PRACTITIONER-ORIENTED VIEW ON SUCCESSFUL CRM ADOPTION AMONG SMEs - COMPARATIVE CASE EVIDENCE FROM THE B2B CONTEXT
Kuusinen, Kaisa (2017)
Kuvaus
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Tiivistelmä
Previous studies indicate a lack of unity in CRM conceptualization among academics and practitioners. Furthermore, the current literature on CRM portrays a gap between the cost of CRM adoption and the success rate. These elements describe the multifaceted nature of CRM adoption and suggest, that a more holistic definition of CRM is needed. Therefore, the research question answered in this study is: What are the dimensions of successful CRM adoption among SMEs in the B2B context? In order to arrive in a comprehensive conclusion when answering this question, the present study will first offer a definition of CRM and its objectives and introduce the key dimensions of successful CRM adoption, based on the existing literature. Moreover, based on the comparative empirical evidence from the research executed for this study, the author’s extensions to the existing dimen-sions, as well as additional dimensions of successful CRM adoption, are introduced.
This study is qualitative in nature and the research logic followed is a combination of de-duction and induction. Semi-structured interviews were conducted as a data collection method and the respondents were from two Finnish SMEs, in B2B sector. The chosen companies enabled a comparative case study research of one successful and one un-successful CRM adoption to be realized. The findings of this study suggest that the most important dimensions of successful CRM adoption are: approach, management support, organizational readiness, IT- readiness, resources, vendor selection, scope, communica-tion, measuring CRM performance, strong project management and data quality.
As a theoretical contribution to the existing literature, this study extends the existing knowledge on CRM adoption and offers a more refined view on how such adoption oc-curs among SMEs. The managerial implications of this study provide the reader with a practical tool to use to remove the main barriers of successful CRM adoption. This framework was assessed through various approaches, to define the nature of CRM and to find the influences contributing to successful CRM strategy.
This study is qualitative in nature and the research logic followed is a combination of de-duction and induction. Semi-structured interviews were conducted as a data collection method and the respondents were from two Finnish SMEs, in B2B sector. The chosen companies enabled a comparative case study research of one successful and one un-successful CRM adoption to be realized. The findings of this study suggest that the most important dimensions of successful CRM adoption are: approach, management support, organizational readiness, IT- readiness, resources, vendor selection, scope, communica-tion, measuring CRM performance, strong project management and data quality.
As a theoretical contribution to the existing literature, this study extends the existing knowledge on CRM adoption and offers a more refined view on how such adoption oc-curs among SMEs. The managerial implications of this study provide the reader with a practical tool to use to remove the main barriers of successful CRM adoption. This framework was assessed through various approaches, to define the nature of CRM and to find the influences contributing to successful CRM strategy.