Determinants of Successful Customer Relationship Management

Frameworks and fragmented evidence of factors leading to success of customer relationship management (CRM) are available in past research. However, there is little comprehensive understanding yet of the initiatives necessary for deriving organizational benefits from CRM systems. Apart from customers, CRM systems also embrace environmental factors that extend beyond organisational boundaries. Thus, CRM initiatives must address relevant organisational factors as well as the extra-organisational environmental factors. This framework validates the usefulness of the work system (WS) framework as a guide to investigating the CRM initiatives undertaken by Shanghai General Motors (GM). Our findings suggest that the individual slices of the WS framework and their interaction and interdependencies must be comprehensively managed for successful CRM deployment The study also indicates that cultural values of the organisation and that of its customers have a significant bearing on CRM success.