Can Firms Develop a Service-Dominant Organisational Culture to Improve CRM?

Abstract

CRM is more than the tactical application of technology solutions; it is a broader strategic approach to managing customer relationships (Payne and Frow, 2005) in order to create value. This article will review the challenges of creating the right organisational context to manage the value exchange, in order to create the right level of value for the customer in the application of CRM.One of the reasons CRM initiatives have failed in the past has been a focus only on the value that the firm can gain from a relationship, without consideration of the benefits in terms of customer experience and their perception of value. With recognition that the customer plays an active role in service models and subsequently the work triumphed by Lusch and Vargo (2004; 2006a; 2008) around the importance of a service-dominant logic (S-DL) for marketing, it has been increasingly recognised that the customer’s perception of value-in-use is facilitated by relationships with customers. However, traditionally managers have been trained to think from a product-dominated perspective and to create value offerings for (not with) the market. If application of service-dominant logic is to lead to firms developing competitive advantage through more effective co-creation of customer-perceived value, then firms need to attempt to ‘manage’ their organisational climate in order to support delivery of effective CRM solutions with a culture that enables and encourages staff to work to develop relationships that create value with customers that encourage those customers to stay in those relationships. Relevant literature across a number of research paradigms is reviewed and an agenda for future research is discussed.