The Supply Chain And Logistics

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

FoodCity is an innovative delivery service aiming at integrating the services available on ground with Electronic data interchange (EDI) through the internet. (Ross, 2005). The collaboration of restaurants, delivery drivers and local taxis to meet customers demand online through effective use of the internet and logistics practices hereby meeting the costumer expectation/needs in a timely manner. Customers will be able to order from different restaurants within a reasonable distance to their location. To achieve these goals, variety of on screen gadgets can be use to make orders, with apps for different information technology platforms (phones, computers, tablets est) using their email, SMS, Web, live chat and other internet services like game consoles. Customers will be able to access the online restaurant catalog on a 7 day/24 hours basis. The company will be making use of the 2- way just connect box (JCT) to synchronise orders from customers to restaurants, with the use of the box, restaurant will be able to accept or reject orders within 16 seconds. The restaurant will be able to receive order notification once they register on the website of FoodCity (foodcity.com), and the installation of 2- way JCT box and signing of necessary contract is completed. A detailed operational process is further explained:

FoodCity Customer (sell side) [CITATION But \l 2057] 

The online website will serve as a platform for customers to register and have a profile on the website, with their address, phone numbers all registered. The way customers interact with companies and service providers as evolved with the introduction of the internet in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) which has now become e-CRM. (Ross, 2005). FoodCity will operate on an internet based CRM operations (e-CRM) in managing the components of sale, marketing and customer service functions. With the use of 2 – way JCT box and the web, FoodCity will be able to take customers orders, plus payment and contact information then send the pending order to the restaurant concern through the JCT box. The restaurant decides to accept or not, if accepted a delivery time is scheduled based on the customer’s delivery time preference.

An extension of e – Commerce operations to m – Commerce which means customers will be able to access the web site of FoodCity on different on screen portals (gadgets like tabs, phones, laptops), FoodCity application for mobile pones and tabs will be made available (for Android, Apple iOS, blackberry OS, windows mobile).

Website (foodcity.co.uk)

A good website offers higher possibility of high demand and customer loyalty and satisfaction. A consistent web site with colour, easy to read font, quick download, good graphics etc. with ease of navigation and structure will encourage customers to use and revisit, in most cases recommend to others to use. A bad website will discourage customers from regular usage in most cases mot return to use the website. Difficulties in finding information might also lead to lost of sales. About 62% of internet users give up on looking for a product to buy online. FoodCity website will have to meet all these requirement and an evaluation test should be carried out by asking users on twitter, facebook, email:

What they like about the website?

What do they want to see?

And lastly how easy is it to use the site?

The website will have a welcome home page, all a customer needs to do is type in his or her post code, and a list of restaurants around the local area will come up with their menus and customer ratings and comments, this will guide a customer in making his or her choice. The website will have a detailed menu for each restaurant, and a general shopping cart, when a customer is done picking his or her order, an option is given on the delivery time(now or later), payment is done on the website with credit and debit cards with an option of cash payment at delivery. E-mail confirmation is sent to the customer and tracking code to know the progress of the order. E – mail marketing of promotions and new added restaurant will be carried out from time to time with the email database given by the customers. Customers will be able to compare food prices on the website, and customer feedbacks and rating will be available to customers to review and make decisions on what to order and from which restaurant to order from. Customers are also to compare prices of different restaurants before making a decision. (Yongmin Chen, 2010).

A regular marketing campaign will be carried out through the use of enterprise marketing automation (EMA) online to capture, extract and analyze effects of marketing and the website satisfaction rate amongst customers. (Takeoka). By tracking these results FoodCity websites and other campaign activities can improve significantly. EMA helps in better promotion and getting to know the customers more, to the extent of recommending higher quality food by following the sales history of each customer from their profiles. Customers can have live chats online concerning their orders and other enquiries. A regular mail will be sent to each customer after every order to know how satisfied they were or if they have any complain. EMA will help in the retention of customers, by ranking customers most likely to leave and having different promotional campaigns targeted at different class of customers. These will be done by mining useful information from customer data and sales history.

With the use of EMA and customer service management (CSM), FoodCity will be able to monitor its customer in the process get more customers, it is believed that a happy customer is likely to tell five people about their experience and is likely to come back to patronise the services rendered, while on the other hand a dissatisfied customer is likely to tell nine people about their experience and most likely to defect on further purchases. Performance is also been measured this way from feedback from customers. (Yoshinori Suzuki)

The relationship between FoodCity and its customer is on a business to consumer basis, where restaurants around a reasonable radius are brought together under one e collaboration web site for customers to chose and compare prices of take away menu.

Customers are more concerned about the richness of the service rendered by FoodcCity, how well FoodCity manages their information and how safe it is. The interaction level of the website and how reliable the information given about the restaurants on the website is? The currency of the information on FoodCity’s website, which would be manage by professional IT operators with regular updates of the website.

CITATION But \l 2057

Supplier (Restaurants) Buy side

The restaurants are the suppliers in FoodCity operating network, some of the restaurants have their delivery drivers while some don’t. FoodCity will make use of the delivery drivers available in those restaurants and hire taxis for those with out delivery drivers with a different payment package for each restaurant. The online service will use GPRS to navigate the nearest taxi company around each registered restaurant and around a reasonable distance to where the order is to be delivered. The relationship between the restaurants and FoodCity is on a business to business (B2B) basis. FoodCity provides an online platform to enhance the sales of the restaurants, synchronising and integrating restaurants selling channels and resources through a common customer relationship repository, a common applications infrastructure, and a shared business process on the internet. (Sawhney, 2001). This [CITATION YOS \l 2057] activities is referred to as e – commerce.

Restaurants can register online on FoodCity ‘s web site, and after all registration and contract agreement is done, an electronic data interchange (EDI) box called a JCT box will be installed in the restaurant to receive orders and history of purchases. (Buttress)

Just-Eat has pioneered the development of the JCT box in solving the problem of over – burdened fixed – lines to fulfil orders as well as in solving missing orders problems and delays in confirmation of customers orders (Buttress). The JCT box uses a wireless network connection, which gives distinct feedback. Orders are accepted or rejected and if there is the need for modifications. Each box is installed and activated within each restaurant. In this way FoodCity can have more control on the services rendered by the participating restaurants. The JCT box gives is a two – way communication device for restaurants and FoodCity via a secure fixed IP address.

FoodCity will make the restaurant available to its customer by offering the customers real time information about the restaurants. FoodCity will offer information and advertising operations on daily basis, all for some percentage of every order. FoodCity won’t charge restaurants monthly or for adverts directly, if no orders were made, the restaurants pays nothing.

Restaurants are more concerned about the reach level of the services FoodCity offers, how wide is the range of customer base visits to the website? Regular adverts on the web and social media like (facebook, twitter, linkedin, youtube, tv adverts online est) will be carried out from time to tome. Events will be organised in universities and colleges to capture the student base markets.

E - security (E-trust)

E commerce has come to stay and is developing; e-commerce stands for any finical transaction carried out electronically over the internet. The buying of goods and services over the internet is increasing as well as online payment. This has closed the barriers that existed in making quick payments before, having to make payments face to face. Online payments have made transactions more efficient by bringing both producers and consumers to meet in virtual marketplaces. This has also given consumers more choice in making payments. With all these benefits to consumers and businesses, e-commerce also brings many complex issues which are closely attributed to ethical and legal issues. (priopćenje, 2011) Ethical in terms of customer’s privacy and the risk of hackers having access to customer’s information, most companies have customer base profiles with customer’s personal information. Lack of trust in online payment, privacy issues and sufficient customer services are all psychological barrier facing e-commerce activities. Trust is a major factor in helping consumers overcome perceptions of risk and insecurity (McKnight, Choudhury & Kacma [CITATION But \l 2057] r, 2002).

FoodCity will help in inducing the trust issues attributed to e –commerce by adequately assuring its customers of safe and secured online transactions by offering quality services the entire service period, including interaction before, during and after the transaction. FoodCity will have follow up mails and text before and after transaction is completed to assure customers their personal details are safe with them and getting to know the customer more.

Trust comes with high customer satisfaction, a successful fulfilled transaction means a product is delivered on time and is as it is displayed online. In this case, at least the food should taste and contain what is described to contain on the website. Refunds will be honoured in cases of defaults in accordance with FoodCity return policies. In a situation where payments are made twice, FoodCity will make a refund with an apology message. Trust is defined as customer’s ability to accept vulnerability based their beliefs that transactions with a producer or seller will meet their confident transaction expectations due to the seller’s competence, integrity, and benevolence (Pavlou, Liang & Xue, 2007).

FoodCity will invest in a secured website that will alleviate customers’ concerns involving leakage, unauthorized collection, or issues concerning misuse of their private information. A regular updates of antivirus and firewall to fight against all sort of threats online. FoodCity will promote customer loyalty, while helping the restaurants promote their products and increasing their sales and market share. Security seals and online rating scheme will be use in reassuring customers of the brand logo and privacy polices. All staff of FoodCity will be obligated to avoid website that might be potential threats to the companies systems, websites with pop ups and bad cookie could lead to serious bridge of the companies system operations.

To further build user’s trust, FoodCity website will be built to high quality with quick loading time and good navigation. A poorly designed and slow loading website will lead to lack of customer’s interest and usage. Restaurants will also be able to adequately present themselves and their products for consumers to browse through and make purchases. The website will undergo regular updates and to also meet customer’s recommendation and feedbacks.

Protection programs with regular updates by IT literate staff, who can regularly writes code to protect the privacy and email traffic secrecy of both customers and restaurants. Up-to date anti-virus, anti rookit tools and firewalls. Regular IT training courses for IT staff in the company to keep them up to date on current threats to the cyber world.

FoodCity operations will effectively use of e–CRM in maintaining long-term relationship through proper response to customer requests or problems, with detailed record of each customers order and complaint. This will help FoodCity to know its customers more, and find more effective ways to satisfy their customers.

Supply Chain and Logistics

A collaboration of resources from restaurants and transport companies around a geographical area will be integrated by FoodCity, to provide an effective flow of food and services from upstream and downstream parts of the market. In this case the flow of take away packages from restaurants to customers will be monitored and operated by FoodCity. To achieve JIT deliveries FoodCity must use e – SCM in collaborating resources available from restaurant’s delivery drivers and local taxis.

Local inventory optimisation will help restaurants in achieving greater order fulfilment flexibility by being able to determine inventory levels and location based on the anticipated demand through FoodCity. This also improves delivery accuracy by storing goods in semi- finished form based on demand history available to the restaurant on demand from FoodCity. Restaurants are able to manage their inventory better and are also able to achieve on time delivery.

Restaurants get details of customers making orders with the order notification, a time range is given by the restaurant for delivery, FoodCity then send a confirmation mail with the expected time range for delivery to the customer. In cases where the restaurant has no delivery service a mail will be sent to cab company or bike delivery service informing them of when delivery is scheduled for and the customer’s address.

Marketing and Adverts (Customer Promotions)

Using the Four ‘P’s, namely product, price, place, promotion and an additional P (people). The product is the delivery of take away menu to customers and getting customers for the restaurants.

Price varies for different customers, but the price resturants pay FoodCity is 11% of each order through FoodCity. The price comparison on FoodCity’s website by customer is an additional motivation to shop online. Customers end up feeling the got the cheapest prices online using the web site.

Place is the target local area where every customer lives and the restaurants around the close geographical area are the service suppliers.

Promotion by FoodCity is done through marketing and adverts for the website to have more customers and a greater reach level. Social media is a key factor in achieving this objective, in today’s world, there are lots of social media platform such as face book, twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, youtube est. These platforms have variety of customer based disparity, ranging from private to public sector, students, old and young. Adverts could also be done in colleges and universities to capture the student base consumer market. Students tend to cook less, due to school work or during exams. A survey will be done at every registration for both restaurants and customers on how they got to know about FoodCity, this will help the company in measuring the performance of their advertisement activities.

Customers can join and follow FoodCity on the various social media next work, radio and TV adverts are done to capture more customers. YouTube videos’ showing some cuisines and how they are cooked is a good way to build customer trust and interest.

Promotion

E-CRM has enabled FoodCity to keep track of customer’s activities, including their purchase history. FoodCity should offer free meal for every 11th order made, this will encourage customers to stay loyal to the website. Subsequent promotions will be mailed to each customer on the time of FoodCity. FoodCity can also offer 20% discount on all food orders made after first installation of FoodCity application on mobile operated portals (android, apple iOS, blackberry est).

Business profit plan

FoodCity will charge 11% on every order made in every restaurant, the restaurants only get charged for service rendered and not on regular monthly charges or registration fees. The higher the reach level of customer base and restaurants registered, the more money FoodCity makes.

Section 2

The Role of the Internet in the Logistics Industry

Introduction

Supply chain best practices have come of age with the use of the internet in improving transportation, warehousing, finished goods and raw materials inventory, material handling, customer service satisfaction, packaging and purchasing. (Richard A. Lancioni, 2000) The main goals of supply chain practices are multidimensional and they include cost minimization, increased performance level of services to customers, and increased flexibility in delivery time and place. These objectives are better achieved with the use of the Internet. Through out the 1960s and 1980s the ability to achieve these goals on the present level wasn’t possible, because all the databases weren’t linked together for information and communication sharing. This hesitation was due to a variety of reasons, like the perceived threat that competitors might steal customers and have a more competitive edge if information were shared, like inventory levels and production schedule. Today with the realisation of most supply chain firms, that it pays better off and cost saving to share data on a uniform platform databases, this is due to some factors like just – in – time (JIT) programs, electronic data interchange, and point – of – sale joint data usage. These factors made logistics managers realize that, what really matter most was keeping the level of inventory low and reducing the cost of transportation of inventory at manufactures to dealers, dealers to manufacturer to customers, which ever supply chain network.

The effects of the Internet in Logistics Practises

As the Internet improves so has its uses in logistics improved significantly, creating more opportunities for cost reduction and service improvements. With some obvious opportunities like:

Online vendor catalogues, where consumer’s can buy goods from manufacturer and suppliers without human contact. Buyers are able to login and in most cases have a profile, where they find the product they want and subsequently buy from the online retail network.

The Internet provides the ability for the tracking of deliveries through different mode of transport such as truck, rail, and air transport.

The Internet has made customer service available on a 24 hours basis, complaint regarding customer services such as problems of late deliveries, stock- outs, alternations in scheduled shipment details, and so many other complaints can all be laid to the vendor any time of the day. The ability to complain and make schedules on shipment and movement of goods and services is also made available 34 hours/ 7 days on – line. This ability helps in reducing response time and service costs.

The internet gives supply chain participants a chance to place bids for contract, both private and government,

The chance to be able to check the status of orders and give feedback on how the order is. The ability to track equipment locations like train, rail cars, trucks and equipment used in handling different materials.

Finally the Internet has made it possible to schedule pick ups and deliveries, this has made logistics more efficient and improving booth customer satisfaction and suppliers more efficient.

The use of the Internet should be based on real time, to make the information more efficient and with less error. As technology improves so does the inventory management, customer satisfaction and production and scheduling improves. (Alexandre Reis Graeml & Csillag, 2009)

Purchasing Practices

The use of internet in the purchasing sector has been improving over time, with more transactions done online, such as ordering from vendors catalogues, damage goods control, checking different prices by vendors, returned goods settlements, notification of warranty termination or can be handled with the use of the internet. In the US, the purchasing function has been streamlined through the use of the Internet. For example in U.S, General Electric has reduced over 50% of its purchasing staff, cutting done costs on wages and promoting online purchases from vendor’s catalogues. The huge paper work that was involved in recording and keeping up to date information is been reduced drastically with the use of the Internet. And also the order cycle times (time a product is purchased to when it is delivered t the company) is been reduced by 40% with the use of internet.

Inventory Management

The sharing of stock availability between customers and vendors in the past has been an issue, with cases of customers ordering for products with no knowledge of the availability. Before the use of Internet, companies were able to use Electronic data interchange (EDI) to pass information on stock availability to customers and suppliers. But this took a significant amount of time for the information to be shared. The introduction of the Internet with EDI practices made information about stock available on time with just – in time (JIT) practices. The use of Internet has made it easy for managements to keep customers informed up-to-date on their orders, in case of damages or delays. The use of Internet has made the level of inventory held low in the process reducing the cost of holding inventory.

Effect on Transportation

The sector with the most use of the internet is in the transport section of logistics practice. Transportation costs covers about 25% of the total overall operational costs in logistics. The ability to track movements of goods and services has been made possible through apps on the internet that gives location status and feedbacks on deliveries and pick ups. With the invention and use of the Internet ways of monitoring transport activities has improved in the process performance measurement has been more accurate. Companies are able to track their shipment to regional depots and distributors with more reliable data feed backs on performance of the carrier been used. This gives management in the company a more detailed insight into the transportation activities, if deliveries and pick ups were made on time, if there were damages and also to know if there are delays in order not to wait for days before knowing the status of delivery or pick ups. The use of Internet has also been useful in the tracking of claims. With the use of Internet tracking – system applications, claims management processes like reporting; processing and settlement are more easily carried out.

Order Processing and the Internet

The second most used role of the Internet in improving logistics operations is in placing orders and knowing the status of orders placed. The use of online database for storing information and records has reduced the use of paper work to keep track of orders placed. This has reduced the cost of operation by about 20%. The use of the internet has made order processing a lot more faster, with the order cycle time between when an order is placed and when its received been cut down to more than half. Most firms use the Internet in knowing prices of vendors online before placing orders. The Internet provides detail information like availability of goods and services, status of the order (if it was accepted or not). Quick notification is also made available to customers, when a company runs out – of – stock and also returned goods are been handle on-line.

Customer Service and the Internet

The use of the Internet has provided the opportunity for firms to monitor and offer customers more available access time in handling service issues. Companies use the Internet to receive complaints rather than through letters, phone calls (which could be costly for customers), or in some cases customers don’t complain but refuse to patronise the company’s products and services. This enables a firm to improve on areas where they fall short, and also to pass information on delays or emergency occurrences. The Internet offers a platform for a 24-hour access to company’s customer service department. This has lead to a reduction in response time and solutions to customer’s issues. The two way relationship between customers and firms has improved a great deal with the use of the internet, customers don’t just get to complain and ask questions relation to their purchases, they also get to give feedbacks and also companies are able to sell their products and services more by making recommendations. This customer – firm relationship can be cemented through the use of the Internet experience, with internet service results showing customers whose problems are dealt with quickly and to their satisfaction are more likely to patronise the firm’s product and recommend more customers.

The internet and Vendor Relationships

The Internet has changed the way procurement is done, given vendors an opportunity to carry out their transactions on a 7 day/24 – hour basis. The Internet provides a platform for vendors to get information, complaints and the processes of returns and damaged goods are done on the Internet. The Internet has made it possible for vendors and manufacturers to monitor and rate the performance based on the agreements in their negotiated contracts. Vendors used performance indicators like deliveries to warehouses and depots on – time performance of transportation mode. This allows vendors and companies to strengthen their relationship and to also develop on areas they have fallen short on.

The Internet and Production Scheduling

Production scheduling is one of the most complicated practices in supply chain management. This is due to inaccuracy in some sectors of supply chain like, forecasting accuracy, lack of adequate and accurate information from vendors and thirdly the general paucity of information concerning fluctuations in vendor inventory stock levels and customer demand. Companies use the Internet to synchronise their inventory level with their vendors to archive just – in – time (JIT) delivery, as well as their production schedule. The use of Internet application to order for raw materials has provided real – time information on the s demand of their products and services. Real – time information provides more accurate information for sales forecasting, which in return helps companies in production scheduling

Managing customer information

A key capability in e-CRM is the management of customer information (Jayachandran et al., 2005; Payne & Frow, 2006; Tan et al., 2002). Information management is Concerned with the collection and collation of customer information from all points of Customer contact and, in combination with other relevant data, developing customer Insight (Payne & Frow, 2006). Information on customers can be analysed to create Customer intelligence to profile and classify customers, predict customer behaviour,Conduct personalised marketing, and cross and up-sell – and that’s just into the existing Customer base (Chan, 2005). Technology can make customer information that is upto-date and relevant more accessible to SME owner-managers (Jayachandran et al.,2005). this second factor specifies that, while customer information is central to Decision making in SMEs, electronic information is less important. In addition, the Sophistication and level of integration of electronic tools tends to be low, where many SMEs are employing stand-alone databases.

Adoption of ICT strategy

E-CRM requires a combination of human, technological, and business capabilities in Order to understand, anticipate, and manage the needs of an organisation’s current and Potential customers (Coltman, 2007; Tan et al., 2002). Thus e-CRM is always more than a technology; it is a business philosophy (Feinberg, Kadam, Hokam, & Kim,2002). So, although it can be said that the Internet and CRM were destined to cometogether, technology is only an enabler of an already defined CRM strategy (Kumar & Reinartz, 2006; Luck & Lancaster, 2003). Successful implementation of e-CRM may still require substantial organisational change (Boulding et al., 2005; Payne & Frow, 2006; Tan et al., 2002). This factor concludes that the e-CRM practices of SMEs in this study tend to consist of ad hoc processes, many lacking strategic intent. Specific to the nature of management in SMEs, this finding confirms previous research relative to the inherent lack of strategic planning in SMEs (Carson et al., 1995; Quader, 2007; Ramsey et al., 2004). However, it can be confirmed that even the use of relatively simplistic and ad hoc e-CRM has resulted in a range of business benefits being realised 516 Journal of Marketing Management, Volume 27by these SMEs. That being said, those SMEs that are strategically utilising e-CRM are reaping greater benefits and fewer challenges than their more ad hoc SME counterparts.

Perceived customer value

Previous literature in the area of e-CRM has advocated strategy building around the differing value of customers to the organisation (e.g. Parvatiyar & Sheth, 2001; Ryals& Knox, 2001). This strategy allows organisations to devote more resources to their most profitable customers having used their information management capability to calculate the value of their customers. The importance of such a strategy is evidenced by the proposition that 20% of customers are responsible for 80% of the revenues for the majority of firms – the Pareto 80/20 rule (Parvatiyar & Sheth, 2001; Ryals & Knox, 2001). However, SMEs in the current study are not following this particular strategy in their e-CRM activities, where the value of different customers to SMEs does not impact their e-CRM practices. This is because SMEs tend not to analyse customer information to determine customer profitability. This finding extends knowledge around the lack of sophistication in an SME’s information processes (Dorsch, Carlson, Raymond, & Ranson, 2001; Ryals, 2005).

Channel conflict issues

Examining channel conflict issues, SMEs struggle to integrate the additional IBT-based communication medium into customer communications, and they worry about a lack Harrigan et al. Critical factors underpinning the e-CRM activities of SMEs 517of face-to-face contact in their customer relationships. The finding confirms previous research, which cautioned the role of e-CRM in customer relationships. Specifically, e-CRM is often mistaken as an exclusively technological initiative (e.g. Kumar & Reinartz, 2006; Piccoli & Ives, 2005; Ryals & Payne, 2001). As a consequence, the marketing know-how of the organisation may become technology and production obsessed and deficient in customer orientation (Gummesson, 2002).

In short, SMEs are struggling to come to terms with how exactly e-CRM can complement (not destroy) traditional, face-to-face customer relationships. Gummesson (2002) has considered how e-CRM can be made more successful by recognising that human knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour combine with IBTs to determine the ultimate success of e-CRM in an organisation. McKean (2002) concurs and advocates e-CRM founded on a constant and consistent implementation of the ‘human touch’.

Impacts of e-communication

The final factor illustrates that IBT-based communication is important in SMEs, where it improves overall communication and relationship quality. Specific means of improvement centre on the role of e-mail communication in improving the efficiency and, interestingly, personalisation of communications. Previous research has lauded the role of the Internet in customer communication, where the concept of community is at the heart of the original Internet concept (Chaston & Mangles, 2003). Thus the introduction of the Internet into customer relationships need not be to their detriment. That is because e-CRM is not a substitute for face-to-face contact; it is a complement. E-CRM has the potential to make communications more efficient and free up more time for important face-to-face meetings. By improving interaction between the SME and the customer, e-CRM has the potential to develop bonds and loyalty, which are maintained by the firm’s intimate knowledge about their customers’ preferences (Rai, Patnayakuni, & Seth, 2006). For example, website and e-mail technology can easily involve customers in the design of 518 Journal of Marketing Management, Volume 27new product and/or service offerings (Nambisan & Baron, 2007). In short, e-CRM can tighten customer relationships by encouraging dialogue, integrating different channels of customer communication, and enabling the personalisation of communications (Day & Hubbard, 2003). In conclusion, SMEs appear to be aware of the potential of e-CRM in customer communications and are using it to improve overall marketing effectiveness and efficiency. To conclude, it is proposed that, although the challenges of e-CRM in SMEs are greater than in larger organisations, SMEs are performing the fundamental practices and processes of e-CRM. It is recognised that SMEs have fewer financial resources, lower expertise, and more limited management skills, and subsequently find

technological initiatives difficult to fully implement (Blili & Raymond, 1993; Street & Meister, 2004). However, SMEs are using e-CRM to enhance their customer information management capability and to build customer insight. E-CRM allows SMEs to acquire and manage knowledge better, specifically customer information, through database technology. In this study, traditional customer information is viewed as central to business decision making (M¼3.45), but electronic information is viewed as being less so (M ¼2.80). A mediating factor on e-CRM’s influence on the customer information management capability may be the degree to which e-CRM systems are integrated with existing people and processes. Thus e-CRM should not necessarily supersede traditional customer relationship management practices, on which much of the SME’s strength is built (Ortega et al., 2008; Ritchie & Brindley, 2005).