focus upon relationships, rather than upon markets or products, is perhaps the most important and radical challenge that relationship marketing poses to more traditional understandings of marketing planning and activity.A preliminary requirement for firms that wish to achieve this strategic focus upon relationships is a robust set of methods to value relationships. Two surmountable barriers impede the development of such methods. To date, many factors that influence relationship value have been identified. By and large these remain as disparate factors, inadequately integrated within comprehensive models that allow an organisation to place a value upon its INTRODUCTION Many commentators1 assert that customer relationships are a key organisational asset. According to this view, relationships lie at the core of the organisation's ability to generate shareholder value and therefore become the focus of strategic planning. Decisions regarding the organisational future and choices regarding the allocation of resources to build towards that future, will be framed around the organisation's extant or potential relationships. Important strategic decisions involve the identification of relationships to initiate and relationships to terminate and the levels of investment to be made in particular relationships. [2][3][4][5][6] This strategic Choong Yu Lumholds a BA from Sheffield University where his primary area of interest was in finance and also an MSc in Marketing from Manchester School of Management, UMIST. His research looks at the application of financial models to marketing and customer relationship contexts.Abstract The paper argues the necessity to consider risk and return when valuing customer relationships or developing relationship strategies. It discusses how risk might be calculated and proposes the use of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. The model's adaptation to customer contexts and implications for strategy are discussed. Differences between relational exchange in business markets and transactional exchange on investment markets are highlighted. In the light of these, the model should guide rather than prescribe strategic direction.