Extending Customer Relationship Management to Value Chain Partners for Competitive Advantage

Globalization coupled with uncertain economic times has made managing customer relationships critical for the success of firms. The objective of this theoretical article is to show why the process of customer relationship management (CRM) needs to be extended to value chain partners and how this can be done. I utilize the tenets of the resource-based view to argue that inter-firm CRM processes can lead to competitive advantage through the generation and strengthening of inter-organizational learning and inter-firm relationships. Inter-firm CRM processes are conceptualized and described, and a framework of inter-firm CRM process is developed. Managerial implications are also discussed.