| In reviewing the history of marketing, it is clear that a paradigm shift has occurred over the past few decades. In the past, the goal of many firms was to achieve production efficiency by cutting operational costs per produced unit so as to sell products and deliver services at a lower price. Over the years, the transaction-based selling platform of mass marketing (i.e., the product-oriented view) proved to be unsustainable, because the strategies were easily imitated by competitors over a short period of time. Therefore, firms started focusing on the more relational-based approach of one-to-one marketing (i.e., the customer-oriented view) (Peppers, Rogers, & Dorf, 1999 ; Frow & Payne, 2009 ). This transition in marketing, which has been enabled by implementing customer relationship management (CRM) programs, puts more emphasis on involving customers in long-term relationships so that the firms can learn about customers’ individual needs (Payne, Storbacka, Frow, & Knox, 2009 ; Peppers & Rogers, 2004 ), retain existing customers, and attract new customers by using value-creating activities. Huge stresses of competition and survival around the world imposed by globalization have forced organizations to redesign themselves to realize excellence by means of creativity and innovation (Khandwalla & Mehta, 2004 ). An organization that seeks to achieve success must have a framework for conducting self-assessment. Th is process allows the organization to measure the situation it is in relative to its target excellence position and, by uncovering strengths and weaknesses, enables it to achieve better results. Th e two concepts of CRM and organizational excellence (OE) are discussed in the following subsections. |