From Local Information Systems to Global Customer Relationship Management

Abstract

Advances in computer and information technologies have been utilized by companies all over the world since the 1990s. Corresponding roughly to the same period, global trade has increased dramatically. The opening up of large markets like China and the Eastern Europe contributed to this trend. National companies turned global and had to manage operations in a number of different countries. Companies strived to maintain better customer relationships through CRM programs aimed at managing the flow of information, interacting with the customers, and in the end, formulating individualized offerings for them. Globalization has led to the development of the new notion of Global Customer Relationship Management as opposed to having independent local CRM programs operating in the subsidiaries. This chapter presents the issues facing the implementation of such Global CRM programs and provides the important conceptual frameworks proposed in the literature.