Abstract
The article under discussion is devoted to the analysis of the customer relationship management issue, its place in marketing performance. The article pursues the research format, which means it is strictly divided into research sections: introduction, hypothesizing, provided data analysis, hypotheses testing, results and recommendations. The research is based on the comparative study of the relative theoretical materials. The core message of the paper resides in the assertion of a favorable interconnection between marketing performance and customer relationship management. The specialness of the research consists in its thorough consideration of the existing links between customer knowledge and efficient organization. The author provides a series of measures he believes to be favorable for improving the marketing process improvement.
Research problem
The article traverses the problem of customer relationship management. It enlightens various interpretations of this notion and gives a detailed description of its concept. The author lays a special emphasis on the aspect of the connection between marketing performance and customer relationship management. The presented theoretical materials cover the problem’s analysis in the Egyptian market. The author points out the actuality of the discussed matter; he strongly believes that successful CRM is a guaranty of efficient marketing and organizational performances (Soliman, 2011).
Research objective
The primary research objective is to suggest a descriptive model that will be sufficiently efficient for measuring the link between marketing performance and CRM within the sphere of Egyptian financial institutions. The study initially aims at defining the extent of their relationship, as well as estimating the extent of the CRM’s influence over the marketing performance.
Research methodology
The research base is made up by various financial institutions of Egypt. The stratified sample includes twenty banks, sixty-nine brokerage and ten insurance companies. The data collecting was mainly performed via carrying out interviews with the senior management representatives. The researcher implied such analysis methods as analytical statistics, factor and regression analysis.
Content analysis
The article begins with the analysis of various approaches to the CRM notion interpretation. The author mentions that the term might have different implications. First of all, customer relationship management can be regarded as a communication process aimed at identifying customers’ needs and requirements and, therefore, enlarging the clients’ base. Furthermore, there is a broader understanding of the concept, implying the integration of all the marketing functions in order to provide the client with a high-quality service. The author summarizes that CRM is to be regarded as an effective strategy for cooperation with customers that is likely to contribute significantly to the marketing performance. The second part of the introductory passage is devoted to revealing the concept peculiarities. Thus, the researcher points out that the concept’s description depends on the point of view it is considered from: processional, technological, strategic, philosophic or ability. The second part of the problem background throws light upon the question of the connection between CRM and marketing performance. The author provides all the relevant data collected from the preceding researches. These insights cover both the negative and positive sides of this relation. However, all the researchers agree on the importance of this link and its influence on the success of the marketing performance.
Based upon the analysis of the collected relevant data the author formulates two hypotheses. The core idea of the hypotheses implies the lack of significant effect of the RM on the marketing performance. According to these assumptions, customer knowledge is not statistically proved to be of any considerable contribution to the marketing performance results. Whereas the first hypothesis states the absence of a significant connection between CRM and marketing performance, the second hypothesis claims the lack of considerable effect on the marketing activity success.
The core part of the article is devoted to hypothesis testing. To estimate the degree of the interconnection between CRM and marketing performance, its importance and quantitative strength, the researcher uses all the available statistics tools. The thorough analysis of the provided material proves the invalidity of the first hypothesis. The second hypothesis’s validity is tested by means of multiple linear regression analysis styles. The method proves the invalidity of the second hypothesis as well.
Results and recommendations
The thorough analysis of the collected data makes the author come to several conclusions. First of all, he admits the importance of monitoring and understanding clients’ interests and demands, including their quality requests and delivery expectations. Secondly, he points out the necessity of establishing marketing performing standards that will enable the managers to monitor all the advantages and disadvantages of the communicational process. Moreover, a special emphasis is put on the essentiality of the main client’s loyalty maintenance. The author presumes that the main clients’ satisfaction is particularly for the company’s activity. Therefore, management politics should be aimed at preserving and enlarging the main client base. Finally, it is stated, that one should create two-way communication between the customer and the management institution to improve the quality of the offered service.
Taking into consideration the invalidity of the proposed hypotheses, and, thus, admitting the significance of the correlation between CRM and marketing performance, the researcher provides a series of recommendations for Egyptian institutions, which can be applied for improving the indexes of their activity. To begin with, the author accentuates the necessity of developing a universal interpretation of the CRM notion. Moreover, he presumes that the authorities are obliged to supply the Egyptian institutions with sufficient financial support required for relevant research and scientific investigations. The author also suggests that the local bank and trade unities invest in the foundation of the training centers that will be responsible for crafting a strategy aimed at maximizing the marketing performance efficiency. Moreover, the researcher enumerates the measures that are to be taken to set a favorable organizational climate. In conclusion, it is stated that effective relationship management implies sufficient informational supply, the development of general marketing culture, the employment of the client-oriented approach and the constant monitoring activity. The author is firmly convinced that organizational efficiency is the result of proper customer knowledge management. He emphasizes the importance of carrying out a proper framework to estimate such indexes of marketing performance as the client’s satisfaction, the sales’ profit and growth, the customer base preservation and the market share.
Insights
The article under discussion presents considerable value for marketing performance studies. The paper follows the proper research format, including the theoretical base, the hypothesis foregrounding, its testing and the recommendations’ work out. Despite the fact, that the recommendation base is mainly aimed at Egyptian institutions, the offered measures can be successfully applied to other regions as well. The considered problem is of immediate interest for marketing performance.
References
Soliman, HS. (2011). Customer Relationship Management and Its Relationship to the Marketing Performance. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(10), 166-181. Web.