AMARACHI NNEOMA CHRIS-MADU

X18209629

Msc MANAGEMENT

RESEARCH METHODS

DEVELOPING A RESEARCH TOPIC

ESTABLISHING SUCCESS FACTORS OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
IN SMALL BUSINESSES
INTRODUCTION
Organisations in Nigeria are operating in an economy which is unfavourable to the citizens in general.
As a result, this created the emergence of small businesses, by citizens to enable them attain a healthy
standard of living, yet don’t get the desired credit deserved because they are not privileged to access
loans available by banks to foster expansion, because of the absence of assets and collaterals Adewole
(2018). Customers play a huge role in the success of an organisations marketing and those who adopt
appropriate measures in their organisation tend to be successful, (Blattberg, Kim, and Neslin 2008).
This research is aimed at identifying these measures based on Lampadarious (2015) success factors
and the best model applicable to CRM.
SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW
 The review of the literature is based on the success factors framework developed by
Lampadarios (2015),which he implies that the three main factors could be as a result of the
Entrepreneur, the Enterprise and the External environment.
 Berthon(2008)implies that most mistakes small businesses make is that they do not employ
the right individuals to help in performing right marketing strategies to boost their business.
 Every small business has to effectively apply CRM in customer engagement because it, grows
with the business, and it does not only focus on Improving customer services, but also the
retention which give the business a competitive advantage. ASCARZA, E. et al. (2017)
 Alireza et al (2011) organisations have to pay more attention to the effective implementation
of CRM, for growth.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What are the determinants of a successful CRM in small businesses?
2. Which model based on the success factors identified will be best applicable to small
businesses?
HYPOTHESIS
1. Ho: There is no statistically proven factors that determines a sucessful application of CRM in
small businesses.
Ha: There is a statistically proven factors that determines a successful application of CRM in
small businesses.
2. Ho: There is no statistically identified model that is best applicable for small businesses.
Ha: There is a statistically identified model that is best applicable for small businesses.
BIBLOGRAPHY

Adewole, O. D. (2018) ‘Customer Relationship Management and Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSMEs) Growth in South West, Nigeria’, Scholedge International Journal of
Management & Development, 5(5), pp. 48–58. doi: 10.19085/journal.sijmd050501.

Alireza, Mostafa and Kazem (2011) ‘Customer Relationship Management in Small-medium

Enterprises’, The case of science and technology parks of Iran African Journal of Business
Management Vol.5 (15), pp. 6159-6167, DOI: 10.5897/AJBM10.695 ISSN: 1993-8233

Ascarza, E. et al. (2017) ‘Beyond the Target Customer: Social Effects of Customer Relationship
Management Campaigns’, Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), 54(3), pp. 347–363. doi:
10.1509/jmr.15.0442.

Berthon, P., Ewing, M.T. and Napoli, J., 2008. Brand management in small to medium ‐sized
enterprises. Journal of Small Business Management, 46(1), pp.27-45.

Lampadarios, E., 2016. Critical challenges for SMEs in the UK chemical distribution industry.
Journal of Business Chemistry, 13(1), pp.17-32.