This doctoral thesis deals with the Customer Relationship Portfolio Management (CRPM) theme. This theoretical concept emphasises a resource-based integrated approach to the management of an organisation's customer relationships and has been largely inspired by matrix-orientated portfolio models developed within other related management disciplines. Though these models were rapidly adopted in such disciplines because of their appealing visual displays and immediate recommendations, customer relationship portfolio researchers examining the practical reality within business organisations have found little support for such a formal approach to managing customer relationships. The proposing and testing of theoretical customer relationship portfolio models has not shed light on the actual methods used by organisations to manage their portfolio of customer relationships. Taking a broad perspective on the customer relationship portfolio management phenomenon, this in depth processual case based research investigates how selling organisations in two industrial market contexts (UK and India) actually manage their entire portfolio of customer relationships. Research findings indicate that the two organisations have their own 'customised' ways of classifying and managing customers, though the process is less formal in the second case context. Even though none of the case contexts under study use a matrix approach, they do however use variables suggested previously by customer portfolio researchers. The exchange mechanisms adopted in both contexts to manage customer relationships show transactional as well as relational characteristics. The present research contributes in both theoretical as well as methodological terms towards the conceptually rich but empirically 'nascent' customer relationship portfolio literature. It provides a contextual understanding of the CRPM phenomenon and presents an abductively derived broad based theoretical framework for the same. This research goes beyond 'soft' factors and incorporates cost related outcomes of buyer-seller relationships to give a more rounded view on managing customer relationships. Methodologically, the researcher provides a 'flexible but structured' synthesis approach to understanding CRPM processes within organisations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:627990 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Talwar, Vishal |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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