Managing customer behaviour dynamics in the multi-channel e-business environment: Enhancing customer relationship capital in the global hotel industry

He has held directorial posts in information systems and management in the private sector. His research interests and publications are in the areas of e-business management, e-learning, information and knowledge management. His recent research contracts with the private sector and government concern business performance management, e-business channel management and e-business applications development. He has lectured in economics as well as marketing. Interdisciplinary teaching and research interests have led to publications in a variety of fields including investment, pricing, consumer choice and marketing management. In addition to many journal articles he is the lead author of 'Advertis-ing: Policy and Practice' (Palgrave Macmillan), published in Great Britain and the USA. Jan Powell-Perry has worked in the computer industry for 30 years, having spent ten years as a business analyst/programmer. She moved into education 20 years ago, teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in the area of Information Management and Information Systems. She continues to develop software, and has produced a number of operational systems for the University and industrial clients. Her research interests include the role of the Internet within the hospitality and travel industry and she also has a special interest in the application of ICTs to support both teaching and research. Managing the dynamics of customer behaviour in the rapidly emerging multi-channel e-business environment is complex. Establishing an enduring and profitable dialogue with a customer requires that online relationship management applications can accommodate the channel variety in the custo-mer's e-communications portfolio, including their buyer behaviour dynamics. With reference to the global hotel industry, this paper considers the impact of Internet multi-channel access on the customer decision-making process; how differences in buyer behaviour and loyalty level influence the relationship management process; and the implications of effectively managing buyer behaviour and the provision of multi-channel customer accessibility for competitive advantage. INTRODUCTION The hotel industry is dominated by small outlets with mixed ownership, management and franchise relationships. As such, it can be likened to the retail industry, which has achieved a fairly high degree of standardisa-tion in the supply of technology solutions in similar circumstances. Thus this paper is aimed at the global hotel industry. Managing the dynamics of customer behaviour in the rapidly emerging multi-channel e-business environment is complex. In defining a ho-tel's Web presence, it is no longer adequate to concentrate on solely providing a PC-based web interface. Customers are increasingly adopting a variety of Internet access devices (IADs), 1 …