What Lies behind the Concept of Customer Relationship Management? Discussing the Essence of CRM through a Phenomenological Approach

Several authors and consulting firms show statistics indicating that at least 50 % of all CRM projects fail. Some of them attempt to point out a list of factors in order to guarantee successful CRM implementation and application. However, few people (either academics or practitioners) attempt to discuss or consider the essence of the idea of CRM. The main goal of this exploratory research is to discuss the CRM essence through a phenomenological approach. This paper assumes that one of the main reasons for CRM failure is the lack of understanding about the true meaning and implication of practices for managing the relationship with customers. Therefore, we need to question the essence of CRM itself and discuss the very concept of relationship. We claim that the idea of CRM involves very serious issues about institutions, roles, power and ethical values that have to be considered. In this article, we attempt to analyze the essence of relationship, trying to go beyond the common meaning of CRM. As the main results of this paper, we offer a critical reflection related to the different faces and aspects of the CRM phenomenon, not only as a matter of IT applications, but also as a strategy and even as an organizational philosophy. Key words: customer relationship management (CRM); organizational strategy; information and communication technologies (ICT); relationship marketing