CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)NETWORK: A NEW APPROACH TO STUDYING CRM

Abstract

The technology and the climate to support the tenets of CRM, which are not new, have become available recently. However, researchers face the problem of defining CRM and mapping out what it entails. As such, this paper takes a new approach to defining and studying CRM. It defines CRM as a business strategy that seamlessly integrates every aspect of business that touches the customer. Based on this definition, this paper suggests that CRM study should be approached as a study of five sub-topics: marketing and sales, project implementation and management, e-business, knowledge management and supply chain management, each of which is established in its own right. This approach provides a framework to carry out future research to integrate these sub-topics and form a comprehensive blueprint on how to become a customer-centric CRMorganization.