Paper info

Customer Intimacy through Intra-Firm Relationship Governance

Arto Rajala , Kristian Möller and Matti Tuominen

The paper was published at the 17th IMP-conference in Oslo, Norway in 2001.

Globalization, acute competition, the information technology revolution, and increasingcustomer sophistication are radically redefining environmental conditions, and, meanwhile,challenging managerial representations and traditional organizational recipes for managingintra- and inter-firm relationships. Hence, we examine in this study the way companiesinteract with their employees and customers. As such, the research question poses itself: howdoes the management of intra-organizational relationships create superior customer valueand close business relationships. The results of our empirical study indicate that there existsa strong association between the key constructs involved. From contingency point of view,especially, moderate market dynamism and technology-driven business logic influence thisinterface. These findings are of evident practical interest crystallized by the followingimplication for management: by developing organizational design in line with the dominantbusiness logic and evolving market structures, companies are able to enhance their customervalue and intimacy. Indeed, the point is of a real managerial dilemma and key challengewithin our rapidly evolving information era.