How Crm Contributes To Gain Competitive Advantage

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

CHAPTER 4

In the findings and analysis chapter, the researcher will discuss about the findings from the research study and analyzed the collected from taking interview of the selected respondents. in this chapter, a set of questionnaires are used for the purpose of taking interview of the employees and from the feedback of those employees data is interpreted in terms of theoretical and numerical basis where graphs and charts will be used to represent the collected data.

Profile of Respondents:

Gender:

a) Male 60%

b) Female 40%

The percentage of male respondents were 60 percent and the number of female respondents were 40% who taken part on the interview. And the number of male was 30 and female was 20.

Age:

Age:

Percentage

30-35

65%

35-40

15%

40-45

10%

45-50

10%

According to the above figure, it can be said that majority of the respondents are from the age group of 30 to 35 and their percentage is 65%. On the other hand, the respondents of 15% are from 35 to 40 age group where 10% respondents are from 40 to 45 and 45 to 50 age group respectively.

Work Period:

Work Period

Percentage

10 years

25%

8 years

15%

5 years

40%

2 years

20%

.

According to the above figure, it can be said that majority of the respondents have the working experience of 5 years and their percentage is 40% where 20% have 2 years, 15 percent have 8 years and 25 percent have 10 years working experience.

Question 1:

How CRM can be defined from the perspective of the retail industries?

Analysis:

According to the Radisson Water Garden Hotel’s manager, there can be defined the customer relationship management (CRM) as the method of developing and handling the customers by the organization in terms of sustaining the long term profitability and this statement is accepted by the managers of 80 percent where disagreement is showed by the 20 percent manager and mainly they provide concentration towards the information technology sector in terms of the customer relationship management (CRM). Customer relationship management (CRM) has the main focusing point towards the company’s profit. In terms of the condition of the current world such as: business and other sectors, great importance is having by the customer relationship management (CRM) in these fields. There is existed the competition in these sectors.

Question 2:

How CRM contributes to gain competitive advantage by the retail industries?

Analysis:

From the perspective of the customer relationship management (CRM), firms can achieve the competitive advantage for example: hotel industries like Radisson Water Garden Hotel by which there is achieved greater sales or profit or margins and besides this it is possible to retain more customers by the company over its competitor. There are various types of competitive advantage which included the firm’s cost structure, product offering, and distribution of network and receiving the customer support. Competitive advantage provided an edge for the company over the competitor of it and besides this there is generated the greater value by the competitive advantage for the company and along with for its stakeholders. The manager of 60 percent accepts this statement that customer relationship management (CRM) assists for gaining competitive advantage when disagreement is showed by the 40 percent respondents.

Question 3:

Is your organization considered CRM as a strategy of business?

Analysis:

At the hotel industry such as: Radisson Water Garden Hotel, customer relationship management (CRM) refers as the business strategy and this strategy can be applied through maintaining relation with the overall business goal within the organization in terms of the customer management strategy. The statement of using the customer relationship management (CRM) as the strategy of business is agreed by 55 percent manager in the organization where disagreement is showed by 45% manager.

Question 4:

What is the relationship between customer and the strategy of CRM?

Analysis:

In order to improving the customer relationship management (CRM) strategy, suggestions are provided by the customers to the Radisson Water garden hotel due to which the customers don’t face the difficulties. The strategy of giving concentration towards the retention of old customers by delivering the good service or adopting the strategy of providing focus towards the finding new customers by the company where old customer can be lost by the company. To retain or maintain effective relationship with old customers can be appeared as the most effective way to increase the demand of business. There is needed to provide the significant value of money to the customer through the company. And the managers of 65 percent are agreed with this matter that by adopting the strategy of customer relationship management (CRM), there can be making a effective relationship among the customers and the organization where disagreement is showed by the managers of 35%.

Question 5:

How the strategy of CRM of the retail companies can be differed with each other?

Analysis:

We can be said that there can be the same strategy of customer relationship management (CRM) for most of the company, but little bit difference can be existed there where customer relationship management (CRM) for hotel industry can be differed from other companies. Some factors make differences with the customer relationship management (CRM) strategies for example: through maintaining strong connection with the customers through the company, effective framework of customer relationship management (CRM) for various hotels where the managers of 53% are agreed with this statement and the managers of 47 percent disagreed for this statement.

Question 6:

What is the contribution of CRM strategy in the customer retention and satisfaction in the company?

Analysis:

The strategy of giving concentration towards the retention of old customers by delivering the good service or adopting the strategy of providing focus towards the finding new customers by the company where old customer can be lost by the company. To retain or maintain effective relationship with old customers can be appeared as the most effective way to increase the demand of business. There is needed to provide the significant value of money to the customer through the company. And the managers of 68 percent are agreed with this matter that by adopting the strategy of customer relationship management (CRM), there can be making a effective relationship among the customers and the organization where disagreement is showed by the managers of 32%.

Question 7:

Through which way customer confliction can be handled by the company?

Analysis:

In order to improving the customer relationship management (CRM) strategy, suggestions are provided by the customers to the Radisson Water garden hotel due to which the customers don’t face the difficulties. At present, compromise for the products and service quality are not done by the consumers. They just don’t want to do this compromising. In terms of the varying the customer expectations, creating friendly and cooperative relationship with the customers can be appeared as the easiest way for meeting the demands of the customers and focused towards the needs and wants of them along with approaching them to the company service. According to this matter, the manager of 59 percent is agreed with this while disagreement is showed by the manager of 41 percent.

Question 8:

Which difficulties can be occurred in the implementation of the strategy of CRM as handled by the employees of the organization?

Analysis:

In shortly, in order to establishing the effective customer relationship management (CRM) strategy implementation, there is needed to identify the target customer through the organization and besides this there should also change the mindset of the organization. Customer relationship management (CRM) system has the major function of giving solution for this issue by making combination of everyone and along with the entire organization is concentrated towards the customer relationship management (CRM) system for retaining the customer. Similarly, customer relationship management (CRM) system should adopted the strategic, committed and understandable initiatives for the success of the entire company not for one or two departments for example: finance, marketing etc but the organization’s all sectors are benefited due to adopt these initiatives. According to this matter, the manager of 51 percent is agreed with this while disagreement is showed by the manager of 49 percent.

4.2 Data analysis:

In this chapter, there is mainly discussed about answer of the respondents in reply to the questionnaires that are making through the researcher. And the researcher made these questionnaires in order to taking the interview among the manager of the Radisson water garden hotel in Bangladesh. At this chapter, there are described the answers of all these questions and then there will be mentioned the findings in the end which can be found by the researcher through data analyzing.

According to the first question of this research study, it can be said that majority of the respondents believed with the already specified definition of customer relationship management (CRM) where customer relationship management (CRM) consists of developing and handling the customers by the organization in terms of sustaining the long term profitability and this statement is accepted by the managers of 80 percent where disagreement is showed by the 20 percent manager. along with this definition the respondents also gave emphasize on the technical inclusion on the CRM system within the organization. Therefore, it can be said that the main aim of adopting CRM within the organization should be developing and handling the customers with the effective way for retaining the strong position in the business market.

The next question is made on the contribution of customer relationship management (CRM) to achieve competitive advantage. There are various types of competitive advantage which included the firm’s cost structure, product offering, and distribution of network and receiving the customer support. The managers of 60 percent accept this statement that customer relationship management (CRM) assists for gaining competitive advantage when disagreement is showed by the 40 percent respondents. Therefore, it has been agreed that competitive advantage can be achieved by using CRM through providing superior cost structure, offering good products and using effective distribution channel for the customer to retain the position in the business market by the Radisson Water garden hotel.

In accordance with third question, whether the strategy of Customer relationship management (CRM) is used within the Radisson water garden hotel or not where the managers of 53% are agreed with this statement and the managers of 47 percent disagreed for this statement. In this case, it can be said that Radisson water garden hotel uses the strategy of CRM but not focused on this matter in significant way because almost half of the respondents said that the hotel uses this strategy where less than half respondents told that they are disagreed with this statement. It means that CRM is not adopted by the organization successfully.

In the fourth question, the question is made about the relationship between the customer and the Customer relationship management (CRM) strategy where the fifth question is about whether there is differed the Customer relationship management (CRM) strategy for different organizations or not. According to the fourth question, majority of the respondents told that it is possible to achieve the competitive advantage through maintaining good relationship with customer where in according with fifth question, Some factors make differences with the customer relationship management (CRM) strategies for example: through maintaining strong connection with the customers through the company, effective framework of customer relationship management (CRM) for various hotels where the managers of 53% are agreed with this statement and the managers of 47 percent disagreed for this statement.

In relation to the question number six, there is required for providing the significant value of money to the customer through the company. And the managers of 68 percent are agreed with this matter that by adopting the strategy of customer relationship management (CRM), there can be making a effective relationship among the customers and the organization where disagreement is showed by the managers of 32%. According to the next question, compromise for the products and service quality are not done by the consumers. They just don’t want to do this compromising. In terms of the varying the customer expectations, creating friendly and cooperative relationship with the customers can be appeared as the easiest way for meeting the demands of the customers and focused towards the needs and wants of them along with approaching them to the company service.

Mainly, Customer relationship management (CRM) consists of the system of IT, and there has been increased the popularity of this system day by day. Though Customer relationship management (CRM) not merely focuses on the application of technology but it also focuses towards the giving assistance for the learners of business for the purpose of collection information on the customers as well as the needs and behaviors of the customers. The function of retaining or handling long term relation in between the customer and the organization is conducted through the technological application by applying the approach of Customer relationship management (CRM). In other side, there can be defined the Customer relationship management (CRM) as the business model by which different strategies of production and sales can be incorporated through providing preference towards the requirements of customers. In recent, it can be seen that importance is given by the companies on the establishment of effective service and also on the improvement of the process constantly. Customer relationship management (CRM) can also be termed as the approach which is used in order to creating the new customers and besides that determining how customer relationship can be maintained. Along with this, support is provided by the approach of Customer relationship management (CRM) for the purpose of retaining strong relationship with customers and the company beside maintaining the loyalty of the customers.

It can be said that Customer relationship management (CRM) is now becoming the necessity for every organization. Its not merely consisted of the issues of the quality of products and services but in relation to the expansion of business there is needed for providing the good service by it to the customers. While better communication is maintained by the organization to the clients then effective and quick response can be getting from the customer by the organization quickly (Merlin Stone, Neil Woodcock 2001). There is maintained by the proper record and information about the customers through applying the Customer relationship management (CRM) software. There can be used the Customer relationship management (CRM) software because of making contact with the customer easily so that product can be promoted or presented by the organization in front of the customer easily.

Chapter 5

Discussion:

It has been showed that the earlier chapters of this study of research is mainly focused on the concept of theory of the customer relationship management (CRM) where customer relationship management (CRM) definition, customer relationship management (CRM) framework, competitive advantage achieved by the customer relationship management (CRM), faced difficulties to implement the customer relationship management (CRM) successfully besides how customer relationship management (CRM) can be implemented effectively all these are discussed by applying on the hotel industry for example: Radisson Water Garden Hotel. On the literature review, there has also been explained about the way of generating profit through applying the framework of customer relationship management (CRM). In relation to the discussion of the literature review about customer relationship management (CRM), the researcher made all the questionnaires such as: what is the definition of customer relationship management (CRM), which strategies can be used in the organization in relation to the customer relationship management (CRM), how can the framework of customer relationship management (CRM) implemented in the Radisson Water Garden hotel successfully etc. According to the findings and analysis of this research study, within the business organization, customer relationship management (CRM) can be acted as the intermediary by which it is possible for maintaining relationship with the customer and also the companies.

Employees play the significant role within the organization for the purpose of formulating and implementing the communication to make the long term relationship in between the organization and the customer. For the purpose of maintaining the selling cost within the organization, customer played the greater role for long term because of this there can be reduced the costs of marketing which mean that company spend money on the marketing issue where there can be occurred the cost on the issues if marketing by searching the new customers through the organization. And new customers can be gained by the company by having strong image of brand and besides this having strong relationship with the customers. According to the literature review of this research study, it can be said that the company can use the distribution channel for gaining new customer which can be considered as the most effective way and better services might be provided by the company with the organized way by using these distribution channel (Borys & Jemison, 1989; Dwyer, Schurr, & Oh, 1987; Evans & Laskin, 1994; Heide, 1994; Wilson, 1995). In hence, there is needed for making understanding on the significant of implementing customer relationship management (CRM) by the organization at the business market. Webster (2003) mentioned that customer relationship management (CRM) includes of the concept of creating relation with the customers for the purpose of handling and controlling the business through the organization. Customer relationship management (CRM) is also related to the other strategies of the organization while customer relationship management (CRM) refers as the benchmark (H Wilson, E Daniel, 2002). In relation to the customer relationship management (CRM) process, there can be used the effort of organization in order to making the value of customer due to which there is enhanced the customer loyalty.

According to the findings and analysis of the research study, it can be found that there can be defined the competitive advantage as the firm’s ability for producing the goods and services with the lower costs over its competitors by having superior structure of cost. Firms can be facilitated by having this advantage in order to achieving the more customers to offers goods and services with reasonable and lower costs than their rivalry or higher margin or sales or profit can be also be achieved by the firm. While the company provides better products or services, then differentiation feature of products can be achieved by the company. By having the competitive advantage by the company, it is possible to gain the superior margin or generate more sales through the company. customer relationship management (CRM) can offer the various range of benefit in relation to the competitive advantage of the company. It is possible to reduce the costs through adopting the customer relationship management (CRM) system within an organization (Borys & Jemison, 1989; Heide, 1994; Sheth & Parvatiyar, 1992). Along with this, after applying the customer relationship management (CRM) system, there can be enhanced the efficiency, and can also be evaluated the information about the customer in relation to the organization in terms of efficiency manner and timely, there can be streamlined the process, there is capitalized the existing customers and along with this the organization can also attain new customer and at the end there can be applied the strategies of revolutionizing the market development and also business in terms of the perfect data and reporting. From so many decades, by adopting the customer relationship management (CRM) system within the organization, organization is embracing the new technologies due to which it is possible to make commitment about achieving competitive advantage and delivered the superior goods and services for the customers. According to this research study, the researcher is given concentration towards the two main objectives for example: filling the gap that can be created during the research conducting in relation to which there is analyzed the secondary data that can be available on the earlier literature such as: books, journal articles, magazines and internet. The next objective is making concept on how competitive advantage can be gained or how Radisson water garden hotel can retain their position through applying the customer relationship management (CRM) system by giving focused towards the importance of customer relationship management (CRM) system as well as achieving more customer. But the main focusing point is that there was not available all required data over the internet and books and also on journals due to which difficulties and problems were faced by the researchers in order to getting accurate and proper data and information on the subject matter of the customer relationship management (CRM). Along with this, the organization such as: Radisson water garden hotel was not reluctant for giving internal data and didn’t interest to disclose this information because of the reason of security.

For the purpose of conducting this research, personal interview was taken by the researcher which is completed within two rounds and there was arranged this interview among the researcher and the manager of Radisson water garden hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was not possible to enlarge the scope of interview through the organization due to the financial problems and along with the limitations of time. After finishing the interview among the researcher and the manager of the hotel, there was also conducted a survey for the purpose of finding out whether the organization will be successful to retain their position in the market or can be achieved the competitive advantage by implementing the customer relationship management (CRM) strategy as well as meeting the demands of the customers. Because of the constraints of time, 50 peoples are selected by the researcher as the sample size for the purpose of making the analysis and findings of data more easily.