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For many companies, the growing importance of "customer relationship management" (CRM) entailed a shift from a product-centric firm strategy towards focusing on the individual customer as the most critical unit of marketing decision making. Such customer-centric view sees customers as intangible assets of a firm, which need to be valued and managed carefully. CRM has therefore become a crucial focus for many companies as it promises to be a key determinant of future profitability.
In this course we address the strategic and operational principles that are at the heart of every successful CRM implementation. We will develop an understanding of concepts such as customer centricity, customer lifetime value, customer equity, or customer retention, and discuss how data-rich environments and data science (will) impact marketing practice. CRM strategy implementation in the areas of loyalty programs, services, and complaint management will be examined. The course will expose participants to an integrated view of CRM theory and practice, with case study analyses and corporate experience constituting a major course element.
When discussing marketing metrics relevant for customer valuation, some of the course content will be rigorous but not excessively analytic. Throughout the course we will focus on “real world” practical examples covering a broad range of industries/applications, but also tie them back to relevant academic work.