Business Process Management Journal Mobile customer relationship management: underlying issues and challenges Jaakko Sinisalo, Jari Salo, Heikki Karjaluoto, Matti Leppäniemi, Article information: To cite this document: Jaakko Sinisalo, Jari Salo, Heikki Karjaluoto, Matti Leppäniemi, (2007) "Mobile customer relationship management: underlying issues and challenges", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 13 Issue: 6, pp.771-787, https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150710834541 Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:38 01 November 2018 (PT) Permanent link to this document: https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150710834541 Downloaded on: 01 November 2018, At: 23:38 (PT) References: this document contains references to 60 other documents. To copy this document: permissions@ emeraldinsight.com The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 6888 times since 2007* Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: (2003),"Understanding customer relationship management (CRM): People, process and technology", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 9 Iss 5 pp. 672-688 <a href="https:// doi.org/10.1108/14637150310496758">https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150310496758</a> (2007),"Mobile customer relationship management: an exploratory analysis of Italian applications", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 13 Iss 6 pp. 755-770 <a href="https:// doi.org/10.1108/14637150710834532">https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150710834532</a> Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:462515 [] For Authors If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/ authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 j ournals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm Mobile customer Mobile customer relationship relationship management: underlying issues management and challenges 771 ¨niemi Jaakko Sinisalo, Jari Salo, Heikki Karjaluoto and Matti Leppa Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland Abstract Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:38 01 November 2018 (PT) Purpose – The purpose of this study is twofold. First, in order to guarantee a coherent discussion about mobile customer relationship management (mCRM), this paper presents a conceptualization of mCRM delineating its unique characteristics. Second, the authors develop the empirically grounded framework of the underlying issues in the initiation of mCRM. Design/methodology/approach – A single-case-study method is used for the empirical component of the study in order to gain a holistic view of the case and access to latent and confidential information of the company under scrutiny. Semi-structured interviews of the key informants of the company form the main data source through which the issues are identified and the proposed framework is built. Findings – The proposed framework identifies issues that can be divided into three categories (exogenous, endogenous and mCRM-specific) the company has to take into account when moving towards mCRM. Research limitations/implications – Since, this is a single-case study the findings cannot be generalized and used in other contexts without reservation. Practical implications – When planning to initiate mCRM, the illustrated framework includes all the vital issues that should be considered and serves as a preliminary guideline from which to approach mobile CRM. Originality/value – This paper shed light on the emerging phenomenon known as mCRM. Keywords Relationship marketing, Mobile communication systems, Customer relations Paper type Research paper Introduction Customer relationship management (CRM) has recently gained widespread popularity in many disciplines and industries. The essence of CRM for a company is the ability to provide differentiated relationship value and to communicate continuously with customers on an individual basis (Park and Kim, 2003). It is also increasingly imperative to provide CRM activities through media that customers are interested in interacting with the company. In principle, this thinking is well founded, while in practice it can be excessively difficult to implement. The proliferation of technology-based systems and their rapid advancement are bringing about fundamental changes in how companies interact with customers (Parasuraman and Zinkhan, 2002). Digital channels, for instance, are considered to create unique and positive experiences – not just transactions – for customers by Business Process Management Journal Vol. 13 No. 6, 2007 The financial support of the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovations is pp. 771-787 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited gratefully acknowledged. The authors also wish to thank the organizations whose invaluable 1463-7154 collaboration has made this work possible. DOI 10.1108/14637150710834541
BPMJ mixing aspects of product, service, brand and communication (Wind et al. , 2002). In practice, this development has led to a situation where several companies and 13,6 industries have started utilizing the mobile medium to promote CRM activities. To illustrate this situation, Finnair, the National Airline of Finland (www.finnair.com), was one of the first companies in the world to adopt a mobile phone service for their loyal customers that enables passengers to check in for flights in advance via short 772 message service (SMS). By using this service, passengers can go directly to the departure gate without the hassle of waiting in line at check-in. The advantage for the customer, in addition to time-saving and ease of use, is that the details of the flight are automatically stored on the mobile phone and are accessible whenever needed. The addition of the mobile medium as a channel through which to manage customer relationships not only creates possibilities, but also poses challenges as well. For Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:38 01 November 2018 (PT) instance, companies need to build the technological infrastructure that enables the management of customer relationships through the mobile medium. Subsequently, the technological infrastructure enabling the utilization of the mobile medium needs to be integrated to the existing CRM system. In addition, further challenges stem from the fact that customers need to opt in for the mCRM program and provide the company with information necessary for initiating communication with them. Against this backdrop, the objective of this paper is to assess the underlying issues and challenges facing companies when moving towards mCRM. The authors argue that the existing theories do not explain the phenomenon adequately. Since, conceptual agreement is a necessary prerequisite for a coherent discussion about a phenomenon, it is of decisive importance to propose a conceptualization of mCRM delineating its unique characteristics. Following a literature review, we build a theoretical framework of the initiation of mCRM, which is completed with the aid of a case study. The proposed framework illustrates the underlying issues and challenges of the initiation of mCRM. In order to do this, this study analyzes the phenomenon from the retailer’s point of view. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the results for both theory and practice, outlining the main limitations of the work and identifying avenues for further research in this emerging field. Literature review: from RM to mCRM The origins of CRM can be traced back to the concept of relationship marketing (RM) (Gebert et al. , 2003; Zablah et al. , 2004). The term RM was initially coined by Berry (1983), who defined it as attracting, maintaining and – in multiservice organizations – enhancing customer relationships. This emphasis on relationships defines how companies interact with their customers (Gummesson, 1999; Sheht and Parvatiyar, 2000). CRM is the outcome of the continuing evolution and integration of marketing ideas and novel available data, technologies, and organizational forms with the goal of engaging in a meaningful dialogue with individual customers (Boulding et al. , 2005; Campbell, 2003). While RM does not acknowledge the technology underlying the management of customers, CRM uses information technology (IT) in implementing RM strategies (Ryals and Payne, 2001). In existing literature, there is a consensus that CRM requires the company to manage and coordinate communication with customers across different media (Thomas and Sullivan, 2005; Payne and Frow, 2005). This is because different customers have different needs and thus, the company should treat them differently
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