CRM systems : A learning perspective on how organisations manage to understand the customer

Abstract

For any business, knowledge about customers and knowledge about how to manage relations to the customers are essential. Though often overshadowed by the wish to improve customer relations, sales efficiency and performance, customer relationship management (CRM) endeavors enable for fundamental organizational changes in the context of the institutional environment. This paper tells the story of how Vattenfall, a Swedish, state-run utility company, decided to invest in CRM systems, how their picture of their strategic situation demanded investments, how they have selected and configured their system, and what sort of effects they anticipate and organise to achieve. With theories from the field of organizational learning and strategy theory, this paper explores consequences of implementing a CRM system. We found that factors related to the organizational context, the institutional environment, strategic intentions and the knowledge base are of vital importance in explaining CRM success and failure.