Challenges in Customer Relationship Management with Export Customers—India as a Specific Case in Emerging Markets

Abstract

Introduction of this chapter covers a brief historical background of India’s macroeconomic transition since independence and how India gained prominence as one of the fastest growing emerging markets and why Customer Relationship Management (CRM) became increasingly important over the last few decades. A brief introduction is given to two types of business streams—Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C)—followed by a discussion on salient differences in CRM in these two streams. Focus is then given in discussing CRM in B2B context specifically in relation to suppliers from India to export markets and export customers. Issue in context of a developed country vs. issue in context of India in the area of CRM is discussed. A CRM model called “ECP model (Expectations vs. Commitment vs. Performance)” is introduced specifically for B2B context. This model along with the views of industry practitioners was used to discuss the issue in context of India with two real-time examples in B2B CRM for export customers. The conclusion of the chapter proposes solutions and recommendations to overcome the issues and challenges. As the chapter is intended to provide an overview of issues in CRM corresponding to the immediate past, and prevailing business context, emphasis was given on discussions with management practitioners from the industries in gathering insights, challenges and solutions in the Customer Relationship Management rather than extensive literature review.