Title: Customer relationship management strategy and firm performance: an empirical study

Authors: Jia-Jeng Hou, Hill Hung-Jen Tu

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, National Chiayi University, No. 300, Syuefu Rd., Chiayi City 600, Taiwan. ' Department of International Business, Providence University, No. 200, Chung Chi Rd., Taichung 43301, Taiwan

Abstract: E-business has emerged the past decade as a mainstream business practice with continual advances in information technology (IT) and the push for global marketing. Customer relationship management, an enterprise approach that understands customers, supports desired customer experience, and builds profitable customer loyalty, is one such increasingly popular IT based solution. This study proposes a framework exploring the relationship between CRM practices and performance outcomes. Data collection proceeds through mail survey of 144 firms in Taiwan, registered in the Taiwan Stock Exchange market. The study generally concludes that business with CRM practices is linked to better performance outcomes, including perceptual and financial performance. Another finding indicates that the moderate effect of industry competition intensity is not significant. The conclusions may be particularly applicable both to e-business and the global marketplace, which results in many challenges and opportunities that fall into the CRM realm.

Keywords: customer relationship management; CRM strategy; CRM practices; financial performance; perceptual performance; Taiwan; e-business; electronic business.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2008.021105

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2008 Vol.2 No.4, pp.364 - 375

Published online: 04 Nov 2008 *

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