DNA of a Customer-Centric Learning Organization: a Managerially Relevant Tool for Assessing the Building Blocks of Customer Centricity

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School of Business | Master's thesis
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Date
2018
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Marketing
Language
en
Pages
88
Series
Abstract
Although numerous companies claim to be customer-centric, insights and abilities needed to successfully implement customer centricity are lacking (Galbraith, 2005; Kumar et al., 2006; Shah et al., 2006; Bapat, 2013; Simon et al., 2016). Academics and practitioners have given attention to the topic, but more understanding and knowledge about the implementation of customer centricity is needed (Kumar et al., 2006; Lamberti, 2013). Previous academic articles (e.g. Sheth et al., 2000; Galbraith, 2002; Gulati & Oldroyd, 2005; Shah et al., 2006; Homburg et al., 2012; Lamberti, 2013; Alt-Simmons, 2016) so far present suggestions that are either too focused on aspects internal to the company or too vague in nature. Therefore, this research is positioned to advance the holistic understanding and implementation of customer centricity. Its contributions are to 1) provide a more comprehensive overview of the building blocks that company executives need to consider when implementing customer centricity and 2) to create a tool in which the statements more concretely define these building blocks so that executives can in fact apply those in practice. As for methods, a combination of secondary and primary research was used. First, a comprehensive literature review was done to better conceptualize the topic. Second, two rounds of qualitative interviews with high-level professionals were conducted to understand how managers view the building blocks of customer centricity. Third, the findings from academia and the interviews were combined to propose a managerially relevant customer centricity tool, i.e. to operationalize the concept. Lastly, the tool was validated by using the findings from the interviews and by applying the tool to a company outside of the actual sample. In terms of the findings, the main building blocks of customer-centric companies were found to be Customer-Relevant Brand, Strategy and Evaluative Criteria; Organizational Culture, Leadership and Employee Experience as well as Customer Experience Management. In addition, the technological aspect was found to be important but best integrated into the other three building blocks. Based on the findings, the finalized customer centricity tool, named “DNA of a Customer-Centric Learning Organization”, was then created to help managers assess and implement the customer-centric change in practice. This research contributed to both academia and practice by clarifying the conceptualization and operationalization of customer centricity. Although the study advanced the theory of customer centricity and its implementation, more work is welcomed in this research area. Future research opportunities lie in further refinement of the customer centricity concept, especially in terms of scale validation.
Description
Thesis advisor
Falk, Tomas
Gloukhovtsev, Alexei
Keywords
customer centricity, value creation, change management, business strategy
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