The rapid growth of e-commerce contributes to not only an increase in the number of online shoppers but also new changes in customer behaviour. Surveys have revealed that online shopper's brand loyalty and store loyalty are declining. Also the transparency of feedback affects customers' purchase intention. In the context of these changes, online sellers are faced with challenges in regard to their customer relationship managements (CRM). They are interested in identifying high-value customers from a mass of online shoppers, and knowing the factors that might have impacts on those high-value customers. This thesis aims to address these questions. Our research is conducted based on an eBay dataset that includes transaction and associated feedback information during the second quarter of 2013. Focusing on the sellers and buyers in that dataset, we propose an approach for measuring the value for each seller-buyer pair so as to help sellers capture high-value customers. For a seller, the value of each of its customers has been obtained, and we create a customer value distribution for the seller so that the seller knows the majority of its customers' consumption abilities. Next, we categorize sellers based on their customer value distributions into four different groups, representing the majority of customers as being of high, medium, low, and balanced values, respectively. After this classification, we compare the performance of each group in terms of the sales, percentage of successful transactions, and the seller level labelled by the eBay system. Furthermore, we perform logistic regression and clustering to the sellers' feedback data in order to investigate whether a seller's reputation has an impact on the seller's customer value distribution. From the experiment results, we conclude that the effect of negative ratings is more significant than that of positive ratings on a seller's customer value distribution. Also higher ratings about "Item as Described" and "Shipping and Handling Charges" are more likely to help the seller attract more high-value buyers. / Graduate

Since 2004, several small hotel chains have introduced guest loyalty programs in order to give their guests "big chain perks" while keeping a boutique identity. Recent studies have raised concerns that loyalty programs do not create brand loyalty. By looking at Kimpton Hotel's recently introduced program, Kimpton InTouch, this study examines the potential for operationalizing guest loyalty programs in a small boutique hotel chain setting. The study utilizes guest information gathered through customer surveys and reviews guest visits and spending patterns to see if there is any indication that loyal behavior exists amongst members of the Kimpton InTouch. This study demonstrates that frequent stay programs serve as a valuable asset in a hotel's ability to nurture a relationship with its membership and increase the overall awareness of its brand in the marketplace.

Information Technology (IT) outsourcing is a serious option available to modern managers. An emerging trend is the focus on relationship management in IT outsourcing, imploring organisations to look past tactical objectives and concentrate on strategic outcomes. In a global economy business sponsors are connecting with overseas vendors in IT outsourcing in an attempt to accelerate realisation of benefits. This complicates outsourcing arrangements, because cross-cultural differences may add to the complexity of fostering relationships. This study examines how to manage IT outsourcing relationships in a cross-cultural context to enhance IT outsourcing success. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, interpretivist case studies were adopted. The researcher investigated three IT outsourcing cases within one Chinese organisation. One case has a vendor with a western cultural background and the other two with a Chinese cultural background. The main data were collected through interviews with key managers in the case organisation, complemented by secondary data (such as published reports, internal documents). Some additional data concerning the cross-cultural differences were also collected from the two Chinese vendors and another western vendor who provided corporate strategy consulting services to the case organisation. Analysis of data showed that a good contract implementation, the established trust and the acknowledgement of vendor's high value were recognised as the three distinguishing characteristics of a satisfactory IT outsourcing relationship. In managing relationships the outsourcing company emphasised not only contract implementation but even more importantly communication with vendors, recognition of mutual interests, establishment of social/personal bonds, and appropriate allocation of project resources. It was shown that the relationship management practices influenced the dynamics of a relationship as well as the outcome of an IT outsourcing project. Furthermore, the relationship management in IT outsourcing was found to be culture-sensitive. By demonstrating that companies with different cultural background held different perceptions of relationship management practices and had different understandings of the nature and dynamics of the relationships, this study contributes to the understanding of relationship management in IT outsourcing, especially when cultural differences among the parties are involved. These findings also have practical implications for IT outsourcing involving global and partner-based alliances.

“Just as the consumer is becoming more intelligent, the company in parallel should become more intelligent about the customer” (Raisch, 2000, p.4). Internet has become a huge marketplace and to stay competitive in this growing marketplace, companies must improve the way they interact with their customers (Rayport & Jaworski, 2005). As the amount of information online is rapidly growing, customers are becoming more intelligent. Intelligence that in turn makes them more powerful as they with high knowledge becomes high involvement purchasers, which is the opposite to what companies desire. Moreover customers are no longer satisfied with rewards like “bonus-points” or “take three pay for two” campaigns (Kalkota & Robinson 1999). Today’s customers want to be treated individual, they want to feel special, want to feel that the company really take care for them (Newell 2000). The aim with this thesis is to explain how Interactive Agents (IA) as a concept can help companies to attract and retain customers. To do so, we first need to describe what that concept consists of. IA:s can be described as “robots” chatting with the user/customer. They often take graphical form and works with a large knowledgebase that help them deliver the answer a user asks for. The agent is designed to serve customers 24/7 and can, to the opposite of a human, handle more than one case at time. The significant difference between a search-engine and an IA is the technology that allows users to use natural sentences to communicate with the agent instead of only using keywords.  Our findings, that take ground in a literature study followed by an interview with one of the big developers of AI in Sweden, indicates that IA:s could provide companies with an additional value over money savings, which is the main reason according to developers to invest in IA:s. As we can see, two different types of benefits, technical and commercial, can be generated by implementing an IA in an organization. Technical benefits are generated directly from the technology, i.e. make the access to information less complicated and increased knowledge about customers. Commercial benefits are generated as a result of applying this technology and if experienced to a satisfactory level by its target-group, it can generate some commercial benefits, such as goodwill and brand mediation. We would like to conclude our findings to say that IA will be able to generate some value for the system-user and the end-user. However, we believe that to create a value of significance, there are still requirements (see conclusions) that need to be carried out, where the most important part would be interaction with other systems.

Customers are no longer what they use to be in the past, they are now highly educated, more specialized and more highly influenced by global culture than ever before. For businesses to be able to win the heart of customers, they need to do extra because these customers are the pillar that holds the organizations. One of the method to achieve this is called Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The focus of CRM is about managing customer knowledgem to better understand and serve them. The purpose of this study is to explore how e-business organizations use CRM in a B2C setting, and we did that from online fashion retail companies' perspectives. Our study has explored how how CRM objectives are described and how CRM is managed. To answer these questions, relevant literature was reviewed which resulted in a conceptual framework that guided the data collection. We carried out a multiple-case study with two fashion retail companies, one located in the UK, and the other in Sweden. Data was collected through a telephone interviews with high positioned employees who have experience working with CRM and related subject.

Seminariedatum: 2013-05-30 Kurs: Mälardalens Högskola, FÖA300, Kandidatatuppsats i Företagsekonomi, 15hp. Författare: Sebastian Enlund & Daniel Kauppinen, Västerås. Titel: Hur används CRM i ishockeyklubben VIK Hockey vars organisation definieras som en hybridorganisation? Handledare: Angelina Sundström. Nyckelord: CRM, Customer Relationship Management, 7P, hybridorganisation . Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva användandet av CRM i en hybridorganisation. Detta kommer göras genom att studera VIK Hockeys användande av CRM. Metod: En kvalitativ metod har använts för att erhålla empirisk data som sedan analyserats tillsammans med de teoretiska resonemang som legat till grund för denna uppsats. Studieobjektet i denna uppsats har varit elitishockeyklubben VIK Hockey. Slutsats: Den slutsats som togs fram i uppsatsen är den att elitishockeyklubben VIK Hockey inte använder sig utav CRMs fulla potential, det finns stora möjligheter för organisationen att förbättra sitt användande av CRM.

Title:                                  CRM – A case study of Nordea Private Banking Autors:                               David Johansson & Mikael Westin         Advisor:                             Ulf Aagerup Level:                                 Bachelor thesis in International marketing, (15 ECTS), Spring 2013. Keywords:                         CRM, Relationship marketing, Private Banking Question:                           How does Nordea Private Banking work with CRM to get high customer loyalty? Purpose:                            Study and to learn how Nordea Private Banking is working to bring in new customers and keep existing customers loyal. We also want to see if Nordea uses additional strategies that goes beyond the theory and what their customer relationship strategy is. Method:                             The study has a qualitative research method with an inductive approach. Interviews with leading and skilled profiles at Nordea Private Banking has been interviewed to provide answers to our research question. Theoretical framework: The chapter starts with theory about what relationship marketing is and what is driving customer loyalty. Thereafter theory that define CRM and its pros and cons are addressed, and finally the chapter describe the implementation phase. Empirical framework:     In the empirical framework we present the qualitative interviews that were done with employees at Nordea Private Banking. Conclusion:                       The result from this study shows that Nordea Private Banking uses strategies that are common in theory of CRM to gain high customer loyalty and the use of recommendations from satisfied customers is of a much higher significance in Nordea Private Banking’s case than of what the theory is implying. Nordea Private Banking uses a strategy with high focus on the customers and the importance is within relationship marketing and long lasting relations between the adviser and the customer.

Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Lyxvarumärkesföretag har börjat undersöka implementering av en strategi som erbjuder livslångt kundvärde. De har även visat intresse som tyder på att de vill tillämpa CRM-policys men är osäkra till hur stor del den går att tillämpa inom lyxindustrin. Vi har med inspiration från artikeln ”Is CRM for Luxury brands?” Cailleux, Mignot & Kapferer (2009) konstaterat att det existerar ett problem med den traditionella CRM som inte förstår ”luxury management” och de exakta implikationerna. Då begreppet CRM anses vara otillräcklig samt bristande vid tillämpning på lyxvarumärken anser vi att CRM inte är en optimal affärsstrategi för den sortens företag. Syfte: Vårt syfte med studien är att förstärka och komplettera CRM ur ett lyxperspektiv. Ambitionen är att utveckla existerande teori samt skapa en modell som är anpassad för lyxvarumärkesföretag. Vidare vill vi även tydliggöra de skillnader som existerar mellan klassisk CRM och LCRM. Metod: Uppsatsen har en teoretisk utgångspunkt och behandlas ur en kvalitativ metod tillsammans med respondenter från fallföretaget som besitter gedigen erfarenhet och ansvarspositioner inom lyxindustrin. Slutsats: CRM är inte en tillräcklig strategi att applicera mot lyxvarumärkesföretag då den inte är justerad för att tillgodose lyxvarumärkesföretagens plattform. Den utvecklade teorin LCRM har testats genom en empirisk studie och verifierats till att vara en lämplig strategi för lyxvarumärkesföretag. Genom en tillämpning av LCRM kan lyxvarumärkesföretag nå en ökad kundlojalitet ur ett långsiktigt  perspektiv. / Background and problem discussion: Luxury brands have begun to explore the benefits of an approach to create lifelong customer value. They have also shown interest in implementing CRM policies but are unsure how suitable it is for their market. The article “Is CRM for luxury brands?” Cailleux, Mignot & Kapferer (2009) has been used as an inspiration in this study as the article has found that the existing traditional CRM does not understand "luxury management" and the precise implications, i.e., how luxury brands want to expand while maintaining their prestige. Since the concept of CRM is considered to be insufficient and inadequate for the purposes of luxury brands, we believe that CRM is not an optimal business strategy for the type of business. Purpose: The purpose with this study is to enhance and supplement the strategy CRM to meet the luxury industry needs. The ambition is to develop existing theory and create a model that is suitable for luxury brands. Further, the purpose is to clarify the differences between CRM and LCRM. Method: The paper is theoretically based with a qualitative approach with respondents in leader positions and extensive experience within the luxury industry. Conclusion: CRM is an insufficient strategy to apply for businesses within the luxury industry because it does not understand the platform of a luxury brand. The developed theory LCRM has been tested through an empiric study and has been verified as a suitable strategy to apply for luxury brands. Through an implementation of LCRM luxury brands can achieve a higher customer loyalty in the long run.

In order to enhance the enterprise¡¦s competiveness as well as to improve the business opportunities and enterprise¡¦s profit in the increasing competitive market, the effective control and utilization of the customers¡¦ relationship has become one of the most important core competences. Therefore, to successfully implement the customer relationship management (CRM) system has played an increasing important role for the enterprises. However, the foreign enterprises will need to deal with additional issues and challenges caused by different business process and culture difference since the customer relationship management (CRM) system is mainly designed and developed from the headquarter. As various factors such as human resources¡A financial capital and time will need to be considered while implementing the customer relationship management (CRM) system, the main purpose of the study is to identify the key success factors so that the limited resources can be allocated and utilized in the most effective manner. After the review of the related literature of CRM system, the study used X company as the example to assess the key factors of implementing CRM system at X company, competent imported to the X company involved in customer relationship management, and work in their fields of work for seven years or more, and his position as manager above the level, pick out a total of five experts interviewed in this study. And then used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to analyze those factors and determine the priority. The result will be helpful to improve the quality of the decision making and the performance of the implementing the CRM system at X company and will also be used as the reference for future development. Bases on the result of this study, it can be concluded that ¡§organization¡¨ is the most important aspect for X company to implement the CRM system. For the overall factors, the support from the top management, the level of the participation and acceptance of the organization and the provision of the correct, secure and stable information are the top three important factors. In addition, the analysis of organization; information; environment dimension weights, the most important of each dimension is the support from the top management, the level of the participation and acceptance of the organization and the provision of the correct, corporate professional competence. Keywords: Customer Relationship Management, Foreign Enterprise, AHP

Abstract While many enterprises nowadays building their customer relationship management (CRM) actively, it is still indistinct how to bring the advanced IT into current system and convert it to a feasible solution. Especially, the application of CRM system in the manufacturing industry is in the preliminary stage. So far in Taiwan and Pan-Asia, the implemented CRM cases are laid particular stress on telecom and financial industry. Due to very few reference cases in the manufacturing industry, the development of CRM system is in a predicament. This research use the Qualitative Research method to study the cases in Taiwan manufacturing industry which have planned and implemented its CRM IT Architecture successfully. By contextualism theory, this research study enterprise¡¦s actual operations and questions within the factors of industry characteristics, enterprise demands, enterprise culture and organization changes. And then, based on Capability-based architecture (CBA), this research analyzed the enterprise CRM IT architecture. The CBA not only help to create tight-knit relationship between IT architecture and business capability, but also support enterprise to find out its required IT components by the mechanism of direction and support in the layered architecture. Additionally CBA facilitate enterprise to obtain the required IT components when business capability changed. This research found out several implications which provide the references for manufacturing industry and follow-up research.