment, recovery, and learning. The research conducted within this study determines how effectively Taiwanese organizations have communicated their corporate value to their stakeholders.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

M.Comm. / In the past year or two, there has been a phenomenal interest among academic and marketing practitioners regarding the concept of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). With the emphasis that is placed on the importance of Relationship Marketing, one would expect the existence of a clear description of the concept, as well as a management framework for the evaluation, implementation and management of such a concept that impacts on the total organisation. However, there are only a few valid theories and learnings to assist Marketing managers and Marketing directors in their understanding of the concept. The purpose of this study was to identify the issues that influence CRM and to assess their importance among South African Marketing managers (MM) and Marketing directors (MD). The study also attempted to evaluate the current perception and understanding of the terms Relationship Marketing (RM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). But the most important aspect of this study was to attempt to identify the elements to be included in a possible managerial framework that addresses the issues related to the development and implementation of a CRM strategy. The issues that influence CRM and the elements for inclusion in such a framework were identified by means of: A literature study of various secondary sources which provided the identification of international CRM issues and a conceptual framework for the understanding of Relationship Marketing (RM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). An empirical study to test the identified issues within the South African environment, to assess the current perception of MM and MD's regarding the concepts of RM and CRM and to generate and purify the possible elements for inclusion in a CRM framework. The methods used to generate the variables were an analysis of secondary sources and individual input • from CRM experts (exploratory study) through the use of e-mail discussions. A survey among MM and MD in various industries, situated mainly in South African metropolitan areas, quantified the issues. In the exploratory study, 34 CRM variables were generated. The variables represented the elements related to the CRM concept. An attempt was made to summarise the initial information into the most important dimensions, which also had the most potential for stimulating further research. Therefore the elements were tested among CRM experts in a QSort technique and 11 variables were eliminated. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine the opinion of a larger sample of respondents in the marketing environment and to gain their understanding regarding the concepts of RM and CRM as well as to test the internationally identified issues in the South African environment. It was necessary to refine the elements for inclusion in a possible CRM framework by reducing the variables and restructuring the dimensions. Two techniques, namely factor analysis and coefficient alpha, were used for this purpose. A computer software programme was used to calculate the factor analysis and coefficient alpha. The repetitive procedure of calculating coefficient alpha and the item-tototal correlation for each factor, followed by the elimination of variables, and the factor analysis to determine the dimension of a CRM framework, led to the reduction from the original 23 variables to 3 descriptive factors. The statistical results and findings indicated that these dimensions had a high interval consistency and reliability. The results of the study were satisfactory in terms of the objectives and confirmed that MM and MD were not completely sure in their understanding of the terms RM and CRM. They were also not able to agree on the elements for inclusion in a CRM or RM definition. But the researcher did gain valuable information regarding the issues that influence CRM and that should possibly be included in a CRM framework to assist MM and MD with the development and implementation of CRM strategies. The findings of the study indicated that the terms RM and CRM were encompassing concepts and it was not possible to identify only a few elements for inclusion into a definition. The study however indicated that a possible CRM framework holds a large variety of potential implications for further research and for marketing applications. The framework must be tested in practice in further studies to verify the reliability, validity and general acceptability of the issues and, if necessary, to make adjustments accordingly. The most important implication that the research results hold for marketing management is that the framework can be used to evaluate their company's orientation towards a 'customer centric' organisation and to identify the problem areas regarding the implementation and management of CRM.

The Best PhD Thesis in the Faculties of Architexture, Arts, Business & Economics, Education, Law and Social Sciences (University of Hong Kong), Li Ka Shing Prize, 2007-2008. / published_or_final_version / Business / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

M.B.A. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M. Phil. (Information Management) / Customer relationship management has been exposed as a strategic failure, unveiling only customer dissatisfaction. A new method for managing customers is consequently required. The effect of the knowledge economy has brought about a change in global orientation, in the focus on customer wants and needs to increase satisfaction. There was then a shift in focus from information to knowledge. In such an economy, the customer knowledge management strategy, as a combination of information and knowledge management techniques, is one best suited to allow organisations to manage their customer knowledge effectively. The purpose of this study was thus on determining whether South African organisations manage customer knowledge within their organisations. A literature review was conducted to determine the reason for the failure of customer relationship management practices, and define customer knowledge management in the context of the knowledge economy. Traditional and electronic sources from which customer knowledge could be collected were identified and measured according to their advantages and disadvantages. Customer knowledge management techniques were discussed, along with the strategic requirements for the system’s success. These specifics were measured within South Africa’s developing economy. Knowledge practitioners in South Africa participated in a quantitative online questionnaire, administered on LinkedIn. Aspects such as education, years of exposure to knowledge management, information and communication technologies, social networking and customer knowledge applications and practices, were examined. The results revealed electronic knowledge-sharing practices in organisations, despite the lack of supportive forces. In conclusion, the collections of customer knowledge are being applied, but not yet formally managed in organisations. A second conclusion is that knowledge practitioners have limited understanding of the customer knowledge management concept, pressed upon by hindrances in external social factors. Taking this into consideration, recommendations are made to strategise the applications of customer knowledge in a number of industries further.

This is a sociological study of four factories in New England on acquisitions by Japanese corporations in the late 1980s. It investigated whether two sets of "Japanese" managerial practices were implemented by the Japanese, and whether they were successful at these factories. One was "welfare corporatist" practices which enhance workers' commitment to the organization by employing paternalistic personnel policies. The other was a group of various quality assurance programs that were either developed or nurtured in Japan. A questionnaire survey of 440 employees, interviews of 25 American and 22 Japanese managers, and 4 focus groups were employed. The Japanese seemed to be reluctant to alter existing personnel practices in the U.S. Insufficient math skills of employees can be a serious obstacle to quality assurance programs. Linguistic and non-linguistic communication issues were also a major problem between the Japanese and Americans. Much Japanese managers' frustration seemed to result from weak inter-group communication and cooperation of American firms. In general, the management at these firms were more engaged in implementing quality assurance programs than welfare corporatist policies. Both types of managerial practices seem to have positive results for employees when they are instituted properly. On the other hand, the lack of these practices can cause adverse effects.

Service Apartment, as a new growth real estate sub-market had rapid growth in the past decade. Under the change of market condition and impact from its own characteristic, Service Apartment industry is facing a great challenge. In the marketplace, different organization would adopt different business strategies to confront the challenges. Apart from those common business strategies, Customer Relationship Management is one of the common strategies that has widely adopted by different organization and the effect was highly recognized. Therefore, some of the operators of Service Apartment also adopt Customer Relationship Management into the operation to improve the competitiveness and performance of the apartment. In view of Service Apartment is a new growth industry, we attempt to conduct a case study in a standard class Service Apartment in Hong Kong to identify the importance of CRM to the Service Apartment industry and evaluate the performance of CRM application from operator's and user's view point and hence to identify the potential improvement on the application. 4 / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy