Abstract

This work was carried out to investigate the effect of customer relationship on organizational performance. The study adopted a case study research design strategy. The sampling frame of the population was 100 management staff. The population size used for this study was estimated to 15 managements of TTCCUL.

The study employed primary source data collection which involved structured questionnaires. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 21.0) was used to analyze the collected data from the field. Hypothesis testing was carried out, where the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the significance of the overall model at 0.05% level of significance. Testing for the first hypothesis a correlation test was done with r = 0.980, and p-value of 0.000 (p<0.01), showing there is a very strong linear positive relationship between the dependent and the independent variables.

Testing for the second hypothesis the result revealed that r = 0.987, and p-value of 0.000 (P<0.01). showing there is a very strong linear positive and significant relationship between Technology based management and Organizational performance.

Testing for Hypothesis 3, the result revealed a Pearson’s r = 0.984, and a p-value of 0.000 (p<0.01), implying there is a very strong linear positive relationship between knowledge management and Organizational performance. It was finally concluded that; quality services must be rendered and these services must offer ease, convenience and security to enable customers feel a certain level of satisfaction.

Finally, the information channels to customers must be a two- way flow. Hence, customers should be allowed to give feedbacks on how the organization has treated them.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Customer relationship management (CRM) has its origins in the relationship marketing theory. The process of identifying, developing, maintaining, and terminating relational exchanges with the goal of exchanging performance is known as relationship marketing (Palmatier, 2008). Customer relationship management, according to Labus and Stone (2010), is more than just software.

CRM was once thought of as a quick-fix information technology project proposal carried out by consultancies. CRM, according to Mack et al., (2005), evolved from total quality management in the 1980s. According to Schmitt (2003), the customer orientation movement began in the 1990s, whereas Newell (2003) recognizes CRM’s strategic and technological focus.

Customer satisfaction is considered to be the central element of all marketing actions in today’s business environment, and customer relationship management (CRM) has become a priority for companies’ marketing strategies (Karakostas et al., 2005). Customers are necessary for businesses to survive and succeed in today’s business environment, according to academics and practitioners (Heinrich, 2005). CRM became popular as a business tool after a number of CRM projects were successfully implemented in the early 1990s. However, approximately 70% of CRM projects resulted in a loss or no improvement in firm performance.

Customer satisfaction is considered to be the central element of all marketing actions in today’s business environment, and customer relationship management (CRM) has become a priority for companies’ marketing strategies (Karakostas et al., 2005). Customers are necessary for businesses to survive and succeed in today’s business environment, according to academics and practitioners (Heinrich, 2005). CRM became popular as a business tool after a number of CRM projects were successfully implemented in the early 1990s. However, approximately 70% of CRM projects resulted in a loss or no improvement in firm performance. Considering the advancement of technology and increased competition, the most important challenge of any economic organization is to increase profit of the organization. In tough situation of competition, an appropriate and organized relationship with customers would be an essential solution in order to increase customer satisfaction and also to reduce costs. Hence, customer relationship management would be considered as an important strategy in organizations (Becker, 2009).

Organizational performance is a reflection of how effectively and efficiently a firm makes use of its capital in achieving the targeted goals (George, 2011). According to Li et al. (2006) and Daft (2012) an organizations performance is defined by the level at which a firm is capable to attain goals that are both financial and market focused. It is argued that business performance is multifaceted in nature; and also, CRM is inherently cross-functional in nature therefore no simple indicator can adequately capture business performance (Sin et al., 2005; Sin et al., 2002).

Marketing and financial performance are two broad categories of business performance that are commonly used. However, the satisfaction of customers has been utilized to measure performance especially in significant studies that involve CRM (Sin et al., 2005; Keramati et al., 2010). Both subjective and objective approaches performance assessments are available for use but the choice depends on obtainability of the financial data and the discretion of the customers to avail these data which are usually considered as highly confidential information by most companies. It is argued that the correlation between objective and subjective measures is strong (Sin et al., 2002; Sin et al., 2005).

In Cameroon, great importance and attention have been devoted by most financial institutions especially commercial banks, these banking institutions propose offers which are more or less similar and are characterized by a marked proximity with the customers. This bitter competition in the market of the IMF of Cameroon brings up at once the problem of the efficient and rational management of the customer relationship (Simonet et al., 2012).

1.2 Statement of the problem

The cost of acquiring a new customer is greater than the cost of retaining an existing customer. Customers are like blood to a business; without them, the business cannot function. Customer relationship management and organizational performance management have been identified as critical issues in Cameroon, particularly in the Buea municipality, where many organizations expend energy and resources in search of new customers with the primary goal of increasing profits while neglecting to meet their customers’ needs.

Every day, new businesses open and close as a result of poor customer relationship management practices. Despite the fact that most organizations in Cameroon spend a lot of money on seminars and workshops to help them deal with the challenges they face in the area of customer relationship management, this does not appear to be working. According to Gacheru (2020), while some academics and practitioners believe that CRM is essential for the survival and success of businesses, others have noted that simply implementing CRM does not guarantee success.

Rather, a clear understanding of what CRM is and how each of these constituents contributes to the firm’s performance is critical in the CRM implementation process optimization. Another critical aspect identified by scholars for optimizing CRM implementation is the interaction of CRM components and organizational factors (Mohammed & Rashid, 2017).

Companies that believe customer relationship management is only about sales or technologically driven software fail to implement customer relationship management because they do not fully understand it (Shafique et al., 2015), owing to a lack of research in the field. In this study, researchers identified this as “a knowledge gap; not in basic CRM knowledge, but in the methods for evaluating and implementing CRM.”

Customer relationship management and organizational performance have been extensively researched, though most of the research has taken place in developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Nordic countries, and other countries with similar characteristics to the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the Nordic countries. Cameroon has lacked research on the impact of CRM on organizational performance. As a result, it’s critical to look into the relationship between CRM and organizational performance in Cameroon, particularly in the Buea municipality, because the country’s economy, culture, and ethics are distinct from those in other countries where similar research has been done.

1.3 Research Question

1. Is there a relationship between Customer orientation and organizational performance?
2. What is the effect of technology-based customer relationship management on organizational performance?
3. What is the effect of knowledge management on organizational performance?

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