DNA of effective Customer Strategies

The challenge to generate and improve profits from the company's customer relationships and to find the best customer strategy for a company has motivated scholars and practitioners across nearly all industries and geographical regions to conceptualise and produce a wide range of different theories and practical solutions. Companies invested billions and some of those companies are still investing significant amounts to establish and improve their customer relationship management. However, the customer relationship management (CRM) landscape seems challenging as more than 60% of all customer relationship management initiative launched failed. The book discusses why customer relationship management initiatives are still challenging and outlines an alternative corporate CRM framework as an alternative strategic management perspective, offside the common-sense CRM literature and related case studies. In detail, the book discusses in five different interrelated sections the key building blocks of an effective customer strategy design. Every section includes detailed explanations, examples and answers how to avoid design mistakes during the critical customer strategy design process. Furthermore, every section outlines valuable templates and design results which can easily be applied to every company and organisational strategy design process. The sixth section provides a straightforward view and alternative concept of how the performance of customer strategies can be easily monitored. Organisations can only manage the performance of the company's customer strategy if the strategy is measured effectively and embedded into the company's strategic controlling process. Furthermore, the book outlines how the new customer strategy can easily be integrated into the company's strategic planning system. The last section outlines how new customer strategies can be implemented and established through strategic initiatives. Strategic initiatives represent a progressive form of strategy making and implementation. In this connection customer-improvement-related key sources of a firm's sustainable competitive advantage are mobilised and renewed. Therefore launching a strategic initiative to design and implement a new customer strategy outlines the most appropriate form to turn the company's customer behaviour patterns into profit-impacting behaviour patterns and close the company's customer value gap. Furthermore, strategic initiative implementations are result-oriented and flexible, and they extend the static strategic planning process into a more dynamic one by combining strategic thoughts and implementation at the same time as involving a wide range of different stakeholders within a company, from top management to almost all members of the organisation.

Wladimir Kovacic, Ph.D. is a Managing Partner of the Management Consulting Boutique Advisory Group in Zurich, Switzerland. He has over 20 years of Management Consulting and Line Management experience. He worked in several leadership positions and directed different business critical, international and national strategic optimization and change initiatives. He has extensive experience in leadership functions and an in-depth cross industry knowledge - advising different Business leaders and management teams of international blue chip organisations. Furthermore, he has repeatedly demonstrated to successfully initiate and complete business-critical, politically challenging and complex initiatives - always focusing on generating growth, optimizing margins, minimizing risks and increasing customer satisfaction. He is a Thought Leader in Strategic Initiatives always challenging the way how organisations try to shape and renew their sources of competitive Advantage.