Literature review on complaints management

Abstract

Consultants working on commercial projects often fail to take account of the deep and broad academic literature on the topic on which they are working. Because of his position as a hybrid academic and consultant, the author is obliged to keep closely in touch with the different literatures for the areas in which he teaches-broadly marketing, customer relationship management, customer service and branding. As the number of management journals increases, so the supply of research-based articles increases, and it becomes harder for practitioners to stay in touch with it. The author has therefore identified that a critical role in his research projects for clients is to review the academic and other literatures for clients. This particular literature review was part of a white paper project commissioned by a hi-tech client to help them understand how the management of problems affects the management of customer relationships. It excludes a section on social media, which was too client specific and therefore confidential to be published. Social media will be the subject of a later paper. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.