Customer relationship management: a qualitative cross-case analysis in the UK and Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The current study focuses on customer relationship management initiatives in different organizations and in different countries. A proposed CRM model was adopted and used to evaluate the CRM initiatives of the chosen organizations in both Saudi Arabia and the UK. The scope of this research was affected by the differing levels of cooperation received from the organizations which participated in the case studies, thereby resulting in differing sizes of the said case studies. The adopted CRM conceptual model was used to evaluate the level of CRM maturity in the organizations studied. This model is believed to be a significant contribution to the theory and field of CRM. This model could be used by organizations to evaluate their CRM initiatives and assess their CRM readiness and status. The proposed CRM model specifies the basic parameters of the CRM sequential stages and their essential supporting conditions. Another important contribution of the study is that it identifies and highlights the potential effects of the cultural disparities existing between Saudi Arabia and the UK on CRM initiatives yet to be undertaken in both countries. In depth open-ended questions were used to collect the data. The analysis of the data gathered went through two main stages. The first stage was to transcribe the data collected from all the organizations chosen and produce detailed write-ups for each case. In every case the write-ups were similarly structured to help the researcher in the second stage, the cross-case analysis. The cross-case analysis was based on the researcher’s proposed conceptual CRM model.

The central research question for this study is: Why and how do CRM initiatives succeed or fail? In order to answer this question, the following research questions were formulated and answers were deduced from the findings and results of the qualitative analysis conducted: RQ1: What are the critical success factors of CRM initiatives? The answers received resulted in the emergence of some critical success factors, such as: 1. Senior Management Support 2. Business Plan and Vision 3. Making the Change in Small Steps 4. Inter Departmental Collaboration 5. Clear Ownership of Data 6. Training for End-users 7. End Users' Acceptance of Change 8. Degree of Analysis and Customer Segmentation 9. Degree of Alignment 10. Language Considerations 11. Internet Presence RQ2: What are the common difficulties when adopting a CRM initiative? The answers came up with the following common difficulties: 1. Resistance to Change 2. Human Errors in Feeding the System 3. Governmental Legislation 4. Cultural Barriers RQ3: What does CRM mean for different organizations? The answers exposed a common interesting finding that different organizations considered CRM to be different things. Some considered CRM to be branded CRM software, others as call-centers, yet others as loyalty programs and/or simple tools to manage and satisfy customers. This confirmed that CRM meant different things to different organizations. RQ4: Is CRM the right solution for every organization? The answers proved that if branded software from recognized vendors only was to be recognized as CRM, then this standard and rigid kind of CRM could not always be implemented by all organizations. On the other hand, if the managerial concepts behind CRM were to be taken into consideration, then CRM could indeed be implemented by every organization.