Firm Competitive Advantage Through Relationship Management

Relationship management (RM) is an essential part of business, but its success as a business model can be hard to measure, with some firms embracing a model that is truly relationship-orientated, while others claim to be relationship-orientated but in fact prefer transactional short-term gain. This open access book aims to develop a mid-range theory of relationship management, examining truly relationship-orientated firms to discover not only what qualities these firms have that make them successful at the RM model, but also what benefits this model has for the firm. It addresses questions like how RM-mature companies achieve and sustain competitive advantage, and what determines the scale and scope of these firms, illustrating with case studies. This book will be of interest to scholars studying leadership and strategy, especially those interested in relationship management, business ethics and corporate social responsibility. It will also be of interest to professionals looking to develop their understanding of relationship management.

Business Models for Transforming Customer Relationships What if there were a way to turn occasional, sporadic transactions with customers into long-term, continuous relationships--while simultaneously driving dramatic improvements in operational efficiency? What if you could break your existing trade-offs between superior customer experience and low cost? This is the promise of a connected strategy. New forms of connectivity--involving frequent, low-friction, customized interactions--mean that companies can now anticipate customer needs as they arise, or even before. Simultaneously, enabled by these technologies, companies can create new business models that deliver more value to customers. Connected strategies are win-win: Customers get a dramatically improved experience, while companies boost operational efficiency. In this book, strategy and operations experts Nicolaj Siggelkow and Christian Terwiesch reveal the emergence of connected strategies as a new source of competitive advantage. With in-depth examples from companies operating in industries such as healthcare, financial services, mobility, retail, entertainment, nonprofit, and education, Connected Strategy identifies the four pathways--respond-to-desire, curated offering, coach behavior, and automatic execution--for turning episodic interactions into continuous relationships. The authors show how each pathway creates a competitive advantage, then guide you through the critical decisions for creating and implementing your own connected strategies. Whether you're trying to revitalize strategy in an established company or disrupt an industry as a startup, this book will help you: Reshape your connections with your customers Find new ways to connect with existing suppliers while also activating new sources of capacity Create the right revenue model Make the best technology choices to support your strategy Integrating rich examples, how-to advice, and practical tools in the form of "workshop chapters" throughout, this book is the ultimate resource for creating competitive advantage through connected relationships with your customers and redefined connections in your industry.

This book provides the first summary and critical appraisal of the thinking that currently informs the management of business relationships, from the perspectives of both the buyer and supplier. The authors argue that these approaches are one-dimensional and instead recommend a more holistic approach based on power, interaction and portfolio perspectives. The book provides evidence of how relationships can be aligned and misaligned in practice, using eighteen examples drawn from a variety of business cases and circumstances.

To develop the long-term relationships necessary to survive the intense global competition of the modern era, businesses must strive to meet customers needs as never before. This book is a result of an extensive research project that studied new ideas in marketing, and how these strategies are being applied throughout the US and Europe. The case studies provided demonstrate the ability of effective CRM programmes to refine customer relationships and increase their value.

In today's connected global marketplace, success and failure is bound up with the management of your inter-organisational partnerships. Competition is no longer between individual organisations but between alliances of companies and networks of supply chains. Richard Gibbs and Andrew Humphries provide a practical guide to the management process and skill sets needed for co-ordinating the business activities that are essential to creating a competitive advantage. Their eight partnership types developed from earlier research help readers adapt their relationship strategies to the different opportunities that present themselves and focus their greatest time and resources on the collaborations that offer the greatest value. The text includes an explanation of the context for collaboration, the principles and drivers for success, as well as techniques for appraisal and management. This is an excellent overview of the tools, techniques and philosophies behind an enterprise’s successful management of its strategically important relationships. Enterprise Relationship Management will help ensure your organisation has the requisite ability to form, manage, retire and exit partnerships in a fluid and agile way. Whether you are in sales or marketing or finance and operations, this book will show you how to get the most from your partnerships.

MANAGING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS A Strategic Framework Praise for the first edition: "Peppers and Rogers do a beautiful job of integrating actionable frameworks, the thinking of other leaders in the field, and best practices from leading-edge companies. "—Dr. Hugh J. Watson, C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry Chair of Business Administration, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia "Peppers and Rogers have been the vanguard for the developing field of customer relationship management, and in this book, they bring their wealth of experience and knowledge into academic focus. This text successfully centers the development of the field and its theories and methodologies squarely within the broader context of enterprise competitive theory. It is a must-have for educators of customer relationship management and anyone who considers customer-centric marketing the cornerstone of sound corporate strategy." —Dr. Charlotte Mason, Department Head, Director, and Professor, Department of Marketing and Distribution, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia "Don and Martha have done it again! The useful concepts and rich case studies revealed in Managing Customer Relationships remove any excuse for those of us responsible for actually delivering one-to-one customer results. This is the ultimate inside scoop!" —Roy Barnes, Formerly with Marriott, now President, Blue Space Consulting "This is going to become the how-to book on developing a customer-driven enterprise. The marketplace is so much in need of this road map!" —Mike Henry, Leader for Consumer Insights at Acxiom Praise for the second edition: "Every company has customers, and that's why every company needs a reference guide like this. Peppers and Rogers are uniquely qualified to provide us with the top textbook on the subject, and the essential tool for the field they helped to create." —David Reibstein, William Stewart Woodside Professor of Marketing, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

This book reveals how to truly excel at meeting client needs and lock in future business, client testimonials, increased referrals and client loyalty. Insightful and full of common sense, Client Relationship Management sheds new light on managing the six elements of successful client relationship management: The client relationship, relationship/project initiation, planning, implementation, closeout, and application/service plan. The book delivers a wealth of advice from the "real world"; how to define solutions based on the client's history, design a plan that secures ownership from stakeholders, promote strong communication, and orchestrate project closeout to acknowledge individual and team performance.

Relationship Marketing provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals and important recent developments in this fast-growing field. "This book makes a landmark contribution in assembling some of the best contemporary thinking about relationship marketing illustrated with concrete descriptions of companies in the automobile industry, consumer electronics, public utilities and so on, which are implementing relationship marketing. I highly recommend this to all companies who want to see what their future success will require." PROF. PHILIP KOTLER, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, ILLINOIS