Customer relationship management (CRM) is one of the most frequently adopted management tools and has received much attention in the literature. From a company-wide perspective, CRM is viewed as a complex process requiring interventions in different company areas. Previous research has already highlighted the pitfalls and failures related to a partial and incomplete view of CRM. This study advances research on CRM by investigating the impact of the relative implementation time according to which interventions are implemented in different areas (customer management, CRM technology, organizational alignment, and CRM strategy) on CRM performance. The results of the empirical study reveal that compared to other critical CRM activities, a later implementation of organizational alignment activities has a negative impact on performance. Further, our results show that CRM implementations do not equally address the areas of customer acquisition, growth, and loyalty, since this clearly depends on company objectives and also on geographical differences.

Introduction

In the current competitive landscape, in which competition is intensifying, the ability to strengthen customer relationships is viewed as a likely source of competitive advantage (Chang, Wong, & Fang, 2014; Santouridis & Veraki, 2017; Thakur & Workman, 2016). Companies have, therefore, invested significantly in the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) during the past few years (Badgett, Ballou, & LaValle, 2004; Chang, Park, & Chaiy, 2010; Radcliffe, 2001). According to Payne and Frow (2005), CRM is a management approach that seeks to create, develop, and enhance relationships with carefully targeted customers to maximize customer value and corporate profitability. The academic literature and business press recognize the difficulties of correctly implementing CRM (Bohling et al., 2006; Boulding, Staelin, Ehret, & Johnston, 2005; Ryals, 2005; Wilson, Daniel, & McDonald, 2002). Several authors (Keramati, Mehrabi, & Mojir, 2010) have tried to identify the required areas of interventions for a successful CRM. This is in line with recent CRM literature that emphasizes the necessity of an integrated view of CRM projects (Payne & Frow, 2005). An integrated view considers the multiple facets of a CRM implementation—such as customer-oriented strategies, customer management processes, organizational alignment, and technologies in a customer-centric organization—and links them to CRM performance measures (Richards & Jones, 2008). Based on the literature, we conceptualize CRM as a set of business activities that pertains to four different areas of intervention (four CRM dimensions: strategy, organization, technology, and customer management) with improved customer relationships as the end goal. Kumar and Reinartz (2006) emphasize that each CRM dimension is necessary, although not sufficient, to implement CRM. In order to implement CRM successfully and be competitive, a company should be on par with its competition across all its CRM dimensions and facilitate the positive orchestration of them. Keramati et al. (2010) point out that the harmonious integration of the different CRM dimensions plays a crucial role in CRM’s ability to create value for the customer and the firm. Many authors have investigated CRM and its ability to impact on performance (Chen & Wu, 2016; Krasnikov, Jayachandran, & Kumar, 2009; Law, Ennew, & Mitussis, 2013). However, studies on CRM’s impact on performance report inconclusive findings (Ernst, Hoyer, Krafft, & Krieger, 2011; Reimann, Schilke, & Thomas, 2010). Recent CRM literature, therefore, began to focus on factors that may influence the relationship between CRM and performance (e.g., Krasnikov et al., 2009).