MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Customer Relationships Evolve - So Must Your CRM Strategy

A new way of classifying business relationships can boost long-term profitability.

The relationship between Apple Inc. and Corning Inc. is like a marriage. Corning makes Gorilla Glass, which is in the screen of every iPhone, and the two companies have been together since the iPhone’s introduction in 2007. Each has made extensive commitments to the other.

Long-term relationships like the one between Apple and Corning are paramount for the health of any business, and companies spend more than $12 billion annually on customer relationship management, or CRM. But understanding and measuring a company’s return on CRM can be difficult.

About the Author

Jonathan Z. Zhang is an assistant professor of marketing at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington in Seattle. George F. Watson IV is an assistant professor of marketing at the College of Business at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Robert W. Palmatier is the John C. Narver Endowed Professor in Business Administration and a professor of marketing at the Foster School of Business.

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