Theoretical Aspect
The rationale underlying setting up and running a business is to create new customers and hold on to them. If such a business process is successfully conducted in a cost-effective manner, the business will generate proper turnovers and at the same time will continue to survive and flourish. However, if such a condition failed to meet the business suffers heavy losses and continued losses may result in the downfall of the venture. This standpoint of viewing business makes it primarily a client-driven process. In the post-industrialization era, the markets have started to exhibit a fiercely competitive trend in which just meeting the quality standards and quantity requirements of a product is not enough for the business to survive. To stay ahead of other competitors in a segment a good deal of innovation is needed. Upholding a sustainable competitive lead is the central focus of any business strategy and it depends on the success of Customer Relationship.
CRM permits the preservation and development of the organization’s competitive situation in the market. Innovation is the chief force underlying competitive advantage, development, and effectiveness. Firms that successfully realize the full payback from their machinery and innovations are competent enough to integrate their technological proficiency with corresponding expertise in various other sections of their business, such as providing efficient services to clients as well as its employees. (Nayyar, 2006, 44)
With increased options becoming available to the customer differentiation becomes a key concept and acts as a driver of sustainability. Differentiation denotes the capacity to separate the product or service offered by the business from that of other players. It is the solution to the problem of creating and upholding a competitive advantage. This is the edge that a business has over its competitors in the same market segment. This comes from the capability of offering exclusive and unique benefits that no other competitor can provide to the customer. Differentiation of products is a window of opportunity on which organizations look to capitalize on. By offering services as a product or post-sales services firms aim at adding value to products and gain a competitive edge.
“Managing the evidence” refers to the process of notifying customers after efficiently providing a requested service. This communication follows a delicate process like providing explanations of high-quality and poor service which is used as a basis of judgment. The rationale is that a client might not acknowledge the worth of the service if they lack a benchmark for evaluations. (Sun & Zhou, 2008, 90)
Customers often prefer a “personal touch.” Firms pay considerable attention to the human aspect and personalization of services. Managers often allow workers to plan a service encounter based on the individual needs of customers. This satisfies the customer to a greater degree and increases customer loyalty which in turn provides the business with a competitive edge.
A flourishing business organization and its management must be competent enough to cater to customer needs in addition to financial targets in a fiercely competitive global market. To build up customer confidence and accomplish business goals, the administrative team must not only craft an economically fruitful business strategy but coerce the outcome by translating the strategy into an unambiguously defined operational priority and ensure that they adhered to and met through enhanced communication and an efficient performance evaluation system. However, turning the customer relation objectives in a business strategy is into actual reality is an intricate undertaking. (Buttle & Burton, 2002, 227)
Firms often adopt an approach in which customer relation objectives are prioritized according to operational needs and requirements. The first step is to explicitly define a business policy which clearly outlines the performance objectives of each sphere of the business. It is then the responsibility of the management of the firm to oversee the operations and ensure that the defined objectives are complied with. Converting these objectives into operational priorities involves careful result-based evaluation of the business performance. Communications is an aspect which is inherently linked to this process. The role of each employee and every stakeholder must be explicitly communicated to them. Outlining and designating accountability for each sub-objective is also important in this context.
The management is responsible for communicating the operating plan strategy to the lower echelons of the firm and describing the intentions behind the targets. This must be clearly understood by all employees as well as other parties involved. Deliverables must be clearly outlined in such a communication and performance measurement machinery must be understood by all. A key administrative role is to define the way the goal is to be achieved. However, they should always assist in this process for the employees to easily realize the operational priorities. (Sun & Zhou, 2008, 90) In this context, the Customer Relationship Management of BMW in UK becomes especially important because being a successful company it can set a benchmark for all other companies in the context of Customer Relationship Management. Thus, the Customer Relationship Management of BMW in UK would be and evaluated to develop a benchmark based on the company policies.
Empirical Aspect
A research methodology is an important aspect of a research that explains what the researcher wants to achieve and how. Research methodologies may be qualitative or quantitative. In this section, the author discusses the challenges of using one or both research methodologies. Finally, the paper explains why the researcher chose the proposed methodology.
A quantitative research method involves collecting numeric data and using that data to show what those observations reflect (Babbie, 1992). The one of the crucial factors of quantitative research methodology is data collection done through various processes such as interviews, questionnaire surveys, tests/measures, and observations (Easterby-Smith et al, 1991).
In the domain of mandatory fulfilment of requirements, researchers have dominantly used both quantitative and qualitative strategies wherein case study approach is extensively used (Benbasat et al, 1987). Qualitative research methods applied in studies are most suitable where mostly the scholars have provided their analysis of the situation as they have seen through their experience or through interviews or secondary research. Truly little research was done due to the issue of mandatory fulfilment of CPD requirements which will help in analysing the situation objectively.
Thus, it is logical to do a mix of qualitative and quantitative research. In the qualitative research section, it would follow the historic data of the issue and try to determine areas where the result was used. In this part, there would be extensive secondary research on the issue and try to ascertain the benefits and then do constructive interviews to ascertain the complete picture. The interviews will be based on organizations there would the focus of quantitative study.
From the qualitative research, there would be adequate information regarding the organization’s present adoption status of internet and the barriers to it. The quantitative research section will follow a questionnaire survey in the designated organization or sector. The survey will enhance understanding of the respondents’ profile and their suitability to the research question. The next section of the questionnaire will discuss the benefits that the sector has gained from the issue. The perceived benefits of the issue are captured through the questionnaire. Then the questionnaire will discuss the barriers which the sector faced in issue in the context of real-life purposes.
The survey results are evaluated through factor analysis of the data collected. Mandatory fulfilment of requirements can be enhanced not only due to organizational factors but also due to individual factors. Scholars should note this while working on the questionnaire. The questionnaire will also evaluate the adopter’s decision and the criteria for choosing the issue as an innovation.
Further to determine the performance growth with the issue must be correlated to the degree of usage of issue to the operational, financial, and performance success of the sector. Researchers do this by conducting data analysis on the issue and the perceived level of adoption to the financial performance over the years of adoption, number of patients treated, cost aspects, etc. can be correlated which will provide the level of acceptance of the issue and the success of using it. This can be validated by studying perceived benefits of the issue to the respondents with that of the financial and operational data. This process is important for understanding the performance benefit of the issue.
References
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