Towards a CRM and SCM Benefits Measurement Model

Organizations invest heavily in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems, and their related infrastructure, presumably expecting positive benefits to the organization. Assessing the benefits of such systems is an important aspect of managing such systems. Given the substantial differences between CRM and SCM systems with traditional intra-organizational applications, existing Information Systems benefits measurement models and frameworks are ill-suited to gauge CRM and SCM benefits. This paper reports the preliminary findings of a research that seeks to develop a measurement model to assess benefits of CRM and SCM applications. The a-priori benefits measurement model is developed reviewing the 55 academic studies and 40 practitioner papers. The review of related literature yielded 606 benefits, which were later synthesized into 74 mutually exclusive benefit measures of CRM and SCM applications arranged under five dimensions.

Supply chain management systems benefits : the expectation-confirmation theory perspective

Organizations adopt a Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) expecting benefits to the organization and its functions. However, organizations are facing mounting challenges to realizing benefits through SCMS. Studies suggest a growing dissatisfaction among client organizations due to an increasing gap between expectations and realization of SCMS benefits. Further, reflecting the Enterprise System studies such as Seddon et al. (2010), SCMS benefits are also expected to flow to the organization throughout its lifecycle rather than being realized all at once. This research therefore proposes to derive a lifecycle-wide understanding of SCMS benefits and realization to derive a benefit expectation management framework to attain the full potential of an SCMS. The primary research question of this study is: How can client organizations better manage their benefit expectations of SCM systems? The specific research goals of the current study include: (1) to better understand the misalignment of received and expected benefits of SCM systems; (2) to identify the key factors influencing SCM system expectations and to develop a framework to manage SCMS benefits; (3) to explore how organizational satisfaction is influenced by the lack of SCMS benefit confirmation; and (4) to explore how to improve the realization of SCM system benefits. Expectation-Confirmation Theory (ECT) provides the theoretical underpinning for this study. ECT has been widely used in the consumer behavior literature to study customer satisfaction, post-purchase behavior and service marketing in general. Recently, ECT has been extended into Information Systems (IS) research focusing on individual user satisfaction and IS continuance. However, only a handful of studies have employed ECT to study organizational satisfaction on large-scale IS. The current study will enrich the research stream by extending ECT into organizational-level analysis and verifying the preliminary findings of relevant works by Staples et al. (2002), Nevo and Chan (2007) and Nevo and Wade (2007). Moreover, this study will go further trying to operationalize the constructs of ECT into the context of SCMS. The empirical findings of the study commence with a content analysis, through which 41 vendor reports and academic reports are analyzed yielding sixty expected benefits of SCMS. Then, the expected benefits are compared with the benefits realized at a case organization in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry sector that had implemented a SAP Supply Chain Management System seven years earlier. The study develops an SCMS Benefit Expectation Management (SCMS-BEM) Framework. The comparison of benefit expectations and confirmations highlights that, while certain benefits are realized earlier in the lifecycle, other benefits could take almost a decade to realize. Further analysis and discussion on how the developed SCMS-BEM Framework influences ECT when applied in SCMS was also conducted. It is recommended that when establishing their expectations of the SCMS, clients should remember that confirmation of these expectations will have a long lifecycle, as shown in the different time periods in the SCMS-BEM Framework. Moreover, the SCMS-BEM Framework will allow organizations to maintain high levels of satisfaction through careful mitigation and confirming expectations based on the lifecycle phase. In addition, the study reveals that different stakeholder groups have different expectations of the same SCMS. The perspective of multiple stakeholders has significant implications for the application of ECT in the SCMS context. When forming expectations of the SCMS, the collection of organizational benefits of SCMS should represent the perceptions of all stakeholder groups. The same mechanism should be employed in the measurements of received SCMS benefits. Moreover, for SCMS, there exists interdependence of the satisfaction among the various stakeholders. The satisfaction of decision-makers or the authorized staff is not only driven by their own expectation confirmation level, it is also influenced by the confirmation level of other stakeholders‘ expectations in the organization. Satisfaction from any one particular stakeholder group can not reflect the true satisfaction of the client organization. Furthermore, it is inferred from the SCMS-BEM Framework that organizations should place emphasis on the viewpoints of the operational and management staff when evaluating the benefits of SCMS in the short and middle term. At the same time, organizations should be placing more attention on the perspectives of strategic staff when evaluating the performance of the SCMS in the long term.

Supply chain benefits expectation management framework

Organizations invest heavily in Supply Chain Management Systems expecting the benefits promised by the software vendors and the implementation partners. However, both academic and industry reports suggest that there is growing dissatisfaction among client organizations due to an increasing gap in benefits purported by the software vendors and benefits realised by the client. In order to better manage expectations of the client organization, this study proposes a Benefit Expectation Management Framework for Supply Chain Management Systems, based on Expectation-Confirmation Theory. This study derives 60 expected benefits of Supply Chain Management Systems through 41 vendor-reported customer stories and academic papers. Through comparing those benefits with the received benefits by a case organization that has implemented SAP Supply Chain Management Systems for seven years, two salient factors – long timetable and multiple stakeholders – have been identified as the controlling factors affecting the confirmation level of Supply Chain Management System expectations and further impacting the satisfaction of a client organization. The case study also highlights the likely causes for realized benefits and enduring issues in relation to the Supply Chain Management Systems.

Safety culture in supply chains : 'Customer is king'

Despite the presence of many regulations governing the operation of heavy vehicles and supply chains in Australia, the truck driving sector continues to have the highest incidence of fatal injuries compared to all other industries. The working environment has been the focus of attention by safety researchers during the past few decades, with particular consideration been given to the concept ‘safety culture’ and how to maintain, modify and advance responses to occupational risk. One important aspect of the heavy industry which sets it apart is the existence of cultural or sub-cultural influences at an industry wide and occupation-specific level rather than organisational level. This paper reports on the findings of stakeholder’s perceptions of the influences of power and control, and culture on industry safety. In-depth structured interviews were conducted during 2011 with Australian industry stakeholders (n=31). The questioning surrounded decision-making processes with regards to identifying risks, self-monitoring and reducing risky activities; as well as how power-affected relationships may influence the operational performance of supply chains and impacts on driver safety. One of the most significant findings from these interviews relates to the notion of power. The perception that the ‘Customer is King’ was widely viewed, with the majority of stakeholders believing that there exists a ‘master slave mentality’ in the industry. There appears to be great frustration in the industry as to the apparent immunity of customers (particularly retail supply chains) to their responsibilities. There was also a strong perception that the customer holds the balance of power by covertly employing remuneration-related incentives and pressures. Smaller trucking companies are perceived as being more vulnerable to the pressure of customer expectations.

The role of customer gratitude in making relationship marketing investments successful

This paper recognises that customer loyalty is important for many competitive organisations, and that retail firms make investments to build and maintain loyal relationships with their existing and potential customers (e.g. loyalty programs). However, there has been little focus on the mechanisms by which these relationship investments operate to achieve customer loyalty. This paper examines one mechanism, namely customer gratitude, which works to make a firm’s relationship marketing investment a success or a failure. Using data from 1600 undergraduate students, this study empirically confirms the mediating role of customer gratitude between the customers’ perceptions a firm’s relationship marketing investments and customers’ perceptions of the value of the relationship with the firm. Further, a significant moderating effect of perceived benevolence on the relationship between customers’ perceptions a firm’s relationship marketing investments and customer gratitude was identified. For theorists, this customer gratitude model offers a better psychological explanation of how relationship marketing investments operate to improve the value that customers place on their relationships with retailers. Our research suggests that managers should invest resources to stimulate customer gratitude in order to build strong customer–seller relationships.

Demand Response for Residential Appliances in a Smart Electricity Distribution Network: Utility and Customer Perspectives

This thesis introduces advanced Demand Response algorithms for residential appliances to provide benefits for both utility and customers. The algorithms are engaged in scheduling appliances appropriately in a critical peak day to alleviate network peak, adverse voltage conditions and wholesale price spikes also reducing the cost of residential energy consumption. Initially, a demand response technique via customer reward is proposed, where the utility controls appliances to achieve network improvement. Then, an improved real-time pricing scheme is introduced and customers are supported by energy management schedulers to actively participate in it. Finally, the demand response algorithm is improved to provide frequency regulation services.

Insight into the pain customer : how to improve the value proposition for community pharmacy

1. Shoppers Profiles- Are Grocery Shoppers any different to Pharmacy Shoppers? 2. Awaking the Sleeping Giants- Supermarkets push into OTC Medicines 3. Price versus Value for Money- What’s the Difference? Value and Perceived Quality 4. Consumer Decision Making Process- The Pharmacists ‘Trump’ Card

Achieving service quality through service innovation exploration-exploitation: The critical role of employee empowerment and slack resources

Purpose This study investigates the effects of service innovation exploration-exploitation on financial performance through the delivery of quality services. Additional emphasis is also given to examining the extent to which employee empowerment and slack resources enhance or suppress the performance benefits of service firms engaging in service innovation exploration versus exploitation. Design/methodology/approach Data were drawn from a multi-informant survey of service firms using a drop-and-collect approach. The survey gathered data from managers, customer service employees and customers to test the hypotheses. Findings The results show that excelling at both exploitative and exploratory innovation helps enhance the quality of services, which in turn yield superior financial performance. Further, empowering employees enhances the relationship between exploratory and exploitative service innovation and service quality. We also show that the extent managers’ perceived their market to be competitive influences in the pursuit of high levels of both service innovation exploration and exploitation and that this relationship is impacted by the extent they believe they have available slack resources. Practical implications The findings suggest that service firms need to pursue both exploitation and exploration at high levels simultaneously and empower their employees to stay ahead of competitors in delivering quality services, which ultimately contribute to the achievement of superior financial outcomes. Also, the findings highlight the importance of employee empowerment, market competitiveness and slack resources in the pursuit of high levels of both service innovation exploration and exploitation. Originality/value These findings and our theory indicate that this study is the first to empirically examine organizational ambidexterity in the context of service innovation exploration – exploitation adopting the principles of combined and balanced innovation. The study provides insights into the critical role of customers’ perceptions of service quality in contributing to firms’ financial performance. Our insights are unique in that the study incorporates managers, employees and customers in an integrated service innovation model.

Public private partnership infrastructure delivery: Benefits and costs for society

This research provides additional knowledge on the benefits and costs to society, in particular of road transport procured through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements. Currently, the public sector comparator (PSC) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) used to evaluate and measure the benefits and costs of PPP are limited in their capacity to predict and forecast long-term events. PPP is attractive to governments due to the non-upfront payment, perceived value for money, and risk allocation and transfer to the private investor. However, public sector remains the guarantor, and under-writer of the private investor's loan from financial institutions and other voluntary risks which are unlimited to future compensatory claims. The new knowledge from this research is the introduction of a framework capable of evaluating, and measuring the associated PPP benefits, as well as the costs, effects, and impacts to society which are protracted and sporadic by nature.

The link between marketing instruments and customer perceptions

Measuring marketing effectiveness is a major challenge for marketing academics and practitioners. An investigation that uses dependence analysis to examine the link between objective marketing instruments and subjective customer perceptions of them is missing from existing approaches. In examining this link, the present article redresses this deficit. A conceptual model is developed in order to structure and explain the effects of instruments on perceptions for 3 marketing instrument categories (value, relationship, and brand). The links are analyzed in an empirical study with bank customers. Instruments are measured by using objective internal data. Perceptions are measured based on a customer survey. The relationships between instruments and perceptions are examined using regression analysis. Most of the effects of instruments on perceptions are significant, signaling that the activities conducted are perceived as intended. In particular, some interesting results become evident, such as the negative effect on relationship perceptions of follow-up calls subsequent to direct mail services.

Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action around the world

Personal and political action on climate change is traditionally thought to be motivated by people accepting its reality and importance. However, convincing the public that climate change is real faces powerful ideological obstacles1, 2, 3, 4, and climate change is slipping in public importance in many countries5, 6. Here we investigate a different approach, identifying whether potential co-benefits of addressing climate change7 could motivate pro-environmental behaviour around the world for both those convinced and unconvinced that climate change is real. We describe an integrated framework for assessing beliefs about co-benefits8, distinguishing social conditions (for example, economic development, reduced pollution or disease) and community character (for example, benevolence, competence). Data from all inhabited continents (24 countries; 6,196 participants) showed that two co-benefit types, Development (economic and scientific advancement) and Benevolence (a more moral and caring community), motivated public, private and financial actions to address climate change to a similar degree as believing climate change is important. Critically, relationships were similar for both convinced and unconvinced participants, showing that co-benefits can motivate action across ideological divides. These relationships were also independent of perceived climate change importance, and could not be explained by political ideology, age, or gender. Communicating co-benefits could motivate action on climate change where traditional approaches have stalled.

Benefits of blended learning for the first year medical imaging students in preparation for clinical placement

Although there is a plethora of definitions of blended learning, the underlying distinguishing feature is the combination of traditional content delivery and the utilisation of technology. Within Medical Imaging undergraduate education there is evidence of advantages and increased student engagement when utilising a blended learning approach. Although the embedding of technology has been proven to be a useful teaching tool, “Educators should tailor their teaching media to learner’s needs rather than assume that web based learning is intrinsically superior”. This study aims to determine which clinical learning tools are perceived to be the most useful to the student in preparing them for placements.

Online grocery shopping: The impact of shopping frequency on perceived risk

Online grocery shopping has enjoyed strong growth and it is predicted this channel will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years. While online shopping has attracted an abundance of research interest, examinations of online grocery shopping behaviour are only now emerging. Shopping online for groceries differs considerably from general online shopping due to the perishability and variability of the product, and frequency of the shopping activity. Two salient gaps underpin this research into online grocery shopping. This study responds to calls to investigate the online shoppers’ experience in the context of online purchasing frequency. Second, this study examines the mediating effect of perceived risk between trust and online repurchase intention of groceries. An online survey was employed to collect data from shoppers who were recruited from a multi-channel grocery e-retailer’s database. The online survey, comprising 16 reflective validated scale items, was sent to 555 frequent and infrequent online grocery shoppers. Results find that while customer satisfaction predicts trust for both infrequent and frequent online grocery shoppers, perceived risk fully mediates the effect of trust on repurchase intentions for infrequent online grocery shoppers. Furthermore path analysis reveals that the developed behavioural model is variant across both groups of shoppers. Theoretically, we provide a deeper understanding of the online customer experience, while gaining insight into two shopper segments identified as being important to grocery e-retailers. For managers, this study tests an online customer behavioural model with actual purchasing behaviour and identifies the continued presence of perceived risk in grocery e-retailing regardless of purchase frequency or experience.

Framing as status or benefits? Consumers’ reactions to hierarchical loyalty program communication

Purpose A fundamental aspect of hierarchical loyalty programs is that some consumers get rewards that others do not. Despite the widespread use of such programs, academics have long debated whether these benefits are outweighed by the potential negative impact of the differential treatment of customers. This study extends our understanding, examining the impact of message framing on consumers’ reactions to hierarchical loyalty structures. Design/methodology/approach Three online studies were conducted. Study 1 uses advertisements to manipulate the message frame’s emphasis (benefits vs. status). Study 2 manipulates consumers’ frame of thought by directing their attention to either changes in benefits or status. Finally, Study 3 uses the proposed framework to reconcile contradictory findings from past research. Findings Low-frequency customers who do not expect to qualify for a superior customer tier tend to reject hierarchical programs when thinking about status. In contrast, when these customers think about concrete rewards, loyalty program messages produce no negative reactions. High-frequency customers are positively affected by communication regardless of the type of benefits framed. Research limitations/implications All studies were done online potentially limiting the external validity of the results. Nevertheless, the impact of message framing on perceptions about the loyalty program seems to be quite robust across different studies and manipulations. Practical implications When communicating with low-frequency customers managers should avoid promising status; customers should instead be motivated based on concrete rewards. High-frequency customers are indifferent to alternative emphasis of communication frames. Originality/value Marketing academics have acknowledged the importance of being able to reward top customers without demotivating light and moderate users. Our research is the first to provide a solution to this issue.

Assessing taxpayer response to legislative changes: A case study of ‘in-house’ fringe benefits rules

On 22 October 2012, the Australian Federal Government announced the removal of the $1,000 in-house fringe benefits concession when used as part of a salary packaging arrangement. At the time of the announcement, the Federal Government predicted that the removal of the concession would contribute additional tax revenue of $445 million over the following four years as well as an increase of GST payments to the States and Territories. However, anecdotal evidence at the same time indicated that the Australian employer response was to immediately stop providing employees with such in-house fringe benefits via salary sacrificing arrangements. Data presented in this article, collected from a combination of interviews with tax managers of four Australian entities as well as a review of the published archival data, confirms that the abolition of the $1,000 in-house fringe benefits concession was perceived as a negative change, whereby employees were considered the ‘big losers’ despite assertions by the Federal Government to the contrary. Using a conceptual map of tax rule change developed by Oats and Sadler, this article seeks to understand the reasons for this fringe benefits tax change and taxpayer response. In particular, the economic and political factors, and the responses of the relevant taxpayers (employers) are explored. Drawing on behavioural economic concepts, the actions, attitudes and response of employers to the rule change are also examined. The research findings suggest that the decision by Australian employers to cease providing the in-house fringe benefits as part of a salary-packaging arrangement after the legislative amendment was impacted by more than simple rational behaviour.