Customer Centric Culture

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the success of companies that shift from being product-centric to customer-centric. In companies that have a customer-as-king philosophy growth has been remarkable since adopting that outlook. Companies that focus on creating great products lag behind in the marketplace. 3M is used as an example of a company that changed its direction to customer-centric. The paper cites several articles that confirm this phenomenon. The paper concludes that companies that grasp the notion that business should be built around customers, not products, are setting themselves up for success.

Outline:
Resistance to CCS/CRM
Customer Relationship Management
CRM Origins
CRM Technology
Summary

From the Paper:

"Beyond that problem, the basic problem with 3M's Web site was that it was concentrating all its "internal silos" rather than on "its customer's needs." So, 3M got synchronized, and now presents a more "unified fact to its customers" by storing all "customer relationships and product configurations" in a single database. This transformation from the awkward presentation of products and slipshod system of customer record keeping - similar to what Thompson Financial did - is called moving from a product-centric company to a customer-centric company. Instead of finding "customers for its products," both these firms (and untold hundreds of other companies) now concentrate on finding "products for its customers," Sawhney writes."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Angel, Robert. (2004). Sustaining Profitable Customer Relationships Requires Real Leadership. Ivey Business Journal, 1-7.
• Berry, Leonard L. (2001). The Old Pillars of New Retailing. Harvard Business Review on Customer Relationship Management.
• Chain Store Age. (2006). The Retail Life Cycle. Retrieved 10 Jan 2007 from http://www.chainstoreage.com.
• CRMUK & SECOR Consulting. (2001). Customer Relationship Management: Introduction to Customer Centric Culture. Prepared by Customer Relationship Management UK Ltd.
• DestinationCRM.com. (2002). What Is CRM? Retrieved 10 Jan. 2007 from http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles.

More papers on Customer Centric Culture:

• Analytical Essay # 126475 : "Organizational Culture at KCC/Safat"
• Case Study # 113089 : "Apple Computers"
• Analytical Essay # 149942 : "Organizational Development Interventions"

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