ABSTRACT
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a comprehensive
business and marketing strategy that integrates technology,
process and business activities around the customer. CRM is
assumed to lead to bottom line benefits for the organization.
Advances in information and communication technologies have
provided an effective platform to deliver electronic CRM
functions. Despite widespread agreement that CRM can have a
direct and indirect satisfaction, loyalty, sales and profit, the
significance of CRM and its features in influencing customer
satisfaction has not been well researched in construction firms.
The thesis examines the critical success factor of CRM
implementation by using a questionnaire survey to obtain data
from 68 building material suppliers. Using a structural model and
the evaluation technique of partial least squares the analysis
revealed that CRM technological initiatives are successful when
adequate top management support and accurate knowledge
management capabilities, supported by a suitable information
technology structure, measured by technological readiness are in
place.
Construction organizations who are considering the
implementation of CRM technological initiatives. The need to
justify the impact of CRM on organizational performance in the
boardroom has never been more important. Shareholders expect
value for their investments; organizations have invested large
sums of money in people, processes and technology in order to
imbibe the CRM culture. The promises of CRM are enormous.
Yet, various organizations cry out for help over lost investments
and damaged relationships. Is CRM promising too much or
perhaps are the executives expecting more than they can get?
Literature suggests that in order to justify the investments of
CRM, there is the need to develop a universally accepted holistic
framework for the measurement of CRM activities is the lack of a
universally acceptable definition of CRM. The concept of CRM is
multi faceted involving investments in people, processes and
technology to various degrees.
