No abstract

In recent years, customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives have come to the front of companies' strategies within highly competitive markets to maintain value creation and customer equity monitoring (see Forester Research's report on CRM in 2013).

In the early 1990’s, marketing theory experienced a paradigm shift from a transactional approach focusing on sales to a relationship one. This shift was due to several limits of traditional mix marketing based on the “four P’s” and to the change in the market business models. In fact, the growing role of branding in mass markets, the development of services marketing, and the importance of network and human interactions in business are some of the main reasons behind relationship marketing emergence. Relationship marketing is then aimed at developing and maintaining mutually profitable relationships with customers and even stakeholders. In the era of technology evolution and Internet, customer relationship management (CRM) is moving forward to better manage, drive, and keep value-added relationships. However, CRM is, first of all, a company strategy and a shared vision that involves organization, people, and processes in satisfying and retaining customers. This chapter deals with the concept of customer centricity and its development, customer lifecycle with acquisition and retention, and finally the issue of CRM implementation.

In the early 1990’s, marketing theory experienced a paradigm shift from a transactional approach focusing on sales to a relationship one. This shift was due to several limits of traditional mix marketing based on the “four P’s” and to the change in the market business models. In fact, the growing role of branding in mass markets, the development of services marketing, and the importance of network and human interactions in business are some of the main reasons behind relationship marketing emergence. Relationship marketing is then aimed at developing and maintaining mutually profitable relationships with customers and even stakeholders. In the era of technology evolution and Internet, customer relationship management (CRM) is moving forward to better manage, drive, and keep value-added relationships. However, CRM is, first of all, a company strategy and a shared vision that involves organization, people, and processes in satisfying and retaining customers. This chapter deals with the concept of customer centricity and its development, customer lifecycle with acquisition and retention, and finally the issue of CRM implementation.