6. Theoretical and Managerial Implications
The present study makes both theoretical and managerial contributions, and suggests several applications for the
research. Theoretical contribution is to offer a significant advance to the current literature of CRM practices by
affording an integrative framework to organizations. This study provide a clear conceptualization of CRM
practices construct and develop a conceptual model with three elements namely key customer focus, knowledge
management and relationship marketing. Though some of the ideas expressed in this conceptual model may be
familiar to marketers, its value is in integrating these various notions to provide a more comprehensive and
holistic picture of CRM practices.
Several important managerial implications follow from this study. First and foremost, it is clear that CRM
practices can be leveraged to provide important customer information which can used to improve organizational
performance. Since, the traditional way of marketing in increasing retention of customer incurred high cost, the
best practicing of CRM provides firm with a promising way to attack this critical problem. The practicing of
CRM in firm will adopt, build and test integrative strategies in a food manufacturer setting. Second, periodic
measurement of a firm’s CRM could help managers track changes over time. Other than the applicability of the
model in the monitoring process, the three components in the CRM model may serve training needs by assisting
human resource managers to develop appropriate training programs that can help improve the staff’s
understanding of the activities involved in implementing CRM. Finally, top management may use this
framework to develop relevant and effective marketing strategies and tactics. Functional managers can also use
the framework to set clear policies that develop and consider CRM as a necessary and essential business process
rather than a burden on the staff. Changing the corporate culture and reward system accordingly reinforces
behavior that creates strong CRM, and should also be considered.
6. Limitations and Direction for Future Research
The findings of this study are subject to certain limitations should be considered during the interpretation of the
results. However, as with all research, there are some limitations inherent in this study, which restrict its
interpretation and generalizability, and which open the door for future studies. First, the cross-sectional nature of
this study provides only a snapshot in time which makes it difficult to fully understand the order of effects and
this study are, therefore, left to infer causality. Future research examining these constructs with longitudinal data
can provide a richer understanding of the relationships between CRM practices and organizational performance.
Second, limitation is concerns the fact the survey responses all came from top managers. This limitation raises
concerns about the influence of method bias in these results. As Evans (1994) notes, however, interaction effects
are not subject to common method bias since informants are unable to determine the complex relationships
involved. Future work to test and refine the proposed framework is inevitable to evaluating and validating its
practicality.
Third, the any successful framework of CRM practices, organizations need to understand and refine organization
own vision of how knowledge should be structured, communicated, and socialized within the organization to
influence results (Al-Khouri, 2012). The determinants (i.e. antecedents) of CRM also require both theoretical
and empirical investigation; after all, managers need to know how organizations can be instrumental in shaping
the CRM of their firms. On the whole, continued refinement of the CRM practices scale and supported in this
study is, undoubtedly, possible and even desired, based on further research and changes in business
environments.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers who have provided valuable input into clarifying the
ideas presented in this paper. The first author is funded by a scholarship from Ministry of Higher Education,
Malaysia.