Customer asset management in action: using customers portfolio for allocating resources across business-to-business relationships for improved shareholder value

Suvi Nenonen Customer asset management in action: using customer portfolios for allocating resources across business-to-business relationships for improved shareholder value Customers are crucial assets to all firms as customers are the ultimate source of all cash flows. Regardless this financial importance of customer relationships, for decades there has been a lack of suitable frameworks explaining how customer relationships contribute to the firm financial performance and how this contribution can be actively managed. In order to facilitate a better understanding of the customer asset, contemporary marketing has investigated the use of financial theories and asset management practices in the customer relationship context. Building on this, marketing academics have promoted the customer lifetime value concept as a solution for valuating and managing customer relationships for optimal financial outcomes. However, the empirical investigation of customer asset management lags behind the conceptual development steps taken. Additionally, the practitioners have not embraced the use of customer lifetime value in guiding managerial decisions - especially in the business-to-business context. The thesis points out that there are fundamental differences between customer relationships and investment instruments as investment targets, effectively eliminating the possibility to use financial theories in a customer relationships context or to optimize the customer base as a single investment portfolio. As an alternative, the thesis proposes the use of customer portfolio approach for allocating resources across the customer base for improved shareholder value. In the customer portfolio approach, the customer base of a firm is divided into multiple portfolios based on customer relationships’ potential to contribute to the shareholder value creation. After this, customer management concepts are tailored to each customer portfolio, designed to improve the shareholder value in their own respect. Therefore, effective customer asset management with the customer portfolio approach necessitates that firms are able to manage multiple parallel customer management concepts, or business models, simultaneously. The thesis is one of the first empirical studies on customer asset management, bringing empirical evidence from multiple business-to-business case studies on how customer portfolio models can be formed, how customer portfolios can be managed, and how customer asset management has contributed to the firm financial performance.

Customer asset management in action: using customers portfolio for allocating resources across business-to-business relationships for improved shareholder value

Suvi Nenonen Customer asset management in action: using customer portfolios for allocating resources across business-to-business relationships for improved shareholder value Customers are crucial assets to all firms as customers are the ultimate source of all cash flows. Regardless this financial importance of customer relationships, for decades there has been a lack of suitable frameworks explaining how customer relationships contribute to the firm financial performance and how this contribution can be actively managed. In order to facilitate a better understanding of the customer asset, contemporary marketing has investigated the use of financial theories and asset management practices in the customer relationship context. Building on this, marketing academics have promoted the customer lifetime value concept as a solution for valuating and managing customer relationships for optimal financial outcomes. However, the empirical investigation of customer asset management lags behind the conceptual development steps taken. Additionally, the practitioners have not embraced the use of customer lifetime value in guiding managerial decisions - especially in the business-to-business context. The thesis points out that there are fundamental differences between customer relationships and investment instruments as investment targets, effectively eliminating the possibility to use financial theories in a customer relationships context or to optimize the customer base as a single investment portfolio. As an alternative, the thesis proposes the use of customer portfolio approach for allocating resources across the customer base for improved shareholder value. In the customer portfolio approach, the customer base of a firm is divided into multiple portfolios based on customer relationships’ potential to contribute to the shareholder value creation. After this, customer management concepts are tailored to each customer portfolio, designed to improve the shareholder value in their own respect. Therefore, effective customer asset management with the customer portfolio approach necessitates that firms are able to manage multiple parallel customer management concepts, or business models, simultaneously. The thesis is one of the first empirical studies on customer asset management, bringing empirical evidence from multiple business-to-business case studies on how customer portfolio models can be formed, how customer portfolios can be managed, and how customer asset management has contributed to the firm financial performance.

The List_Tree - an innovative solution to customer portfolio representation

The scale of BT's operations necessitates the use of very large scale computing systems, and the storage and management of large volumes of data. Customer product portfolios are an important form of data which can be difficult to store in a space efficient way. The difficulties arise from the inherently structured form of product portfolios, and the fact that they change over time as customers add or remove products. This paper introduces a new data-modelling abstraction called the List_Tree. It has been designed specifically to support the efficient storage and manipulation of customer product portfolios, but may also prove useful in other applications with similar general requirements.

Key Account Management in Paper and Board Industry- Identification of Key Accounts for Stora Enso Graphical Boards

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli tunnistaa nykyiset sekä potentiaaliset avainasiakkaat case yritykselle. Avainasiakkaat tunnistettiin Chevertonin tunnistamis- ja valintamatriisin avulla, jossa asiakkaan sijoittumista matriisiin arvioidaan asiakkaan houkuttelevuuden sekä toimittajan suhteellisten vahvuuksien avulla. Kriteereiksi avainasiakkaiden tunnistamiseen valittiin asiakkaan vuotuinen ostovolyymi, asiakkaan business-potentiaali sekä case-yrityksen toimittajaosuus. Asiakkaat luokiteltiin avainasiakkaisiin, kehitettäviin avainasiakkaisiin, ylläpidettäviin asiakkaisiin sekä satunnaisiin asiakkaisiin. Tutkimus tarjosi lähtökohdan case-yrityksen uusille avainasiakaspäälliköille sekä osoitti suunnan tulevaisuuden tutkimustarpeille. Aktiivisen tiedonvaihdannan kautta eri myyntikonttoreiden johtohenkilöstön sekä myös yrityksen eri funktionaalisten divisioonien välillä voidaan saavuttaa kilpailuetua kun lähestytään asiakasta toimintojaan järkiperäisesti koordinoineena toimittajana samalla kun asiakkaat keskittävät ostojaan. Jotta yrityksen tavoitteet, markkinamahdollisuudet sekä resurssit olisivat hyvin tasapainossa, tulisi myös asiakaskannattavuutta sekä asiakkaiden strategista merkittävyyttä arvioida ja mitata säännöllisesti tässä tutkimuksessa käytettyjen tunnistuskriteereiden lisäksi.

Customer Energy in Relationships

All companies have a portfolio of customer relationships. From a managerial standpoint the value of these customer relationships is a key issue. The aim of the paper is to introduce a conceptual framework for customers’ energy towards a service provider. Customer energy is defined as the cognitive, affective and behavioural effort a customer puts into the purchase of an offering. It is based on two dimensions: life theme involvement and relationship commitment. Data from a survey study of 425 customers of an online gambling site was combined with data about their individual purchases and activity. Analysis showed that involvement and commitment influence both customer behaviour and attitudes. Customer involvement was found to be strongly related to overall spending within a consumption area, whereas relationship commitment is a better predictor of the amount of money spent at a particular company. Dividing the customers into four different involvement / commitment segments revealed differences in churn rates, word-of-mouth, brand attitude, switching propensity and the use of the service for socializing. The framework provides a tool for customer management by revealing differences in fundamental drivers of customer behaviour resulting in completely new customer portfolios. Knowledge of customer energy allows companies to manage their communication and offering development better and provides insight into the risk of losing a customer.

Az ügyfélszerzési mód hatásának vizsgálata a vevőelégedettségre és a lojalitásra a szervezeti piacon (Analyzing the impact of the customer acquisition mode to the customer satisfaction and loyalty on the corporate market – assessing the effect of recommendation with applying structural equation modelling)

A kutatás célja a marketingeszközök hosszú távú hatásának pontosabb megértése szervezetközi viszonylatban a vevőértékelési modellek egyik nehezen számszerűsíthető tényezője, az ajánlás hatásának vizsgálata által. A hatások elemzésére a strukturális egyenlőségek módszerét (Structural Equation Modelling) alkalmazta a szerző. Rámutatott, hogy az ajánlással szerzett ügyfelek elégedettebbek, lojálisabbak és gyakrabban ajánlják a vállalatot a más módon szerzett ügyfeleknél. Az összefüggések feltárása és bizonyítása különösen az ajánlás kumulatív hatása miatt jelentős. Az eredmények gyakorlati alkalmazásával lehetőség nyílik az ügyfélkör differenciáltabb, értékalapú szegmentációjára, amely pontosabb célcsoport-meghatározást lesz lehetővé, és hosszú távon hozzájárul a vállalat optimális ügyfélportfóliójának kialakításához. ______ The research is aimed at more precise understanding of longterm effects of marketing tools in business to business relations by analysing the impacts of recommendation potential, one of the hardly measurable factors of customer value concept. Structural Equation Modelling is applied for conducting effect analysis. The results show that customers acquired with recommendation are more satisfied, more loyal, and make more recommendation that other customer. These results are more interesting if we take the cumulative effect of recommendation in account. They provide bases for a more differentiated segmentation of customers, which results in a more accurate identification of target groups. In the long-run, the application of the customer-value concept considerably contributes to creating an optimal customer portfolio for companies.

Rentabilidade e risco na comercialização agregada de energia elétrica

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica na Área de Especialização de Energia

The internationalization process of mychild to São Paulo, Brazil

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

The Effectiveness of Learning Portfolios: A Study of Quality Assurance Programs of Selected Health Regulatory Colleges in Ontario

Health regulatory colleges promote quality practice and continued competence through Quality Assurance (QA) programs. For many colleges, a QA program includes the use of portfolios that incorporate self-directed learning. The purpose of this study was to determine some of the issues surrounding the effectiveness of QA portfolio programs. The literature review revealed that portfolios are valuable tools, but gaps in knowledge include a comparative analysis of QA programs and the perspective of regulatory college administrators. Data were collected through interviews with 6 administrators and a review of 14 portfolio models described on college websites. The results from the two data sources were applied to Robert Stake's responsive evaluation framework to identify issues related to the portfolio's effectiveness (Stake, 1967). The learning components of portfolios were analyzed through the humanist and constructivist lenses. All 14 portfolio models were found to have 3 main components: self-diagnosis, learning plan and activities, and self-evaluation. However, differences were uncovered in learners' autonomy in selecting learning activities, methods of portfolio evaluation, and the relationship between the portfolio and other QA components. The results revealed a dual philosophy of learning in portfolio models and an apparent contradiction between the needs of the individual learner and the organization. Paths for future research include the tenuous relationship between competence and learning, and the impact of technical approaches on selfdirected learning initiatives. A key recommendation is to acknowledge the unique identity of each profession so that health regulatory colleges can address legislative demands and learner needs.

Perdurabilidad a través de la competitividad: Proceso de planeación estratégica de Beca S.A

BECA S.A es una empresa que nace hace más de 25 años en la ciudad de Bogotá. Dedicada a la fabricación de partes y herrajes en plástico y en metal para muebles, reconocida por su extensa gama y calidad de los productos comercializados a nivel nacional para los sectores de la industria mobiliaria, de la construcción y de petróleos. Sin embargo, en los últimos años se ha encontrado en diversos problemas internos radicados en el corazón de la compañía: la estrategia. De esta manera, la problemática abordada en este proyecto será la planeación estratégica para mejorar los procesos internos, lograr mejores resultados, y ser competitiva y perdurable a través del tiempo. Como metodología se implementó las cinco fuerzas de Porter soportadas por plantillas que permitieron identificar las acciones que mejorarían la situación de la empresa y así dar un primer paso para la planeación estratégica. Entre los lineamientos identificados principalmente se encuentran la ampliación de la cartera de clientes, mejorar los acuerdos de pago y alianzas con proveedores, establecer un precio competitivo en el mercado, fortalecer el área de ventas y el área comercial, contar con información actualizada y en tiempo real, entre otros aspectos. Se concluye que el principal problema es la falta de planeación interna y que además es fundamental que se invierta en innovación y conocimiento para dar mayor valor agregado al cliente y a la vez superar sus expectativas. Se recomienda implementar la teoría de restricciones puesto que la implementación puede ser más eficiente y existiría una mejor proyección en el mercado, establecer estrategias de CRM dentro de la compañía y fomentar una cultura de cambio dejando de lado ciertas políticas que impiden la realización del objetivo.

Review of the literature on credit risk modeling : development of the past 10 years

This paper traces the developments of credit risk modeling in the past 10 years. Our work can be divided into two parts: selecting articles and summarizing results. On the one hand, by constructing an ordered logit model on historical Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes of articles about credit risk modeling, we sort out articles which are the most related to our topic. The result indicates that the JEL codes have become the standard to classify researches in credit risk modeling. On the other hand, comparing with the classical review Altman and Saunders(1998), we observe some important changes of research methods of credit risk. The main finding is that current focuses on credit risk modeling have moved from static individual-level models to dynamic portfolio models.

Fatores que afetam a satisfação e a fidelidade do cliente: um estudo com compradores de automóveis

This thesis presents a contribution to the study customer satisfaction models, analyzing the relationship between antecedent variables satisfaction and customer loyalty, through a survey with car s buyers in Natal. The theorical survey is focused in concepts of customer satisfaction and loyalty, and in the customer satisfaction index models. For the field survey, was applied a questionnaire, based on the Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer (NCSB), considered by Johnson et al. (2001), with 106 customer of concessionary Fiat, the Pontanegra Automóveis. The main results obtained by the multiple regression analysis reveal that, considering the Fiat, the satisfaction is influencing by reliance degree in the firm seriousness and by complaining handling, the loyalty is influenced by possibility of again pay the same value if was again buy a car, the satisfaction degree with a car, affective commitment relationship firm customer of the own car and the complaining handling. Considering the concessionaire, the satisfaction is influenced by reliance degree in the firm seriousness, ability degree of the concessionaire in delivery service and by complaining handling, already the loyalty is influencing by possibility of again pay the same value if was again buy a car, affective commitment relations to be concessionaire s customer, by calculate commitment in relation the economic loss of bought this car of this firm and complaining handling

Gestão de satisfação e fidelidade do cliente: um estudo dos fatores que afetam a satisfação e fidelidade dos compradores de automóveis

This Master s thesis presents a discussion on customer satisfaction models investigating the relations of antecedent variables service quality, price index, complaint handling, image, affective and calculative commitment, with satisfaction and loyalty. The scope of the research is the influence of service dimensions in the car buyer s satisfaction and loyalty. A sample of 91 customers was surveyed among new cars buyers of one brand in Natal city, Brazil, and the data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The literature review covers subjects such as customer satisfaction, management system, customer satisfaction measurement index models. The main findings suggest that satisfaction with the car brand is mainly influenced by customization of the service, time for accomplishing servicing, and the way the dealer handle complains. Regarding the dealer itself the main variable related to satisfaction is also time for accomplishing servicing. Considering customer loyalty, the customer satisfaction with the dealer explain strongly the loyalty with the brand/manufacturer. Also, the satisfaction, affective commitment and complains handling were found related to loyalty, as the stronger variables explaining the loyalty variance. One main conclusion is that service provided by dealers is one key factor influencing the customer satisfaction and loyalty in auto industry

Differential Evolution: A Tool for Global Optimization

This report describes a tool for global optimization that implements the Differential Evolution optimization algorithm as a new Excel add-in. The tool takes a step beyond Excel’s Solver add-in, because Solver often returns a local minimum, that is, a minimum that is less than or equal to nearby points, while Differential Evolution solves for the global minimum, which includes all feasible points. Despite complex underlying mathematics, the tool is relatively easy to use, and can be applied to practical optimization problems, such as establishing pricing and awards in a hotel loyalty program. The report demonstrates an example of how to develop an optimum approach to that problem.