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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes and beliefs of front‐line employees regarding how customer‐company interactions might be improved. Since front‐line employees are closely connected to customers, the resultant experiences and relationships with customers are highly dependent on their actions. However, little is written from the perspective of front‐line employees.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative approach and employing an adaptation of the grounded theory method, this study uses front‐line employee participants with data collection occurring over a six‐month period. A variety of data sources were used including open‐ended reciprocal interviews, member‐checking interviews, observation, and collection of participant and researcher artifacts.FindingsFindings suggest that organizational changes initiated by management create strategically constructed silos that force implementation through people and systems to control and standardize the service interface and resultant customer experience(s). This reactive and inwardly focused construction of silos often serves company rather than customer needs and can result in deteriorating service levels based on the type of customer‐company interaction occurring.Originality/valueContrary to how most customer service processes are designed by management, not all customer‐company interactions are alike and vary both in regard to the degree of knowledge needed by front‐line employees to fully serve customers, and the routine or non‐routine nature of the interaction. A two‐by‐two matrix is presented to highlight the impacts of silos occurring for various interaction types.

PurposeA paucity of literature considers a growing trend within the retail space whereby franchise companies and their franchisees market and sell products and services across multiple channels, including company‐owned retail stores. This case study aims to explore the processes used to support the customer experience, the control mechanisms that are in place, and the channels by which these customer‐company interactions occur.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach employing an adaptation of the grounded theory method for data collection, coding, and analysis was used and this study specifically focused on an international van‐based service franchise during the integration of the franchise company's service into the retail brick‐and‐mortar locations of the parent company. Participants included retail employees of the parent company, franchise company support staff, franchisees, and third‐party call center agents working for the parent company.FindingsFindings suggest a relationship exists between the alignment of the internal factors of the customer relationship management (CRM) experience (e.g. people, processes, and technology) and the relative strength or weakness of each external factor (e.g. customer, company, and competition). Moreover, it is postulated that weaker customer‐centric service results in greater misalignment of internal factors and leads to larger service variability, or sub‐optimized CRM.Originality/valueThe unique contribution of this research is the juxtaposition of the disparate marketing approaches of the parent company and franchisees and the subsequent impact on CRM efforts of the company. A conceptual model of internal and external factors of the CRM experience is presented.

Purpose – A paucity of research on the motivations and goals of vendors who develop electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) tools and systems exists in the literature. This is an important gap in the literature because many eCRM systems are products of outsourcing (to vendors). This paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory case study focuses on an international van‐based service franchise and the experiences of the vendor, company, and franchisees as they design, develop, and implement certain eCRM tools. Participants include the president and founder of the eCRM vendor company, the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and marketing director from the franchisor company, and six franchisees. This paper is triangulated via personal interviews, member‐checking interviews, and relevant literature from information systems (IS) and marketing.Findings – Specifically, this paper sheds light on the role and influence of the vendor in the design, deve...

The purpose of the research is to explore the role of creativity (in business process improvement paradigms) among Japanese organizations and US organizations. Although US and Japanese organizations may use differently terminology, the general idea of process improvement (to add value to products and/or services that exceed customer expectations) is embraced by both. What is not clear is the way in which organizations in the two countries implement change. Eight organizations participated in the study: four organizations from Japan and four from the US. Results of the study revealed that US organizations tend to desire faster change to improve performance. They want to adopt state‐of‐the‐art methodologies and invest heavily in technology to transform their organizations quickly. In contrast, Japanese organizations prefer incremental change as it conforms to their culture and way of life. However, US organizations are beginning to realize that process improvement is greatly enhanced by changing the culture of the work place. Moreover, Japanese organizations are realizing that individual creativity is very important for future competitiveness in the world marketplace.