A knowledge-enabled procedure for customer relationship management

The value of knowledge management and customer relationship management is well recognized by many leading companies. This study presents a proposed model of Knowledge-enabled Customer Relationship Management and demonstrates the way in which the presented model can facilitate the identification of important factors that have key impacts on business performance in particular settings. The results show that employees in the steel industry indicate that to provide product and service information for customers and to share internally the best practice information can have benefits for hard measures such as market share, repeat purchases, and customer retention and for soft measures such as customer satisfaction, market leadership and customer loyalty. Employees in the textile industry report that to provide customer complaint information of customers and to share internally the best practice information can have benefits for hard measures such as customer retention, cost savings, and market share and for soft measures such as customer satisfaction, market leadership, customer loyalty, and customer and employee productivity.     

Determinants of customer loyalty in the wireless telecommunications industry

This paper reports the results of research investigating the determinants of the propensity to switch wireless service providers. A model generated from the data rather than from a priori theory is presented, and it is found to uphold the strong relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty exhibited in prior studies. In sharp contrast to the prevailing industry practice of ‘locking in’ customers by means of restrictive contracts, this research suggests that wireless service providers are better off improving customer satisfaction in order to minimize customer defection. This would imply shifting scarce resources to customer retention through improved service, saving costs of expensive customer acquisition campaigns. The paper also proposes two methodological innovations. First, the research employs the ‘Tetrad methodology’ as an exploratory technique prior to building a Structural Equation Model (SEM) making it possible to identify drivers of loyalty—direct or indirect—when it might not be known a priori what these drivers might be. Secondly, the paper proposes an approach to estimating moderator effects on the relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty.     

Customer attitudes of stayers and defectors in B2B services: Are they really different?

Identifying attitudinal differences between stayers and defectors is important in establishing a deeper understanding of customer satisfaction and loyalty research. Both managers and academics often use global customer attitudes, such as customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions, as determinants of customer loyalty. The implicit assumption is that customer satisfaction and/or behavioral intentions are valid, and accurate, predictors of actual loyalty behaviors. This study compares customer attitudes of stayers and defectors in B2B services using respondents (primary decision makers) from a Fortune 100 company. The results show that the commonly used customer metrics of service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions have some differences between stayers and defectors. However, these metrics are shown to be relatively weak differentiators of actual customer defection. The stayers and defectors are much more similar, than different, on most metrics. The most notable difference is price perceptions, where defectors appear to be more price sensitive than stayers. These findings have significant implications for the design and use of customer-focused research by managers.     

顾客满意与企业效益

介绍了顾客满意研究的基本内容，分析了顾客满意与顾客心理、顾客满意与顾客忠诚以及顾客忠诚与企业利润之间的关系，特别强调，企业在实施顾客满意管理时应综合考虑顾客心理、忠诚度、利润、经营策略等因素才能实现企业的战略目标。     

Customer response to dissatisfaction: A synthesis of literature and conceptual framework

Business-to-business customers who are dissatisfied with services or products may respond by voicing complaints, by exiting the transaction relationships, by spreading negative word-of-mouth (WOM) about their experiences, and/or by continuing the transactional relationships as they are. The authors synthesize extant customer (dis)satisfaction response behaviors in the organizational buyer behavior literature, and discuss within-firm and third-party recipients of voicing and negative WOM. A model of customer response behavior is disclosed featuring possible influences of exit, voice, loyalty, and negative WOM: number of alternative suppliers, past complaint response behavior, number of years in relationship, and type of purchase. Propositions are provided on the effects of influence variables on response behavior relationships.     

Role of competences in creating customer value: A value-creation logic approach

This paper addresses the issue through what kind of competences companies are producing value for their business customers. First, a value typology, clarifying the complex character of value, is constructed, together with suggestions on how the question of value creation can be framed. In order to understand and manage supplier-customer relationships, it essential to comprehend how both customers and suppliers perceive value and their roles in value creation. The matching of customers' and suppliers' perspectives is discussed by developing a framework depicting the business-to-business marketing types. Then the competences needed for creating value for customers and suppliers alike are examined by identifying what kind of competences are required in each marketing type.     

Linking customer lifetime value with shareholder value

The measurement of customer lifetime value has become a key issue for developing and maintaining long-term profitable customer relationships. It plays a significant role in customer acquisition and retention decisions. Given the growing importance of creating value for shareholders, market strategies have to be evaluated by their capacity to achieve this goal. Accordingly, both the acquisition and maintenance of customers must result in superior cash flows and augmented shareholder value. However, little attention has been paid to the link between customer lifetime value and shareholder value. The authors of this paper provide a conceptual framework for linking customer lifetime value to shareholder value. It is argued that customers have to be treated as assets that increase shareholder value by accelerating and enhancing cash flows, reducing cash flow volatility and vulnerability and increasing the residual value of the firm.     

How value and trust influence loyalty in wireless telecommunications industry

Despite making significant investments in enhancing the customer service experience, long-term customer loyalty remains an elusive dream for many service providers. Particularly in the telecommunications industry, switching providers even from within continuous contract relationships is easy and companies struggle to retain their customers. Trust and value are considered cornerstones of long-term relationships, so it is perhaps surprising that previous research on how relationship age and usage level actually affect value, trust and loyalty is inconclusive. The current research is set in the telecommunications services field and draws on a large-scale survey undertaken in Finland. The findings support the contention that perceived value relates positively to loyalty, and that trust mediates that relationship. Surprisingly, in the telecommunications industry, increasing relationship age and usage level strengthen neither value and loyalty nor the links between trust and loyalty. The results may be explained by the unique characteristics of the highly competitive mobile telecommunications sector, and confirm the view that loyalty does not pay without strategies that value long-term customers and thereby build trust with new customers.     

The drivers of customer attractiveness,supplier satisfaction and preferred customer status: A literature review

In this paper, we focus on the preferential treatment of buyers by their suppliers. As there is a lack of detailed information regarding the reasons that suppliers serve some buyers better than others, our research addresses a supplier's evaluation of customers and how this evaluation can be influenced by buyers. To give an overview of the drivers of preferential treatment by suppliers, the provided literature review covers three research fields that are considered crucial to this issue: (i) customer attractiveness, (ii) supplier satisfaction and (iii) preferred customer status. By integrating these research topics, we provide a state-of-the-art analysis and overview of the various drivers of preferential treatment, build a preliminary conceptual model and suggest several directions for future research. The identification of the drivers and the resulting conceptual framework can serve as a stepping stone for additional research in this new field.     

Customer value, overall satisfaction, end-user loyalty, and market performance in detail intensive industries

The objective was to test a customer value variable, as operationalized by a modification of Ulaga and Eggert's scale, as a direct explanatory concept in predicting satisfaction, loyalty, and market performance in a hybrid veterinary pharmaceuticals market. The market was considered to be a hybrid because physicians purchase on behalf of their clients. The scale proved to be reliable and valid in a detail intensive market using 220 veterinary physicians as respondents. To achieve an acceptable structural equation modeling fit, the customer value variable had to be dropped. The final model indicated a direct influence by product, strategic, and personal benefits as well as perceived sacrifices on the dependent variables. Management implications of the study are described.     

Customer attractiveness,supplier satisfaction and preferred customer status: Introduction,definitions and an overarching framework

Industrial markets are frequently characterized by an oligopolistic market structure. As a result, suppliers may become highly selective with respect to decisions that involve collaborating with certain customers. Buying firms must therefore be more attractive than their rivals to obtain opportunities to collaborate with these selective suppliers. This apparently counterintuitive inversion of the classical marketing approach (that is, relationships that involve buyers competing for suppliers rather than the other way round) constitutes the foundation of the special issue that is introduced in this paper. In this paper, we present key terms and propose a model of preferred customership that uses a social exchange perspective to link customer attractiveness, supplier satisfaction and preferred customer status. The papers that contribute to this special issue are introduced within the context of this framework. Finally, this paper concludes with suggestions for future research directions.     

Managing customer share in key supplier relationships

Supply base consolidation is an important issue in many business markets. Against this background, the allocation of purchasing budgets across vendors becomes an area of vital interest to suppliers. In the present research, we argue that customer share is a key decision variable in business marketing settings and investigate how a supplier can proactively manage the share of its customer's business. We report the results of a cross-sectional study among purchasing managers in U.S. manufacturing industries. Our findings confirm the role of customer value as an antecedent to customer share in business relationships. The study further shows that customer share influences the stability of key supplier relationships. Rather than displaying a direct impact, our results suggest that trust mediates and dependence moderates the link between customer share and search for alternative suppliers. Based on these findings, we propose a framework for managing customer share in key supplier relationships. Four approaches of how industrial vendors can proactively manage customer share are discussed.     

Understanding the role of service innovation behavior on business customer performance and loyalty

Providing new services to customers gives firms a competitive advantage in the market. Consequently, firms strive to develop innovative service that delivers new value propositions to customers and leads to customer satisfaction and the acquisition of new customers. The authors investigate the relationship between the innovative behavior of service providers, business customer performance, and business customer loyalty in the safety industry. The study's results show that technology-oriented and co-creation-oriented innovative behavior leads to business customer performance. Business customer performance is closely related to recommendations and re-contracts. Moreover, the degree of safety involvement has a moderate effect between service innovation and business customer performance. The findings have important theoretical and managerial implications for service innovation for researchers as well as service providers.     

Towards a framework of customer value assessment in B2B markets: An exploratory study

This paper examines the key processes and activities of customer value assessment in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Given that an increasing number of B2B firms are providing combinations of products and services, or integrated solutions, the present study examines customer value assessment from the solution supplier's perspective. Specifically, based on an exploratory field study and in-depth interviews with 18 managers in three different firms, the present study identifies five key processes (i.e., value potential identification, baseline assessment, performance evaluation, long-term value realization, and systematic data management) and 11 related activities involved in customer value assessment in B2B markets, and integrates them into a managerially grounded framework. The findings from this study contribute to the literature on customer value and solution research, and provide useful insights for managers on how to assess the value delivered by their offerings to customers.     

Determinants of Relationship Quality and Loyalty in Personalized Services

The study adopts a relationship perspective to examine and better understand customers' interactions with service firms' contact personnel, physical environment and customer environment and their influence on the relationship quality, that is trust and satisfaction, and consequently loyalty. The conceptual model, which integrates relational and evaluative perspectives, is validated in the Asian context of personalized service through findings from a survey of 325 respondents. The findings at the aggregate level indicate that while the physical environment is an important determinant of both trust and satisfaction in personalized service encounters, the customer environment influences only satisfaction but not trust. Service contact personnel's friendliness and knowledge of customers strongly influence relationship quality; while expertise, similarity and disclosure influence trust but not satisfaction. Both relationship trust and satisfaction were found to significantly influence loyalty to the service provider. At the disaggregate level, trust was found to be a stronger predictor of loyalty for high-end service providers while satisfaction was a stronger predictor of loyalty for low-end service providers. The implications for high-end and low-end service providers to enhance loyalty by strategically leveraging on key customer-firm antecedents of relationship trust and satisfaction are discussed.     

Customer dissatisfaction and defection: The hidden costs of downsizing

Downsizing has been the subject of a good deal of research. Very little research, however, has examined the impact of downsizing on customers. Using a case study approach with a Fortune 100 company, we measured the attitudes, in a telephone survey, of 534 B2B service customers before a significant downsizing event and 994 customers afterwards. Our findings show that a significant downsizing event has an immediate and negative impact on customer satisfaction levels and on projected retention rates. This will lead to a direct, negative financial impact on the service provider due to a loss of expected future customer revenue. The lost revenue substantially offsets the short term labor cost savings from the downsizing.     

Does salesperson's customer orientation create value in B2B relationships? Empirical evidence from India

Although value creation in business relationships has taken an important position in the literature, yet scant attention has been paid to the precise nature of creation or destruction of value in b2b customer-oriented selling. Moreover, very few empirical studies in the b2b customer value research have focused on emerging markets, especially the BRIC countries. This study carried out in the context of small and medium sized firms in India, empirically examines from the SOCO perspective (Saxe and Weitz, 1982), value creation in customer-oriented selling, and value destruction in sales-oriented strategies. We model value creation, relationship development, and customer satisfaction as direct and indirect consequences of salesperson's customer orientation. Based on a sample of 249 small and medium sized Indian firms, we show that salesperson's customer orientation directly leads to value creation and relationship development with customers. On the other hand, a sales orientation destroys value, although it may lead to relationship development in the short-term. We also found that customer satisfaction was unrelated to both types of salesperson's orientations. Our study has considerable impact for small and medium sized businesses in emerging BRIC markets such as India, as it throws light on how supplier firms can leverage their salesforce to create value creation with their customers.     

Development and implementation of customer solutions: A study of process dynamics and market shaping

A broad, dynamic network perspective on solution processes remains scarce. This article presents the process of developing and implementing customer solutions and its effects on the wider business environment by investigating customers and suppliers in the global mining industry (Australia, Chile, and Sweden), analyzing the deployment of a new customer solution, and assessing the changes to the competitive environment and focal firms' relationships with other customers and suppliers. It shows that the forces that drive customer and supplier interests and motivation to co-develop customer solutions may change over time, thus redefining the aim and scope of solutions and creating failure risks. Customers present problems; suppliers respond, on the basis of not only the feasibility of the customer-specific solution but also of their evaluation of future solutions in a broader market; then suppliers aim to standardize successful solutions across markets. Customers want close supplier relationships and unique solutions but also like standardized and repeatable solutions, so they can share development costs with competitors and expose the supplier to competition to avoid lock-in effects. From a network perspective, a novel solution can have a market-shaping effect and evoke reactions from other actors who want to enhance their market position. However, these changes are not necessarily deliberate, and the dynamics that market introductions of solutions trigger may be difficult to predict.     

Business customers' satisfaction: What happens when suppliers downsize?

Organizational downsizing has become commonplace in today's competitive environments. Over the past 10 years in the U.S. alone over 10 million positions have been eliminated. Recently, questions related to the holistic benefits of downsizing have emerged. One of these questions suggests that downsized companies may find it more difficult to fully satisfy their customers; especially if there have been significant cuts in key contact personnel. In view of this question, the work presented here examines whether downsized suppliers, as compared to non-downsized suppliers, enjoy higher (or lower) levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty among their business customers. Based on a sample of 560 purchasing professionals, this study indicates that contrary to popular managerial schema ([Lewin, J. E. (2003). An empirical investigation of the effects of downsizing on buyer-seller relationships. Journal of Business Research, 56(4), 283-293]; [McKinley, W., Zhao, J., & Rust, K. (2000). A socio-cognitive interpretation of organizational downsizing. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 227-243]), downsized suppliers do a significantly worse job in delivering quality and value to their business customers. As a result, their customers are less satisfied and less loyal.     

Industrial brand value and relationship performance in business markets — A general structural equation model

This paper develops a general model of industrial brand value and relationship performance in business-to-business markets from the perspectives of consumer and industrial marketing literature. The structural equation model integrates the analysis of industrial brand value and relationship performance. The model describes the extent to which supplier-buyer transaction performance is influenced by the eight important factors: supplier competence, purchasing value, customer satisfaction, switching cost, brand trust and loyalty, relationship quality, commitment, and transactional performance.The general model is applied to organizational buyer groups of comprehensive industrial markets (Electronics, Chemicals, Equipment, etc). The analysis finds that supplier competence directly affects purchasing value and customer satisfaction, and via purchasing value and customer satisfaction, it indirectly affects commitment, switching cost, brand trust and loyalty. The managerial implications of the study results are also discussed.