Implementing customer relationship management successfully: a configurational perspective

Although the management of customer relationships has become a key priority in firms in a broad range of industries, its effective implementation often creates major challenges. Couched in configuration theory and using a configurational approach, this article investigates how factors associated with firms' customer management, market approach, and business environment interact and fall into patterns to predict profitability. The results of a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis reveal different configurations to a profitable implementation of customer relationship management. Insight into these configurations contributes to a deeper understanding of digital ecodynamics and advances the understanding of the interplay among important strategic, technological, and environmental factors. The findings of this inquiry can guide managers in designing effective customer relationship management approaches.