Although the number of companies declaring their commitment to the concept of customer centricity is increasing, many of these companies are struggling to actually shape their organization accordingly. In this article we share the results of our research, which aims to identify key shaping factors that help organizations move towards customer centricity, and key barriers that typically deter organizations from becoming customer-centric. Based on a literature review and field research among both practitioners and academics, we have identified a set of nine shaping factors and three barriers to building customer-centric organizations and explored these in more detail. Our study suggests that there are no simple recipes or shortcuts for organizations to become customer-centric. Instead, companies can reap sustainable competitive advantage from evolving the ability to master nine shaping factors and evade three barriers to customer centricity.
BoltonM. (2004). Customer centric business processing. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 53(1), 44–51.
2.
CarlzonJ. (1987). The moments of truth.Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger Publications.
3.
DempsterC.WilliamsD. S.LeeJ. (2015). The rise of the platform marketer: Performance marketing with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, plus the latest high-growth digital advertising platforms.Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
4.
DialM. (2014 December 5). Leaders: If you are seeking to be customer centric are you asking the tough questions? Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://myndset.com/2014/12/customer-centric-2/
5.
DialM. (2015 February 16). Where is your CUSTOMER service? A decisive battleground for customer centric brands. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://myndset.com/2015/02/customer-service-2/
6.
FaderP. (2012). Customer centricity: Focus on the right customers for strategic advantage.Philadelphia: Wharton Digital Press.
7.
GagnonJ. J.ChuJ. (2005). Retail in 2010: A world of extremes. Strategy and Leadership, 33(5), 13–23.
8.
GalbraithJ. R. (2005). Designing the customer centric organization: A guide to strategy structure and process.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
9.
GioiaD.CorleyK.HamiltonA. (2013). Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive research: Notes on the Gioia methodology. Organizational Research Methods, 16(1), 15–31.
McChrystalS.CollinsT.SilvermanD.FussellC. (2015). Team of teams: New rules of engagement for a complex world. New York: Penguin Random House.
18.
MechindaP.PattersonP. (2011). The impact of service climate and service provider personality on employees’ customer-oriented behavior in a high-contact setting. Journal of Services Marketing, 25(2), 101–113.
19.
MeyerR. J. (2007). Mapping the mind of the strategist: A quantitative methodology for measuring the strategic beliefs of executives. (ERIM PhD Series Research in Management. Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)). Retrieved 22 May 2015, from http://repub.eur.nl/pub/10182
RustR. T.LemonK. N.ZeithamlV. A. (2004). Return on marketing: Using customer equity to focus marketing strategy. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 109–127.
24.
SchwartzB. (2004). The paradox of choice: Why more is less.New York: Harper & Collins.
25.
SekaranU.BougieR. (2010). Research methods for business: A skill-building approach (5th ed.). West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
26.
ShahD.RustR. T.ParasuramanA.StaleinR. S.DayG. S. (2006). The path to consumer centricity. Journal of Service Research, 9(2), 113–124.
27.
ShethJ. N.SisodiaR. S.SharmaA. (2000). The antecedents and consequences of customer-centric marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 55–66.
28.
SigalaM. (2005). Integrating customer relationship management in hotel operations: Managerial and operational operations. Hospitality Management, 24(3), 391–413.
