CRM Systems in Industrial Companies. Intra- and Inter-Organizational Effects

This book aims to contribute new knowledge on the CRM (Customer Relationship

Management) topic in the field of industrial marketing. To achieve this purpose, the book

investigates the processes behind the development, implementation, embedding and use of

CRM. Today CRM appears to be a “buzzword” in the academic literature. In fact, CRM can

be analyzed under different and divergent perspectives. But considering the main purpose

of this book we define it as a technical device interacting with people who input data and

information inside an IT system to obtain processed information in order to handle customer

relationships. In other words, we consider CRM as a socio-technical “resource” connected in

the organization to actors-users who in doing activities on it can create effects on customer

relationships. Our theoretical basis is industrial networks according to the IMP perspective.

This study is concerned with understanding how a focal CRM system is constructed and

embedded in using companies and which contribution it provides to improving customer

relationships, viewed from the perspective of the supplier. Moreover this book analyzes

CRM’s effects at both intra- and inter- organizational levels.

Empirically, the book analyzes the CRM development and implementation in an Italian

industrial company named Loccioni group.

We identified the following four dimensions which affect the use and the effects of CRM on

customer relationships:

- the age or the attitude towards IT of the Key Account Manager (KAM)

- the extent to which a CRM system matches the informational needs of the specific KAM

- the age of the customer relationship

- the complexity of the customer relationship.

We conclude with managerial implications on how to cope with CRM at intra- and inter-
organizational levels.