QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF TAM
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implementation, new product performance would be significantly higher. This research
concludes by stating that new product performance is an important mediator of the CRM-
business performance link and that CRM reward systems facilitate a positive effect of CRM
processes in the context of new product development.
Lipiäinen (2015) investigated the implementation of CRM in three contemporary
business-to-business firms to examine the objectives of CRM and the exploitation of social
media to serve those objectives. More specifically, this research investigates social media and its
potential in the context of implementing CRM technologies within a B2B operation (Lipiäinen,
2015). Through a multiple case study of three organizations and semi-structured interviews with
key staff responsible for CRM activity, four central themes emerged: the role of CRM in
companies, the usage of social media and other digital tools for CRM, gaining customer insight,
and engaging customers. The findings of this study demonstrate that all firms reported CRM as
having a strategic position within the organization, not only as a technical process solution to
assist customers but also as a particular method to take care of customers. Each company
identified CRM as a method for building long-term profitability with customer relationships at
the center and viewed CRM as a way of streamlining goals toward building customer loyalty and
targeting customer engagement. Interestingly, although all the firms utilized social media, the
respondents suggested that it played no part in CRM. The reported findings suggest there was
nothing of value for sales or any new information on customers gleaned from incorporating
social media within CRM. One respondent suggested that the reason why was because social
media provides more general knowledge of trends and events, rather than offering strategic
customer knowledge.
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