Subject(s): CX.44

Category: Article

Abstract:

Marketing is undergoing a revolution in many industries. The traditional mass-marketing model of "product push" is being replaced by a new adaptive model of "customer pull". In this model the firm and the customer interact as agents in a one-to-one dialog. The growth and functionality of e-commerce sites on the Internet illustrates this shift. The business strategy behind this revolution is called Customer Relationship Management or CRM. CRM places the customer at the center of the business's organization and processes. This requires a re-orientation of the business away from its traditional line-of-business and product focus to an adaptive, customer-centric model. Complex Adaptive System (CAS) concepts provide a unique framework to describe the CRM phenomenon and also to illustrate how marketers grapple with knowledge management issues in their efforts to understand their customers. Customer-centricity is implemented by the alignment of technology, business processes, and marketing strategy. Information technology, in the form of a CRM database that provides a holistic view of the customer across lines of business, products, and distribution channels, is at the center of CRM. This paper will describe Customer Relationship Management as a Complex Adaptive System, look at what complexity means in a marketing context and discuss how knowledge management concepts are involved in the one-to-one customer dialog.

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