Showing papers on "Customer relationship management published in 1990"

Asymmetric Information, Bank Lending, and Implicit Contracts: A Stylized Model of Customer Relationships

Abstract: Customer relationships arise between banks and firms because, in the process of lending, a bank learns more than others about its own customers. This information asymmetry allows lenders to capture some of the rents generated by their older customers; competition thus drives banks to lend to new firms at interest rates which initially generate expected losses. As a result, the allocation of capital is shifted toward lower quality and inexperienced firms. This inefficiency is eliminated if complete contingent contracts are written or, when this is costly, if banks can make nonbinding commitments that, in equilibrium, are backed by reputation. THIS PAPER DERIVES A dynamic theory of "customer relationships" in bank loan markets. The theory builds on a traditional view of bank lending behavior, first spelled out by Hodgman (1961) and Kane and Malkiel (1965) and later elaborated upon by Wood (1975). According to this view, an essential factor underlying a bank's loan pricing policy is its impact on the bank's stock of loyal customers, as well as on those customers' deposits. Rather than take relationships as a given, we examine the implications of the view expressed, for example, by Fama (1985), that they arise because of "inside information" generated by the history of bankfirm interactions. In our theory, customer relationships arise endogenously as a consequence of the asymmetric evolution of information sets. In contrast with most theories of pricing under asymmetric information, though, the key informational asymmetry postulated here is that which arises between agents on the same side of the market. We exploit the presumption, made by Kane and Malkiel (1965) and Fama (1985), that a bank which actually lends to a firm learns more about that borrower's characteristics than do other banks. A fundamental consequence of this asymmetric evolution of information is the potential creation of ex post, or temporary, monopoly power. If it is relatively costly for banks and firms to write multiperiod contingent contracts, this ex post monopoly power has undesirable effects on the allocation of capital. Even though banks earn zero expected profit over the lifespan of the average customer relationship, they are not disciplined by the market to offer

Professional Selling: A Relationship Management Process

Abstract: Part 1: Professional selling, marketing, communication and relationship management. What is professional selling? Personal sales as a marketing communication tool. Relationship management: strategic implication. Part 2: Why customers buy. Consumer buying behavior. Industrial and organization buying behavior. Part 3: Relationship management with the customer. Beginning the relationship. Initiating contact with the prospective customer. Presentations and demonstrations. Cultivating, managing, and evaluating the relationship. Part 4: Relationship management inside the salesperson's organization. Understanding the salesperson's organization. Relationships within the marketing department. Relationships between sales and non-marketing departments. Part 5: Relationship management: strategic alternatives and tactical actions. Strategic alternatives in relationship management. Tactical actions in relationship management. Part 6: Professional selling as a career. Ethical and legal issues in professional selling. Global selling and relationship management. Career selection, development, and management. Appendices.

The Employee/Customer Interface: An Empirical Investigation of Employee Behaviors and Customer Perceptions

Abstract: Popular, trade, and academic literature support the intuitively obvious notion that good customer relations behaviors enhance customer satisfaction. The present research investigated such behaviors by customer-contact employees by first assessing their frequency of practice in the bowling industry. Employees in bowling centers generally failed to practice most of the 16 relationship-building behaviors investigated during 62 audits. Next, survey results revealed variations in consumers’ perceptions of the relative importance of employee behaviors. For example, prompt service, a warm welcome, a courteous “thank you,” and refraining from smoking or chewing gum while serving the customer were rated as relatively important by most consumer segments. However, some variation in perceptions were observed across consumer groups, with the differences between league and nonleague bowlers being the most apparent. Recommendations are offered to customer-contact employees and to managers of sports organizations.

The Management of Salesforces: The Case of Life Insurance

Abstract: Reporting on ongoing research within a major life insurance company, the difficulties in managing a salesforce are examined. Contradictions and strains created by the mode of management, particularly affecting the salesforce and customers, are explored. It is argued that a “professionalisation of selling”, brought about by a combination of strategic human resource management and government legislation (in the form of the Financial Services Act) will considerably improve the conduct and quality of selling in the future.

IBM's network management approach

Abstract: The management functions requested by customers, namely problem management, change management, configuration management, performance management, accounting management, and operational control of the network, are discussed, emphasizing the need for a solution that provides a seamless view of voice, data, and bandwidth management networks. IBM's approach to meeting these needs is described. It is a combination of offerings and a structure that permit the customer to mix and match IBM offerings and other vendors' offerings as well as its own products and modifications to provide a network management solution tailored to its unique requirements. Three examples of IBM's internal use of network management and a network management vision of how future networks may be managed are presented. >